Victims unsure of location;

first report filed in Laurens

Staff Writer

Two Clinton teen-agers are accused of being involved in an assault where a man's head was beat into a tool box.

Matthew Paul Patterson, 18, of 1080 Fuller Road and Richard Anthony Jones, 17, of 1 Simmons Drive, both were charged with lynching Wednesday by the Union County Sheriff's Office.

A report said two Laurens men, both 18, came to the sheriff's office and reported to Deputy Wendy Childers that they had been assaulted in Union County on Oct. 5. They said they originally filed a report with the Laurens County Sheriff's Office, but an investigation had determined the incident happened in Union County.

The Laurens residents were unsure where the assault occurred, but one described a metal suspension bridge. Childers went with them to the Enoree River Bridge at the county line on Jones Ford Road. They said the incident occurred in Union County beneath the bridge.

They said they were sitting in the bed of a truck when they were approached by five men who started arguing with them. One of the assailants hit one of the 18-year-olds in the head and he blacked out. When he woke up, he had a black eye, the right side of his face was swollen and his nose was broken and cut. Teeth also were chipped. He went home, called EMS, and was transported to the hospital. An acquaintance who was present told the victim that three of the men had jumped on him and beat his head into a toolbox on the back of the truck.

A friend of the victim said he tried to assist him and the three assailants began hitting him. He said he had no injuries.

Childers took photos of what appeared to be a broken blood vessel in the victim's eye and his chipped teeth. He said his mother also had pictures of his injuries that she had made using a cell phone camera.