Tuesday, January 26, 1999
Beating death examined
New charge possible after coroner ruling
BY TANYA BRICKING
The Cincinnati Enquirer
He stood nearly 6-foot-5, but a beating left him crumpled at a doorstep Christmas morning.
Neighbors found the Evanston man slumped over on their front porch. A coroner's ruling on his death is pending.
Robert Hicks, 48, a father of two, died Saturday at Drake Center hospital. He had been attacked with a brick and pieces of landscape lumber.
“I called him the gentle giant because he was such a nice person,” said neighbor Syl Trice, 58. “Everybody liked him.”
Two teen boys face felonious assault charges in the attack. Cincinnati investigators are awaiting a ruling from the Hamilton County coroner's office before deciding whether to file homicide charges, homicide commander Lt. Mike Jones said. The coroner will decide whether a blow or a fall killed Mr. Hicks.
Lt. Jones said police are investigating others who may have taken part in the beating.
On Fernside Place, Mr. Hicks' Evanston street two blocks from Walnut Hills High School, neighbors have been trimming bushes back to improve visibility and asking for more police patrols.
The city installed a surveillance camera last year at the nearby Five Points corner, where Gilbert and Hewitt avenues meet Woodburn Avenue and Montgomery Road. But neighbors say drug dealing and prostitution have moved to streets beyond the camera's view.
“Who's going to be next?” Mrs. Trice asked. “If they don't get ahold of this element and break it up, someone will be next.”
Friends say they'll try to remember the happy parts of Mr. Hicks' life — the way he'd have a smile for everyone.
He worked for years at the Coca-Cola Co. and was on his way to a career as a chef. He was a cook last year at PJ's in Mount Auburn.
“Good person. Excellent cook,” said PJ's bartender Jennifer Watson, 32. “He enjoyed what he did. He was a good person to know.”
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