Tough video to watch.
The incident happened Friday night, the 12-year-old white boy was performing with his dance instructor and a fellow student on a sidewalk in downtown Cape Girardeau, Missouri.
A man got out of a nearby vehicle, sneaked up behind boy, hit him hard on the back of the head and fled back to his vehicle. The boy fell to the pavement, and he had to be taken to a local hospital. He reportedly sustained a concussion.
The incident was recorded in a Facebook Live video.
Po-po say they identified 27-year-old Cedric Charles Moore Jr. as the man who sucker punched the 12-year-old boy.He faces a second-degree felony assault and first-degree child endangerment but remains at-large.
In a news release, the police department says those charges have been filed "due to the age of the victim and the violence of the act." Police added in their statement that “the public has understandably expressed a desire to see Moore charged with a hate crime for this heinous crime but in accordance with state statutes, this charge would only apply if the assault was categorized to a lesser degree, which would not be in the best interest of seeking true justice for the victim.”
The victim’s mother tells TMZ “I appreciate the police department for taking the case so seriously, and I know my son appreciates it too. I don't think I will feel any relief until he is arrested. As of now it's just words on paper there hasn't been any real consequence."
The man who shot the video says Moore must be arrested because "anyone who's willing to hit a kid like that, there's no telling what they're going to do next."