Cape Girardeau Police Department
29 May 2021
The Missouri man who sucker-punched a 12-year-old boy dancing on a sidewalk has been sentenced to seven years in prison.
“Cedric Moore changed his plea from not guilty to guilty earlier this month and was sentenced by a judge for second-degree assault in Cape Girardeau,” 11 Alive reported Friday.
A viral video clip showed the incident involving 12-year-old Ethan Hagler, who was dancing on a Main Street sidewalk in July near his dance instructor, Michael Curry, and another child.
In the video, Hagler, wearing a red T-shirt, had his back turned when an SUV pulled up nearby and a man wearing a white shirt got out of the vehicle and approached the group.
The ugly wallop was caught on video in July 2020 and caused an outrage. It showed the victim and two pals listening to music when an SUV pulls up near them.
Faced with incontrovertible video evidence of his guilt, a Missouri man has pleaded guilty to the vicious sucker-punching of a child, an unprovoked attack for which he will serve seven years in state prison, records show.
Cedric Moore, 28, copped earlier this month to a felony assault charge in connection with his walloping of a 12-year-old boy who was dancing last year on a downtown Cape Girardeau street corner.
The victim, Ethan Hagler, was with his hip-hop dance instructor when the 205-pound Moore exited an SUV and snuck up on the boy to deliver a
roundhouse punch to the child’s head.