Camden Cook pleads guilty to aggravated assault of Flint Hill in return for misdemeanor charge
Reward offered for missing video of fight now totals $2,000
On June 21, 2024, 17-year-old Camden Ryan Cook of Canadian was arrested and charged with the June 9th aggravated assault causing bodily injury of Flint Wayne Hill, 17, a Hemphill County resident. Cook was one of three young men charged with the assault, which occurred late in the evening of June 8, on private property located on Marshall Drive.
Among his injuries, Hill sustained blowout fractures of the left eye socket, multiple fractures of the right socket and a broken nose.
In the arrest warrant, Cook was charged with “intentionally, knowingly, and recklessly” causing bodily injury to Hill by “repeatedly striking [him] in the head with a closed fist,” and thereby causing serious bodily injury. The other two known assailants—identified only by their initials—are juveniles. Their arrests, and the charges against them, have been withheld from the public due to their ages.
According to Chief Deputy Jerri-Lynn Ortega’s report, Hill came to the Sheriff’s Office on June 17 to make a statement regarding the assault. In his statement, Hill said he was at the Marshall Drive location with a group of people that night after the Canadian River Music Festival. He was approached by a juvenile who said they needed to talk, they talked, and Hill turned to walk away.
The next thing Hill remembered, according to the report, is waking up on the ground, his left eye swollen shut, with blood around his nose and mouth and coming out of the corner of his eye.
In his statement to Officer Ortega, Cook said he joined the fight after Hill shoved the juvenile, who responded by punching Hill in the jaw and knocking him to the ground.
Several videos of the incident were recorded by witnesses, and shared widely on social media. One video in particular shows Hill lying on the ground with one of the minors straddling his chest, repeatedly striking him. Cook is seen standing over Hill and then begins striking him several times in the face, while the other juvenile holds the victim’s legs down.
According to medical records, Hill’s left and right occipital lobes, his nose, and his jaw were all fractured. He is still under medical supervision, and may require surgery to one eye as the result of scar tissue on one retina which could cause vision loss.
The charge of aggravated assault causing bodily injury is a second-degree felony, punishable by two to 20 years in prison and a fine up to $10,000. While the charges against Cook were filed in the 31st Judicial District Court of Hemphill County, they were actually heard last Wednesday, August 21, in Wheeler County’s District Courtroom.
In a plea bargain agreement involving District Attorney Franklin McDonough representing the state and attorney Mike Warner representing Cook, the final charge was reduced to a Class A misdemeanor to which Cook entered a guilty plea. District Judge Steven R. Emmert granted Cook ten months of deferred adjudication, and ordered him to pay a $500 fine and to perform 80 hours of community service.
According to the victim’s family, they received no notification of the hearing, nor were they given an opportunity to present victims’ statements, as required under Chapter 56A of Texas’ Code of Criminal Procedure establishing the rights of crime victims.
The assault on Hill took place on the evening following the Canadian River Music Festival, June 8, and was preceded by another fight at the festival site, in which a Canadian man was beaten by more than one attacker, and also sustained serious injuries.
Despite a number of videos taken by witnesses of that fight, in which some of the attackers were easily identifiable, no arrests were made, and no charges were filed.
Hemphill County Sheriff Brent Clapp said no further investigation would be pursued or legal action taken in that case because the victim did not want to seek charges.
KXDJ Radio's Chris Samples interviewed the victim's mother, Ada Hill, on the air Wednesday morning. A link to the entire interview is available online at https://highplainsobserverperryton.com/.
