BY JANE PRENDERGAST
The Cincinnati Enquirer
COVINGTON -- A worker at a juvenile detention center was attacked with a horseshoe Monday, allegedly by three teen-agers trying to escape.
Michael Packard, an employee at the Northern Kentucky Treatment Center in Crittenden, was hit in the head with the horseshoe, police said. Prosecutors want the three boys -- two are 17 and one is 16 -- tried as adults in the matter.
"We think it's a serious criminal offense," said Ken Easterling, Kenton County's director of juvenile services. "And we want them to have serious punishment."
The teen-agers are charged with assault and escape, said Kenton County police Officer Chris Haddle, who responded to the facility about 6:30 p.m. The boys, restrained by other workers, were in a holding cell when officers arrived. They were taken to the juvenile wing of the Kenton County Jail.
Mr. Packard, 28, of Williamstown, was treated at St. Elizabeth Hospital in Williamstown and released after doctors cared for gashes in the top of his head and his forehead, Officer Haddle said. Mr. Packard, was the first worker the boys encountered in their escape attempt, the officer said. They allegedly took his keys and used them to unlock the first of two fences surrounding the center. When they reached the second fence, the other workers stopped them. During that scuffle, another worker, Russell Wood, 19, of Dry Ridge, was hurt. He needed stitches above his left eye.
The center is a state facility for juvenile criminals.
