Headland teen charged in paddle-like assault

Authorities released a 16-year-old Headland boy from custody Tuesday after he’d been charged with repeatedly striking another teenager on the head with a paddle-like weapon, said Sheriff William Maddox.

Investigators charged the 16-year-old with first-degree assault. The teenager, who was charged as an adult, was released from the Henry County Jail after he posted a $50,000 bond, Maddox said.

Deputies charged the 16-year-old with assaulting another teenager in the yard of the teen’s girlfriend’s home on Henry County Road 111 over the weekend. The teenager was struck three to four times, and taken to a local hospital, and will likely need reconstructive surgery on his head and face, Maddox said.

“It was some kind of weapon. From what they tell me, it looked like a wooden paddle,” Maddox said. “I’m not sure what they were fussing about.”