A Houston teen who admitted to randomly punching people at a local park for likes on social media has been awarded a bond by the judge presiding over his case.
Alford Lasean Lewis was charged with assault with bodily injury and aggravated robbery with a deadly weapon for the incidents involving two persons on Thursday, Oct. 26.
“We take these cases extremely seriously at the district attorney’s office, and in this case, the facts were particularly troubling; these boys were out at a park where people enjoy the outdoors and are exercising and shouldn’t expect to run into any kind of trouble,” said prosecutor Ashlea Sheridan, according to KHOU 11.
Lewis now says that he regrets terrorizing people at Wortham Park on that day, particularly since he did it to receive clout on social media.
The Harris County Sheriff’s Office reported that Lewis assaulted two individuals, one of whom he punched in the back of the head. In a separate incident preceding the first one, Lewis approached another man and tapped him on the shoulder with a firearm.
According to court documents, after shocking the man with the weapon, Lewis proceeded to point it at him and demanded that the man give up his phone. When the victim refused to hand over his phone, Lewis threatened to shoot him in the foot. The victim relinquished his phone to the teen.
“This man was out there doing what any citizen in Harris County would do when he was approached by these two males and attempted to be robbed at gunpoint,” Sheridan said.
Despite the prosecution pushing for a high bond, the judge awarded him a more reasonable bond than suggested, setting Lewis’ bond at $30,000 with the caveat he must wear a GPS ankle monitor and be placed under house arrest once he is released from jail.
Originally, the judge set the bond at $10,000. Both bonds set by the bench are substantially lower than the prosecution wanted Lewis to receive a bond of $75,000.
The change in the bond came at the request of the Harris County District Attorney’s Office. They successfully argued that Lewis admitted to the crime, which should mandate a raise.
The incidents were exacerbated by one of Lewis’ friends, 18-year-old Kingston Miker, videotaping it, and he and his friend laughed during each incident. One of the videos was uploaded on social media, and authorities identified Lewis as the suspect after some people named him in the comments.
Miker has since been arrested and faces the same charges as Lewis.
“They did this for fun and posted it on social media, which is simply unacceptable, and I felt, given the circumstances, that the bond needed to be raised,” said Sheridan, explaining why she pushed for the $20,000 spike in the bond award.
Before turning himself in, Lewis talked about the day and said, “I just made a mistake, and everybody makes mistakes,” according to KHOU 11.
“I really didn’t expect for it to go so left, you know. I know from the video all you see is the bad part about it. But what people don’t see is that I shook his hand after and gave the man a hug,” he said in an effort to mitigate the severity of his actions, actions he committed as a way to get likes and views on YouTube and TikTok.
Now, he hopes that others learn from his mistakes.
“Before you go out and do anything you feel is bad, or that could look bad, make sure, like, people know – or just don’t do it at all,” Lewis advised.
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