4 charged with paralyzing teen

LATASHA MICHAEL steered her burgundy Ford Escape through the streets of Upper Darby on Monday night, with her two younger brothers and her boyfriend in tow.

They were a family on the prowl, police say, looking to score some easy cash by robbing an unsuspecting person.

Cops say they had enough firepower in the SUV to pull off a serious heist - a loaded semiautomatic, a loaded .38-caliber handgun, and a fake .45-caliber that looked pretty damn real.

While Michael and her clan of alleged crooks were on the hunt, Leon Harris, 17, was finishing his shift at Burlington Coat Factory, in Clifton Heights. He hopped on a bus, got off at Marshall Road, and began a short walk to his house on nearby Coverly Road.

Police say it was during this routine stroll that the lives of Leon, an honor student at Upper Darby High School, and Michael and her brothers intersected.

At 9:47 p.m., Michael's brothers Breon Jones, 15, and Ronald Johnson, 17, jumped out of the SUV and approached Leon. Police say they asked him for cash - he had none - and told him to get into an alley.

Frightened for his life, Leon turned and ran. Jones shot him once in the back, police said. Leon fell; the bullet had hit his spine, leaving him paralyzed from the chest down.

A handful of neighbors witnessed the shooting and called 911 with vivid descriptions of the SUV and the shooter. Police captured the four shortly after.

"This is a sad commentary on our urban American society," an outraged Upper Darby Police Superintendent Michael Chitwood said yesterday.

"Here's a kid who's a good, decent human being, doing the right things, going to school, and then you have these punks and street hoodlums destroying his life for pure evil."

Chitwood said Michael, 27; her boyfriend, Bryan Veney, 19; Jones and Johnson - all from Collingdale - were charged with attempted murder, robbery, weapons violations and related offenses. The teens are being charged as adults.

Now, Dorian Harris is forced to ponder her only child's future.

Harris said Leon has spent every weekend helping out as a youth leader at her church, Victory Christian Center, 52nd Street and Whitby Avenue in West Philly.

If he isn't at home studying or taking part in the Delaware County Vocational Technical Program, Harris said, her son is at the Burlington Coat Factory on Baltimore Pike and Oak Avenue, earning money the honest way.

"He's an all-around good Christian kid. He keeps himself out of trouble and helps me a lot at home," Harris said. "I couldn't ask for a better son."

Harris said in addition to paralysis, her son suffered a lung injury when he was shot. Doctors told her it's too early to tell if Leon will ever walk again.

"I just want to know how they could do this to him," said the tearful mother, who found her son face down 25 feet from her home.

"It's sickening, to tell you the truth," added Upper Darby High principal Geoff Kramer. "Leon's a great kid and a hard worker. We're all broken up about this." *