Teen Goes To Hospital After Monday Altercation With Man in Joliet

JOLIET, IL — On Monday afternoon, Rhiannon Woods, 17, and Gaby Woods, 15, made their way to the corner of Larkin Avenue and Jefferson Streets with protest signs. While there is usually a small group of people in that location protesting for Black Lives Matter, on Monday, the girls were alone. Alone save for the two men who were in another area of the parking lot where the Kmart used to be located.

“They were there protesting for Black Lives Matter and they said the two men that were there were verbally abusing them calling them stupid, telling them they were uneducated,” mom Danielle Woods told Patch during a phone interview.

Danielle Woods said her daughter made a decision she did not think through. She approached the truck of one of the men that is covered in Trump paraphernalia and pulled on one of the flags to take a selfie.

“My oldest ran to the back of the truck and she reached up to grab the flag, she was going to take a selfie with it,” Danielle Woods said. “It came out backwards, it came out of the back of the truck.

"She said she wanted to take a picture with a trump sign because that’s what she’s fighting against."

What happened up to this point and next is not captured on film or video. Danielle Woods said her daughters told her the man got out of his truck, pushed Rhiannon Woods to the ground and began beating the older girl with the flag pole. At some point, Gaby ran to rescue Rhiannon and was also hit with the same flag pole. Gaby Woods then was able to take the flag pole from the man, who eventually got in his truck and drove off.

The girls called their mother, who came to the scene and called Joliet police.

“The police were like, there is nothing we can do, we don’t know who he is, and he left,” Danielle Woods said.

But later that evening, after an impassioned plea on social media, a video surfaced of the end of the attack. Danielle Woods called Joliet Police back.

“What I did was as soon as people started contacting me, I had the police come back to the house,” she said.

The video shows the girls in an altercation with a man. There is a flag involved, but in the video, one girl takes possession of the flag and pole from the man. The man can be seen picking up an object from the ground. At the end, the girls are seen running after the man and Danielle Woods said that was because he had taken their phone. You can see the man throw the phone towards the girls at the end of the video.

Police took the video and statements and have opened an investigation, according to Woods. Calls to the Joliet Police Department to confirm the investigation and details of the case were not immediately returned. Although Danielle Woods has named the attacker, Patch has not verified his identity with police.

Rhiannon Woods had to go to the hospital to be treated for her injuries, which include a minor concussion and various bruises and contusions. Gaby Woods was also injured, but her injuries did not require a trip to the hospital. Both girls are students at Plainfield Central High School.

Patch will update the story when more information is available.

View the video here, taken by Ashlyn Fisk: