Ari Bloomekatz
Enquirer staff writer

What started as a playground fistfight between neighborhood boys left an 8-year-old on life support Monday and his mother struggling to understand what happened.

Police said a 9-year-old boy slammed Treshawn Jones' head into concrete at a park Sunday night behind a recreation center in Avondame.

"It's violent, it's hideous, it's treacherous," Lakisha Jones said of her son's beating.

Treshawn remained in a coma, unable to breathe on his own, and had not opened his eyes, she said. A hospital spokesperson said the boy was in critical condition Monday evening.

Jones said she didn't know what sparked the fight at a park behind Hirsch Recreation Center, in the 3600 block of Reading Road, about 8:30 p.m. Sunday. But she `id want the boy who hurt her son to be prosecuted.

Police have not arrested anyone.

While authorities pieced together what happened, at least one parent said many boys who live in the apartment building across the street from the park have been fighting recently.

DeShaun Martin, whose son Ade Alexander was with Treshawn on Sunday, said some of the boys in the building are friends one minute, then end up fighting the next. Some parents have come to her seeking solutions to the increasing number of fights.

Treshawn and Ade, 10, live in that apartment building. The boys decided to go to the park and play Sunday, Ade said Monday.

At the park, Ade said, Treshawn said he wanted to fight the 9-year-old, with whom he had an ongoing dispute. It's unclear who called the 9-year-old to the park, but he arrived a short time later.

And the fight was on.

Lakisha Jones of Walnut Hills holds two photos of her son, Treshawn, 8, who lies in a coma at Children's Hospital. (Steven M. Herppich photo)

The 9-year-old repeatedly hit Treshawn on the head, Ade said, and Treshawn collapsed and stopped moving.

Carolyn Jones said her 16-year-old granddaughter - Treshawn's cousin - alerted her to the fight, saying Treshawn was having a seizure, was turning blue and wasn't breathing.

Carolyn Jones, who has legal custody of Treshawn, got dressed and ran across the street where her grandson lay unconscious as emergency workers performed CPR.

Authorities were unable to revive Treshawn until they got him to Children's Hospital, Carolyn Jones said.

Lakisha Jones said doctors have told her they don't yet know the extent of brain damage Treshawn suffered.

At the hospital, Jones held photographs of her son: One of Treshawn eating pizza at his birthday party; the other of him lying in his hospital bed, a labyrinth of tubes attached to his body keeping him alive.

Treshawn doesn't deserve to be in a coma, Jones said:

"He deserves to be a kid."

---

Enquirer staff writer Jane Prendergast contributed. Email abloomekatz@enquirer.com