A parent of a boy linked to the beating of disabled teen Josh Graves spoke out Thursday, saying his son didn’t punch or kick Josh but made a mistake by standing by as it happened.

“He should have had the courage to either try to stop them or bring himself home, because he knows right and wrong,” Larry Barber Sr. said.

Barber said his 15-year-old son was at the scene of the May 21 attack, Clinton Park, 500 Ill., and was friends with the other suspects in the beating. But Barber said his son stood at a distance as the beating occurred. Barber said he was told by a police investigator that police believed his son didn’t strike any blows.

Officially, police have said there were six suspects in the beating, ages 11 to 15, but Josh’s mother, Teri Snell, said she’d been told by police that only four of them struck her son.

Douglas County Dist. Atty. Christine Kenney said Thursday that her office was tracking down more information about the incident and would file charges quickly, if appropriate. Kenney said she couldn’t confirm how many of the six boys faced potential charges.

Barber, a single father of four, said the group of boys suspected in the beating had been banned from his house, and he said he gave his son a “thorough tongue-lashing” when he learned the son didn’t do anything to help Josh, who has cerebral palsy and epilepsy.

Barber said he worried that because his son was black, he would be suspected of being part of a street gang. Barber complained that police photographed his son after they questioned him — a common practice, he said, in anti-gang efforts.

“I can’t just stand by and let my kid get labeled a thug or a gang member,” Barber said. “He just didn’t do something I thought he should have been strong enough to do or intelligent enough to do.”

¢ Teen with disabilities touched by show of support after beating (5-25-03)¢ 6News video: Show support for Josh Graves¢ Teen with disability is beaten (5-28-03)¢ 6News video: Disabled teenager attacked in Lawrence park (5-28-03)