Second boy in Target cart toss tragedy sentenced to group home

One of the 12-year-olds who shoved a shopping cart over a walkway that hit a woman and left her brain damaged was sentenced to six to 16 months in a theraputic group home Thursday, according to published reports.

Judge Susan Larabee, in Manhattan Family Court, noted the boy was a victim of violence and neglect, but expressed hope that treatment would help him overcome his own propensity to violence.

The other boy, who is now 13, was sentenced last month to serve six to 18 months in a therapy-oriented boarding school in Westchester, though both could conceivably be ordered by the court to stay in placements until they are 18.

The boys - who were not identified because of their age - both pleaded guilty in November to assaulting Marion Salmon Hedge, a real estate broker and philanthropist who was out buying candy to distribute to needy children on Oct. 30.