Teens allegedly attacked by group of adults on weekend kayaking trip

Hope Schreiber
·Writer
Teens claim they were attacked by a group of adults while floating down the river in Alabama. (Photo: WAAY)
Teens claim they were attacked by a group of adults while floating down the river in Alabama. (Photo: WAAY)

High school students and recent graduates allege they were attacked and threatened with rape on a weekend float trip in Alabama.

Huntsville High School graduate Collins Nelson told AL.com he suffered a broken nose and a broken eye socket as a result of the assault, and will require surgery. Nelson, speaking from his attorney's office, says he will sue for damages and seek felony arrest warrants against his alleged attackers.

A 16-year-old girl who went on the trip to Flint River near Huntsville, Ala., who wished not to be identified, said the group of teens consisted of nine boys, including Nelson, and five girls.

Nelson said that a man behind them was heckling him and his friends, calling him a "sissy boy." After the teens responded, the man threatened to rape one of the girls and said he would see the teens downriver.

"We proceed to go down the river a little more and hear his friends running through the woods telling us just to be ready," Nelson told AL.com. The group realized their options were to try to paddle back upriver, hike out or continue with the current and try to "paddle as fast as we can" past anyone. They decided paddle swiftly.

The teens approached a sandbank where a large group of adults, both men and women, were yelling, "We got you!" and making animal noises. While some were able to paddle past the alleged attackers, Nelson told AL.com he was flipped out of his kayak and attacked by two men who put him in a headlock and beat his face. One of the teens who witnessed the attack said that Nelson is lucky to be alive.

“It was that bad,” she said.

Another girl in the group was pulled out of her kayak, had her hair pulled and was held underwater by a woman, according to AL.com.

The group of teens called out for help to four groups of other adults.

"It took about four tries, and we reached somebody and he's helping us and the people that did this to us went by still heckling us," Nelson said.

One adult, not involved in the incident, finally called the police who were waiting for the group of adults at the river's takeout point.

"If the police hadn't been there, I think these people would have continued to beat us up. I think that was their intention," one girl said.

Huntsville news station WAAY-TV reports that an adult claims he was beat up by the teens and returned with his friends to retaliate.

As responding officers didn't see evidence of a significant injury, the adults were charged with a misdemeanor. Nelson's attorney, Will League, told AL.com the teens will speak with magistrates to pursue felony warrants.

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