Boy badly beaten over bike

LANCASTER, S.C. -- A 13-year-old boy endured a brutal beating, as a police report the details of how he was hit with a bat, punched in the abdomen, kicked in the side, rolled down a hill -- all because of a bike.

Detectives say his attackers could face some serious prison time.

“We had a kid that noticed his bicycle was gone from the front of his apartment,” said Lancaster police detective Brenner Hartley.

So the 13-year-old boy went looking and found it quickly. His bike was behind his home with five teenage boys crowded around it. Investigators say the boy knew it was his bike because it's not like any other bike in the neighborhood.

"It was a bike made up of many different parts, it was blue, and it was a trick bike," said Hartley. He said that when the boy tried to get it back, "the older kids started beating him with their fists, hands and ultimately beat him with a baseball bat."

It's all there in the police report -- a baseball bat to the head, how he was punched, kicked and rolled down a hill. The boy's mom called police and took her son to the hospital. "He's fine now, got some bumps and bruises," Hartley said.

There are no arrests yet, but police have leads.

"We have a bunch of nicknames so we're trying to decipher through that," Hartley said. Police also have the charges laid out.

"They'll be charged with strong armed robbery," said Hartley. "If they are at that appropriate age, I will try them as an adult."

That means any of the suspects who are 16 or older.

If you know anything about this beating or if you've seen a blue trick bicycle, call Lancaster police at 803-283-1174.