Inset: Gabriel R. Schuch (Crystal Lake Police Department). Background: The train station where Schuch allegedly attacked someone with a skateboard in downtown Crystal Lake, Ill. (Google Maps).
An Illinois teenager with a global reputation in skateboarding has been taken into custody following an alleged assault involving a skateboard at a train station, authorities in Illinois have reported.
Gabriel R. Schuch, 19, is facing charges of aggravated battery in a public place and aggravated battery causing serious bodily harm, according to records from McHenry County court.
The incident reportedly took place just after midnight on Thursday at a Metra train station in downtown Crystal Lake, a city situated approximately 45 miles northwest of Chicago.
Police officers arrived at the scene on the 100 block of Woodstock Street after a 911 call reported an individual was “being battered by a subject known to them,” according to the Crystal Lake Police Department.
Upon arrival, first responders discovered the victim had sustained significant injuries and promptly transported them to a nearby hospital for treatment, officials stated.
“The investigation revealed that the suspect used a skateboard to strike the victim in the head during the altercation,” the police department’s press release indicated.
Around 1:55 a.m., the Illinois State Police located Schuch in Lansing, Illinois — which is roughly 75 miles southeast of Crystal Lake — and took him into custody without incident, police said.
The defendant’s lawyer framed his client as the would-be victim, according to a courtroom report by Shaw Local News Network.
To hear the defense tell it, the victim of the downtown train station beating was previously responsible for a “vicious” attack on Schuch.
The defense attorney told 22nd Judicial Circuit Court Judge Christopher Harmon the earlier incident was severe but Schuch did not report it to police because he feared the assailant would kill him.
Since that earlier alleged attack and prior to Wednesday night, the two men had not interacted with one another, the lawyer said.
Both the prosecutor on hand for the hearing and the defense attorney reportedly described the meeting as a chance encounter.
Where the lawyers differed, however, was how the two men reacted.
The prosecutor cited a witness who was with the victim. She allegedly said the two clearly recognized one another and made eye contact but that no words were exchanged and the meeting was “awkward.”
The defense attorney, on the other hand, said Schuch feared for his life when he laid eyes on the other man.
The prosecutor said each man boarded the same train on different train cars on the night in question and that Schuch ran up behind the victim and struck him with the skateboard “unprovoked.”
The defense attorney acknowledged the severity of the injuries but told the court that based on what he had seen, the injuries suggested the man had been struck from the front — not behind.
Specifically, Schuch is accused of striking the other man “in the head and face with the wheels/axel of a skateboard,” according to a criminal complaint obtained by Shaw Local.
During the hearing, the prosecutor said the victim suffered a fractured skull and brain bleed that put him in the intensive care unit.
The defendant is a professional skateboarder with a clothing line, YouTube channel, and a job, according to his defense attorney. Schuch is currently ranked 266th globally in men’s skateboarding.
After the hearing, Schuch was released under court supervision. He was ordered to wear an ankle monitor and to have no contact with the other man.
“Let me make this clear, Mr. Schuch…I would recommend you don’t even think about [the victim] going forward,” the judge said.
The defendant is slated to appear in court again on July 9.
