Groups assaults, seriously injures teen in Oak Harbor

Published 1:30 am Tuesday, May 5, 2026

An Oak Harbor teenager is facing criminal charges after he allegedly led a group of boys in assaulting a 14-year-old student in the area of South Beeksma Drive on May 1, according to court documents.

A video of a group of juveniles kicking the victim on the ground as well as a clip of him on a stretcher has been circulating widely on social media. But contrary to rumors, the student was not stabbed, though he suffered a fractured orbital socket and couldn’t open his eye after the attack, court document state.

The 16-year-old suspect appeared in Island County Superior Court Monday. Judge Christon Skinner found that probable cause existed to believe the teenager may have committed the crimes of assault in the second degree and malicious mischief in the second degree.

Deputy Prosecutor Michael Safstrom said the young man was armed with a knife and held the knife over the younger boy in a threatening manner while other students told him to stop, saying he was going too far. He said other students are worried that the suspect might retaliate and asked Judge Christon Skinner to set bail at $1,500.

The teenager’s attorney, Nicole Nelson, argued for a smaller bail amount. She said he is enrolled in online high school and is earning straight As. Skinner set the bail at $500.

According to a report by an officer with the Oak Harbor Police Department, multiple witnesses called 911 at about 6 p.m. to report that about 20 teenagers were in the area of Beeksma Drive, and several of the males were beating up a kid, allegedly because they believed he sexually assaulted a girl.

When the officer arrived, a group of teenagers directed him to the victim, who was bleeding from cuts on his face and appeared confused. Several juveniles reported that the group assaulted the boy near the crosswalks and then continued the assault along the Freund Marsh trail.

The teenager who was later arrested was identified as the primary aggressor, and witnesses said he brandished a knife as if he was going to stab the victim. He also allegedly took the victim’s cell phone and smashed it, according to the report. The suspect handed off the knife to another kid as they ran away, the officer wrote.

A report by a different officer describes videos take by a man who tried to intervene in the attack. One of the videos shows the suspect holding a knife and then punching the younger boy before throwing him to the ground and “hammer fisting” the boy in the eye a half dozen times, the report states.

In the second video, the man is seen in the middle of the group of kids, asking what Jesus Christ would do while trying to stop the assault. The suspect can be seen striking the boy again. The video shows the suspect holding the knife above his head as though he was going to stab the boy while others yelled at him to stop, the report states.