The parents of the 17-year-old shot four times by a Reading police officer were angry Thursday that they have not been allowed to visit their son in Reading Hospital.
Rahean Kelley’s mother, Kharyhlez Pruitt of Reading, said it was inexcusable to keep her from her son, especially since he was listed in critical condition after Sunday’s shooting.
“My son is 17, and they won’t let me see him,” Pruitt said. “He could have died.”
Kelley lives with his father, Bryheem Alston, who said Thursday that he has been trying to get in to see the teen since he learned of the shooting.
“I’m distraught that I can’t see my son,” the Reading man said. “No one seems to be able to tell us why we can’t see him.”
Kelley’s condition had improved to stable Thursday and he was awake and talking, Alston said.
Authorities had not identified Rahean Kelley after the shooting because he is a juvenile. Kelley’s parents, in a call to the Reading Eagle about them not being able to see their son, identified him as the teen who was shot by police.
Berks County Sheriff Eric J. Weaknecht said Thursday that there is a simple explanation as to why the parents weren’t allowed to visit Kelley.
“We (the sheriff’s office) have never guarded a juvenile in the hospital.” Weaknecht said. “I’ve been with the department for 31 years. I don’t know if juvenile probation officers or constables guarded them in the past but we have never had one until now.”
As a result, deputies guarding Kelley have followed department policy for guarding injured adult suspects in the two area hospitals.
“Our policy is no family gets in,” Weaknecht said. “The only people we allow in are clergy and lawyers.”
However, Kelley’s parents now will be allowed to see their son.
Berks County District Attorney John T. Adams and Weaknecht said they had cleared the way for the parents to visit Kelley on Friday morning.
“I don’t care what he’s charged with,” Adams said. “His parents should be allowed to see him.”
Weaknecht said Kelley’s parents wouldn’t have been able to communicate with him if they had been allowed to visit earlier because the teen was unconscious until Thursday.
“As his condition improves we will expand the visitation,” the sheriff said.
Pruitt contends that she had been promised she would be able to see her son at least twice before.
“I can’t wait to see him,” Pruitt said. “I’ve probably had 12 hours of sleep since Sunday.”
Kelley was shot twice in the back, once in a shoulder and once in a wrist after a low-speed car chase from 17th Street and Perkiomen Avenue in the city to a dead-end street on Neversink Mountain in Lower Alsace Township, investigators said.
Reading Police Officer Jesus Santiago DeJesus fired at least five shots through the rear windshield of the car police said Kelley was driving, investigators said.
An 18-year-old, Supreme D. Mayo, also was wounded and was treated in Reading Hospital. A male juvenile in the vehicle was not injured.
Contact Dan Kelly: 610-371-5040 or dkelly@readingeagle.com.
