Transcript from press conference
Video of conference can be found at the bottom of this article >>>
Glynn Co. Police give update on bullying incident that put teen in hospital
…Lehrkamp, that occurred on St. Simons Island.
I’m thankful, as is his family, for the hard work of law enforcement officials that have been involved in this investigation. And with that, I’d like to read a statement that was provided to me by the Lehrkamp family.
Trent is transitioning. He’s beginning the next step of his care, and we ask that you continue to pray for Trent. The family would like to state that they’re in full cooperation with this investigation and the efforts of all the law enforcement officers. They want justice for Trent and hopefully be able to prevent this from happening to anyone else in the future.
The investigators that have been involved in this incident have been working very diligently on collecting evidence, interviewing subjects, and at this point and time, we’ve identified all individuals that were involved in the video, as well as the photograph of the victim sitting in the chair. That took a lot of time. We’ve collected a lot of evidence that the Georgia Bureau of Investigation is going to be helping us analyze. We’ve also looked at other aspects of this case.
As of today, investigators with the Glynn County Police Department and the Georgia Bureau of Investigations continue to look into social media posts that have been supplied to the office. While we do appreciate the information provided by this source, there has been some misinformation that has been spread via this medium as well. Some of which to include the misidentification of individuals that were not involved in this incident, which has affected the many families here in our local community. The misinformation that’s provided via social media can hamper an investigation because we will follow up on every lead that we receive, no matter where it comes from. Which means that the investigators are drawn from other assignments of critical information – of importance to this investigation, to further it – by following false leads. Like I said earlier, currently forensic analysis is being conducted on the devices collected, as well as information we received from search warrants. That information, as well as evidence, is being sent off to be analyzed by the GBI lab.
This isn’t going to be an overnight investigation. The incident occurred on Tuesday, it was reported to us, and here we are over a week later and we’re still investigating. If we could just make a case off of one single photo or single video without getting any other type of evidence, then that would not be a proper – that would not be a thorough investigation. And in this investigation, we owe it to the victim and to his family to make sure we get it right. If a picture could say a thousand words, then the thousand words that that picture would say is that it was a horrible incident that occurred – that what that victim went through. We can’t rush to judgment. We have to take our time on this, and that’s what we’re doing.
In our society, we should have a zero tolerance for bullying and the mistreatment of others. That goes for any student. That goes for any parent. That goes for
any adult. And all I could ask is that when you see something, you have to say something. A lot of this incident was revealed via social media. There are a lot of juveniles that were at both of these incidents, and nothing was spoken when they were occurring. So, I would ask that folks not be afraid to speak up. This incident may not have even been reported if the victim didn’t end up in the hospital, which is really sad.
I want to thank all of our law enforcement partners that have assisted us in this matter today. The Georgia Bureau of Investigations, our district attorney’s office, the Glynn County School Police, as well as the Federal Bureau of Investigations. That’s all I have to say.
Press Q & A
Q: The parents that own the place where this took place at… would they be responsible for anything? Would they be possibly facing any criminal charges, as well?
A: We’re not taking anything off the table. We’re looking at this investigation from a holistic point of view. Not only the parents at the home where this occurred in, but we’re also looking into where the alcohol was obtained from, as well as any type of narcotics.
Q: We also know this has been named as a hazing investigation by your department, originally logged as an assault call when it was put into the CAST system for your dispatchers and then named a hazing incident in a press release from you all. According to our legal experts, this case doesn’t fit the Georgia law for hazing. Is this still a hazing investigation for investigators?
A: I would agree with you. This does not meet Georgia code for hazing because it doesn’t involve a public school event or organization that’s related to a school. Our victim was an adult, as you’re aware. The other individuals that are involved in this thing are juveniles. So, it would not rise to that definition, I agree.
Q: And do you see yourself – the agency – arresting this or do you believe this will be a case presented to a grand jury?
A: We’re going to collect the facts, that’s our job. After we collect the facts, then we’ll consult with the district attorney’s office, and we’ll allow him to make that determination.
Q: Had you had other calls to that house previously for this or any other sort of incident?
A: No other incidents of this magnitude or of this nature. We had a total of about 10 calls, I believe it was, from August to September of 2022 until a couple days after the event. A lot of the calls that we had there revolved around or centered – after this incident – of officers going by doing neighborhood patrols of that sort.
Q: Was there a parent home while the drinking was taking place?
A: We’re still investigating where we are on that.
Q: There’ve been a number of threats that have been issued. There’ve been a list of families that may or may not be involved in this – not officially confirmed. I understand there’s been some threats towards members of those families. Is that also being investigated?
A: We are going to look into that. I am aware of other folks that were misidentified that had nothing to do with this investigation. We will be looking into that if they make a complaint into our office.
Q: Have you all confirmed the incident listed on the police report where Trey’s (sic) father told police that Trey (sic) had been in the hospital prior to that incident for a laceration of his eye (unintelligible). Is that something that you all are (unintelligible) into this investigation, as well?
A: We’re looking at a whole culmination of things, not just the incident with him sitting in the chair or the incident where he’s being – or a water hose is being used on him. But one of the things that we have to do is go back and reinterview our victim, right? We just recently had an opportunity to interview him for the first time back on Sunday. At that point and time, obviously, he was still being treated at a hospital. So, we need to go back and reinterview him.
Q: That picture of him in the chair and the video of him being hosed, are those two separate nights?
A: That is what – that is correct.
Q: And that video of him being hosed… is that the night that the dad said he came home with egg yolk, spray paint, WD-40 on him in the police report?
A: I don’t know that we’ve nailed that part down, but we have confirmed that those were two different nights or two different incidents.
Q: (Unintelligible) …the fact that it is so wrong and has so many people upset to see this happened to a member of our community… as police chief, what do you say to people who are now looking at Glynn County from across the country and say what happened there.
A: It’s a sad and misfortunate event. I want the rest of America, if you will, and from across the pond to understand that we are – the citizens of Glynn County – are mostly very good people, hardworking people. This is an isolated incident, and don’t judge Glynn County by one group of juvenile teens.
Q: You said you identified all the individuals involved in the video and photos. How many individuals have you identified? What’s that number?
A: So, in the hosing incident, I believe there were 11 juveniles. In the second incident, there were 9 juveniles. Obviously, some of those are duplicates or some of the individuals were at both incidents.
Q: Are there any possible charges that they could face as of now?
A: We’re still working through that.
Q: As to those people that you’ve identified -- the 11 and 9 -- are all of them juveniles? Or are any of those over the age of what can be considered an adult?
A: None of the individuals that we’ve identified would rise to that level.
Q: Are the 11 juveniles and the 9 juveniles (unintelligible) among the 3 juveniles at the hospital that night?
A: They were.
Q: Just to clear up a misconception that has appeared online – and I apologize if I missed this – but a lot of people were speculating that the victim was on the spectrum or had some mental instability. Is that something that’s true? I just want to see if we can fact check it.
A: So, we have interviewed the victim, as well as family. There is no information that we’ve been provided to support that claim.
Q: Has the family expressed any interest in wanting to press charges at this point?
A: They’re fully cooperative with this investigation.
Q: What are some of the charges – if they were charged, what would they look like? What would they be charged with?
A: I don’t want to speculate at all on that. I want the facts to point where the facts show, and a consultation with the district attorney’s office will determine if we have enough probable cause to support a charge that’s not only chargeable but is also prosecutable – and it’s winnable.
Information Officer
I’m gonna – we’ve only got time for two more questions. He’s a busy man, and we’ve got to go. We have a lot of things to take care of.
Q: Can you tell us how many search warrants have been executed and at how many locations?
A: I think that provides too much information in regards to our investigation. I’m not going to release that information at this time.
Q: Disregarding that, because I think you would probably like to let people in this community know you are here to speak to them and answer their questions about this and aren’t too busy to do that. What would you say to those people? Especially those hundreds of (unintelligible). The other night the district office was asking for patience here, but they remember another case here where it took 74 days for someone to be arrested. What do you say to the people in this community that are so upset that this took days to come out into the public, and now we’re a week later and the arrest (unintelligible).
A: This took days to come out into the public out of respect to the victim’s privacy. We looked at that – it was requested of us – and this was an incident that was isolated. That we believe had no other public threat going on.
Q1: Is there any surveillance video?
Q2: Hospital… from the hospital?
A: Yes, there is.
Q: Is there clarity to it or..?
A: I have not viewed it, personally. The investigators are working with that and working with the hospital staff on that.
Q: That video that has already circulated social media. Is that something that you all – the police department – plans to release on your behalf?
A: I missed your question.
Q: That video—the video has already circulated on social media of Trent being water hosed. Is that something your department plans to release to the public?
A: Obviously, like you said, it’s in the public forum on social media, but we’re going to retain what we have here.
Q: Since all these kids go to Glynn Academy, are you going to be working with the school at all to address this kind of behavior?
A: We’ve been working with Chief Rod Ellis with the school police on this investigation. That will be up to the school, as far as what type of actions they take.
Thank you all very much.
