Teens charged in Navy Yard Chipotle brawl to stay at home while case proceeds
Teens charged in Navy Yard Chipotle brawl appear in court
The teenagers charged in connection with the viral brawl at a Navy Yard Chipotle restaurant appeared in court in D.C. on Friday. The teens will remain at home with their parents while the case continues, because they've complied with all court orders and curfews.
WASHINGTON - The four teenagers charged in connection with a massive brawl that was caught on camera inside a Navy Yard Chipotle will stay in parental custody, a judge ruled on Friday.
What we know:
The group appeared before Judge Charles Willoughby Jr. in D.C. Superior Court on Friday.
Willoughby ruled the children would be able to stay in their parents' custody as the case continues, as all four have complied with court-mandated curfews, drug tests and check-ins with parole officers.
Attorneys for each boy also requested their curfews be extended one hour. Willoughby left that decision up to their parole officers, one of which approved.
The backstory:
The fight happened in May, at the Chipotle restaurant in Navy Yard. Video showed a large group attacking each other, with one person seen smashing a high chair over another person's head, before throwing it.
In June, police arrested four suspects: three 16-year-olds and a 15-year-old.
What they're saying:
FOX 5 DC spoke with criminal defense attorney Joseph Tully about what could be expected from this case going forward.
He says that the Attorney General's office is "taking this case very seriously."
"They want to make an example of this case," Tully said. "They want to make sure that it goes out that you cannot participate in this kind of behavior."
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Tully also said that the longer the case continues, it will benefit the defense.
"It gives both sides time to kind of let things shake out. Some of the emotion comes out of the case," he said. "Yes, this was a very serious event. It did go viral. It's not a good look. On the other hand, these are children and nobody was seriously injured."
Tully is not involved in the case.
Dig deeper:
This viral fight is one of the incidents that prompted city officials to institute youth curfews in the District. A citywide curfew will remain in effect through August, prohibiting people under 18 from being out between 11 p.m. and 6 a.m. on weekdays and midnight to 6 a.m. on weekends.
RELATED: DC’s weekend youth curfew zone set for RFK Stadium area
On Friday, MPD announced a temporary curfew zone through the weekend in the area surrounding RFK Stadium.
What's next:
All four boys are due back in court on Aug. 4 for a status hearing.
The Source: Information in this story is from court documents, an interview with Joseph Tully, reporting by FOX 5's Sina Gebre-Ab and previous FOX 5 reports.