CLEVELAND — A mother of five said she is worried about her children growing up in a time when teens are accused of some pretty serious crimes.
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A 16-year-old boy is charged with murder in Cuyahoga Juvenile Court in the deadly stolen Kia crash in Cleveland’s Old Brooklyn neighborhood.
Juvenile court records show two other boys in the same case were on probation at the time.
One clinical psychologist said children and teens are notoriously influenced by their peers, and when they’re in super stressful moments, their brains go into survival mode.
Felicia Scarbro-Troupe said the guidance she gives her children is always on repeat, but she is competing with her children’s peers and social media.
Scarbro-Troupe has five children, with her oldest being 14 years old.
"We have an open relationship,” Scarbro-Troupe said.
Scarbro-Troupe said her daughter made valedictorian in her graduating 8th-grade year, despite all the bad stuff around her.
“So she understands some people just don't want to do right,” Scarbro-Troupe said.
Scarbro-Troupe lives in Cleveland’s Old Brooklyn neighborhood, where on Aug. 3, a 21-year-old woman died at the corner of Pearl and Altoona roads.
Surveillance video showed a stolen Kia smashing into the car Janet Reyes was riding in.
Days later, News 5 Investigators saw an emotional Cuyahoga County Prosecutor, Michael O’Malley.
"It's just the reckless disregard that we're seeing where people are driving 91 mph,” O’Malley said.
A 16-year-old boy is now charged with murder and aggravated vehicular homicide in the case.
Prosecutors said he did not have a license.
Police said the majority of stolen car cases this summer involve teens.
"I would guess that a lot of times when youth get involved in trouble, in troublesome situations, they're responding from their stress response system,” Dr. Bobbi Beale said.
Beale is a Clinical Psychologist at Case Western Reserve University.
Her pockets of expertise are in trauma exposure and resilience.
News 5 Investigators spoke with Beale to try to gain perspective about teens involved in recent crimes.
She said in high-stress moments, when pressured or feeling threatened, your brain compels you to respond in an aggressive, impulsive and self-centered way.
"You don't have any choices in that particular instance, and I think that's what happens sometimes that they get involved in these situations; they're influenced by all sorts of things, including the media and the news and their family backgrounds or lack thereof,” Beale said.
“You can know right from wrong and still not make decisions based exclusively on that,” Beale said.
She said an adrenaline rush may be a reason for repeat car thieves.
"They can keep perpetuating those types of behaviors because it feels good,” Beale said.
Scarbro-Troupe said she believes young people also feel invincible. She sees that in her own teenager.
"She goes through a lot of times 'Oh, I'm different; I'm made different; it wouldn't happen to me,'” Scarbro-Troupe said.
Scarbro-Troupe said parents shouldn’t be solely to blame.
"Now it's one family home; the parent's usually working, the oldest is raising the rest of the kids now the oldest wants to feel more like an adult, and they do ridiculous stuff,” Scarbro-Troupe said.
Beale said neither should kids.
"You can hold them responsible, but you need to hold everybody else responsible too that the systems failed these kids; it's not the kids who fail, it's the systems that fail,” Beale said.
Beale said a way to break the cycle is to help children and teens find and create safe, stable, and nurturing relationships.
The 16-year-old boy charged in the Old Brooklyn case has a bind over a hearing scheduled for mid-October.
