Charges Filed in Alleged Beating Incident

A Watson teenager has been charged with doing great bodily harm to a Sullivan man during an altercation early Saturday morning.

18-year-old Cory J. Westfall is charged with aggravated battery for injuries he's accused of inflicting on 22-year-old Christian Johnson of Sullivan at what Effingham County State's Attorney Bryan Kibler termed an "underage drinking party" by the I-57 overpass on the Boggsville Road, west of Watson.

Effingham city police stopped a speeding car in town early Saturday morning and officers found Johnson inside.  The driver explained he was trying to get Johnson to the hospital for medical treatment.  The officer accompanied the driver to St. Anthony's Memorial Hospital in Effingham from where Johnson was airlifted to Carle Hospital in Urbana.  Carle officials today said they had no information on anyone by Johnson's name as being a patient there.

The probable cause statement shared in court Monday morning indicated Johnson suffered injuries to an eye socket, a nasal cavity and his jaw and said he received a concussion allegedly by being kicked multiple times.

Westfall's bond was set at $150,000.  He is next due in court with his attorney on September 23, but his case is expected to be considered this Wednesday by an Effingham County grand jury.