Police investigate reported assault of two teens at Kennewick hotel

A man reportedly punched a 15-year-old boy in the stomach and knocked his 16-year-old daughter out with a hit to the face on Sunday after learning from social media they were smoking marijuana together.

The boy and the girl, who are cousins, were staying at the Clover Island Inn with their mothers, a release said. The mothers left the teens at the room while they attended the Brews & Blues Fest at the Benton County Fairgrounds.

The pair began smoking marijuana and the boy took a photo of his cousin while she smoked and posted it to SnapChat. A family member saw the post and forwarded it to the girl’s father who went to the hotel and picked her up.

“The 15-year-old claims the 16-year-old’s father punched him in the stomach and hit his daughter in the face so hard it knocked her out, requiring him to carry her out,” the release said.

Kennewick officers talked to the girl’s parents who acknowledged the teens were smoking marijuana and the girl’s father had gone to pick her up. But they say the boy fabricated the story about the assaults as he “tends to do things like this when he is in trouble.”

The girl was not at home at the time when officers spoke to her parents.

The case has been forwarded onto the city attorney to consider any charges.

This story was originally published May 17, 2016 at 8:53 AM with the headline "Police investigate reported assault of two teens at Kennewick hotel."