BROWN COUNTY (NBC 26) — Since learning that a teenage boy is facing multiple criminal charges for an attack that happened earlier this month on the East River Trail in De Pere, the founder of a local mentoring program explains how the community can work with youth to inspire change.
Miles Cruz, 17, was charged Thursday with attempted first degree intentional homicide, first degree sexual assault, kidnapping, strangulation and suffocation, and second degree recklessly endangering safety. The charges are tied to an assault on the East River Trail where a woman was attacked while walking with her baby.
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The criminal complaint states that during an interview at the De Pere Police Department, it was revealed that Cruz ran away from home, was having troubles with his parents, and had been staying with friends. It also stated Cruz was recently suspended from school.
“There’s a lot of things that went wrong," said Harry Sydney, the founder, president, and head mentor of My Brother's Keeper. "What runs through my head is that you have a 17-year-old kid - and I’m not making any excuses for him - but here’s a 17-year-old kid that’s throwing his life away, attacking a woman with a baby in broad daylight, that’s homeless. There’s a lot of things that went wrong, whether it’s wrong how he was raised, who raised him, whether he wasn’t getting raised. Somehow, someway, he got lost. And because he got lost, usually when people get lost, their collateral damage is their effect on other people.”
Cruz has not been convicted of the crimes. A preliminary hearing is scheduled for November 10.
Sydney said finding and intervening in intersecting points in someone's life that could lead to poor outcomes is key to creating change, something that might've been overlooked with Cruz.
“How did he become homeless? Was he homeless because of his choice or other choices? What was he running from? What put him in that spot to make him think that way? Those are all those different signs you just go, ‘how come he didn’t get help? Nobody saw it,'" Sydney said.
So what can the community do to prevent and intervene? Sydney said people need to create the right conversations and focus on finding solutions when problems are identified.
“Stop being scared to get involved. (If) you see something that you find amiss, say something. And come at it a different way," Sydney said. "You don’t have to chastise young men. Say, ‘hey bud. Can I talk to you for a second? You know, I can see you going this way. This is maybe not what you really want to do. Are you thinking bout all the consequences?’ And do it in a way not to chastise them, not to beat them up, but to try to help them up.”
My Brother's Keeper is a male mentoring program located in Green Bay that provides "Straight Talk and Sound Direction" to boys and men who are struggling with hardships and lack necessary coping skills. The non-profit offers group, school, and one-on-one mentoring services.
Sydney started the program in 2003 to guide boys and young men who seemed lost. Since its inception, Sydney said they've helped 12,000 people.
