Boston police have identified four teenage boys from Allston and South Boston who they say viciously attacked the drummer for a rock band outside South Station early Friday, and the teens are facing delinquency charges of assault and battery and larceny, officials said Tuesday.
The youths will be summonsed to Suffolk County Juvenile Court in Boston in connection with the attack on 20-year-old drummer Adam Neufell, according to Sergeant Detective John Boyle, the chief spokesman for Boston police. They include a 15-year-old boy from Allston, a 16-year-old boy from Allston, and two 16-year-old boys from South Boston, Boyle said.
Advertisement
Neufell’s band said earlier Tuesday that they have to cancel a slate of upcoming shows in Pennsylvania, Ohio, and Buffalo, N.Y., owing to the severity of the concussion their bandmate suffered during the assault.
Rock band Young Other confirmed the news in a statement posted to Facebook.
Neufell was set upon by four teenagers who exited an SUV near the station shortly after midnight Friday and punched and kicked him to unconsciousness in an attack that witnesses recorded via cell phone.
The video footage was shared widely online.
Multiple police officers and residents who saw the video contacted investigators in the case to help identify the boys, according to a redacted supplemental police report in the case. The teens’ identities were confirmed through interviews and through identifications made by Neufell and his girlfriend, witnesses, and others who participated in the investigation, according to the report.
Young Other said in a Tuesday Facebook post that they announced the cancellation of their July dates “with heavy hearts ... due to the severity of Adam’s concussion.”
The band said full ticket refunds are available for their headlining dates July 2nd at The Maple Grove Tavern in Maple Heights, Ohio and July 3rd at The Mohawk Place in Buffalo, N.Y.
Advertisement
“We plan on rescheduling these dates at a later time when Adam is in full health and recovered from last week’s attack in Boston,” the band said. “Thank you all for the heartwarming amount of love, support, and patience with us as we work through this heartbreaking experience side by side with Adam’s healthcare professionals.”
Neufell’s father, Andy Neufell, said Monday in a phone interview that one woman who filmed the attack was standing near Adam and his girlfriend when the assailants ran toward him.
“She thought they were coming after her,” Andy Neufell said of the woman, who is pregnant. “So she ran to her Uber and that’s when she started to videotape” the assault.
The attackers had earlier shouted derogatory remarks from their SUV about his son’s long hair, he said. His son flipped his hair backward in response, made remarks about their haircuts, and said they were driving a parent’s vehicle, he said.
At that point, “they just piled out” of the SUV, he said, while his son began backing away to avoid a confrontation.
“They basically attacked him, and after he was unconscious they continued to kick and punch him,” he said.
Adam Neufell and his girlfriend had gone into Boston on Thursday night for fun and to get some pastries, his family said.
A redacted Boston police report said a witness told officers that Adam Neufell and his girlfriend were looking at a map outside South Station when a gray Toyota 4Runner pulled up and someone inside told Neufell to “get a haircut,” prompting an exchange of words between him and the suspects.
Advertisement
The witness said the 4Runner was carrying about “6 to 7 ‘white kids’ (suspects) all in their early 20s,” and that one of them approached Neufell first and punched him. Neufell, the witness told police, “started to back up and all the suspects started to ‘beat’ him.”
Another witness, the report said, told officers Neufell “flipped his hair” in response to the initial remark about a haircut, and “the suspects then jumped out of the vehicle and started to beat him.”
The police report also described two videos of the attack, one of which showed the 4Runner’s license plate number, that responding officers viewed.
“In one video the officers observed 3 white males ‘punching’ an individual several times while on the ground and [redacted] pushing the males away to stop them from assaulting the individual on the ground,” the report said. “Another white male was observed running away from the scene into the vehicle.”
The report said “a description of the vehicle with the plate and a number of possible suspects was broadcasted on all channels.”
In an interview Monday, Lynn Neufell said Adam’s girlfriend rolled him over after the attack and started screaming his name since she thought his face was “covered in blood.”
“It’s pretty traumatizing for her as well,” she said. “She did amazing, trying to help.”
Andy Neufell said Monday that his son was in concussion protocol at home, trying to avoid light and relax.
Advertisement
“He’s had concussions in the past, starting with a pretty severe one when he was younger,” he said.
Reached via text message Tuesday afternoon, Andy Neufell said his son was being seen by a doctor as his recovery continues.
“We are familiar with concussions and they are serious and we are being very careful,” Andy Neufell wrote.
Matt French, a guitarist in the band Hüligan, said Sunday via Facebook that he was angered by news of the attack.
French described Adam Neufell as “hands down one of the most hard working, kind hearted, gentlest souls you will ever meet” and said he was certain “Adam did not provoke this cowardly attack by a bunch of ... cowards. On behalf of myself and all of us in Hüligan, I want to extend our very best and sincere wishes for a speedy recovery and sending prayers and hugs to our little brother in Boston. You got this brother.”
Material from prior Globe stories was used in this report. Correspondent Jeremy C. Fox contributed reporting.
Travis Andersen can be reached at travis.andersen@globe.com.