A plea agreement is apparently close in the case of the teen charged with injuring at least 13 people during a bonfire incident in the Town of Maple Grove that took place during Pulaski High School’s homecoming week in October 2022.
Samuel J. Armstrong, 18, has been charged with 13 felony counts of injury by negligent handling of explosives or fire in connection with an explosion Oct. 14, 2022, during a bonfire at a home on Cedar Drive.
During a short hearing Dec. 6 in Shawano-Menominee County Circuit Court, defense attorney Greg Petit, appearing via Zoom, told Judge Katherine Sloma that he received a plea agreement offer Dec. 5 from District Attorney Gregory Parker.
“I’ve talked to my client, and we would like to set this matter for a plea hearing,” Petit said.
He asked that the hearing be scheduled for early February. Sloma set the hearing for 3 p.m. Feb. 5 and ordered a pre-sentence investigation.
According to the criminal complaint, Armstrong admitted that he and another youth threw a 55-gallon barrel partially filled with a diesel and gasoline mixture onto the fire but did not think it would do what it did and injure someone.
The incident was not reported immediately, because a number of underage people at the bonfire were reportedly drinking alcohol. Authorities learned the next day that several people between the ages of 16 and 18 had been admitted to hospitals in Green Bay for burns and other injuries.
The investigation led to the Cedar Drive home, where a man told a detective that Armstrong and the other youth had moved the barrel.
Armstrong said he tried to help put out the flames on one of the victims when he was punched from behind, according to the criminal complaint. He claimed four or five people went after him, and he ran into a nearby cornfield, where he hid for about five minutes before leaving in his vehicle.
The criminal complaint indicates that Armstrong said he’d consumed six beers.
Armstrong was charged Aug. 3 and has been free on a $100,000 signature bond. If convicted, he faces a prison sentence of 3 1/2 years, a $10,000 fine or both for each of the 13 counts.
wbluhm@newmedia-wi.com
Plea agreement near in Pulaski bonfire explosion
