8 Teens arrested for attack on girl www.privateofficer.com
Posted by privateofficernews on April 8, 2008
8 Teens charged with brutal attack on girl www.privateofficer.com
Polk County Fla. April 8 2008
By: Rick McCann
Ntl. Assoc. Private Officers
Looking at the video that a group of teens took of themselves savagely beating on a 16 year old girl brings only one thing to mind, pack animals and Sheriff Grady Judd agreed as he stated in his press release. “It’s pack mentality,” he said. “They lured her there to beat her.”
Sheriff investigators say that a group of six teenage girls and two boys, all of whom have now been rounded up and arrested are accussed of of participating in the videotaped beating engaged in “animalistic behavior Sheriff Judd said in a press conference Monday.
The video is shocking: A teenage girl is repeatedly beaten and taunted as other teenagers shout in the background. “Make this 17 seconds good,” one yells toward the video’s end.The eight teens arrested, pummeled the 16-year-old victim until she was bruised and had a concussion.
The 16-year-old was having problems at home and was staying with a friend, Mercades Nichols, 17, in Lakeland, according to the Sheriff’s Office.On March 30 about 8:30 p.m., the victim arrived at Nichols’ house on West Calendar Court and was greeted by Nichols and another girl.The victim went into the bedroom where she was staying, and a third girl, April Cooper, 14, began to insult and threaten her, then hit her in the face several times and slammed her head into a wall, knocking her unconscious, a sheriff’s report states.When the victim awoke, she was on the living-room couch surrounded by six girls who took turns hitting and kicking her while the beating was videotaped, records show. The girl told investigators that the six blocked the door, held her down and beat her for a half-hour. Sometime during the attack, her left ear and eye were injured, authorities said.Two teenage neighbors, both male, acted as lookouts, the Sheriff’s Office said.
After the beating, three of the girls drove the victim to another friend’s house, where they told her, “If you go to the police, the next beating will be worse,” the report states.Six girls, a boy and a young man were arrested Wednesday on charges of felony battery and false imprisonment.
They are Nichols, Cooper, Brittni Hardcastle, 17, Kayla Hassell, 15, Brittany Mayes, 17, Cara Murphy, 16, Zachary Ashley, 17, and Stephen Schumaker, 18. All are from Lakeland except Hassell, who is from Mulberry.Mayes, Hardcastle and Nichols also were arrested on charges of felony kidnapping for forcing the victim into the car and driving her to another location.
All the minors were taken to the Juvenile Assessment Center in Bartow and were still in custody late Monday, a sheriff’s spokeswoman said. Schumaker was released from the Polk County Jail on bail and, in a phone interview, denied being involved.
Schumaker said Monday that he was not a lookout. He told the Orlando Sentinel that he and Ashley were sitting on Ashley’s porch next door to Nichols’ house when he heard Nichols yelling at the victim. He said he went to get gas and was not present when the victim was beaten.According to the sheriff’s report, the victim told investigators that Schumaker and Ashley knocked on the front door and warned the girls they were making so much noise that neighbors were wondering what was going on.”I could be facing a year and a day in jail for something I didn’t do,” Schumaker said.
According to the victim, the girls bragged that they planned to post the beating on YouTube and MySpace.
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Eve said
i think those girls should be kicked off the cheerleading squad and charged as adults.
melanie said
i have read what other people said online and watched their recorded oppinions on youtube. I dont think this should have fought back. If she did the fuel to the fire would have killed her. We would have wittnessed a carefully orchestrated attack turn into a murder scene. Its to drastic of a measure for revenge. Especially for being bff”s. Teens dont know what their doing and this mistake should not be treated lightly. They knocked her out and then took turns beating the crap out of her she was ganged up on and could not have protected herself. Parents that commeted on their children said she could have protected herself or it was just our imagination that she was beat down multiple times at once by everyone. Thats Bs and I think their parents deserve to sit in jail for a while for not reconignizing their childrens animalistic behaivor. Wolves don’t kill for fun they kill for food and they only attack in groups which means they are cowards alone. These 8 teens are cowards and need help.
melanie said
I thought of these teens as a pack of wolves, thats exactly what they are. WOLVES. I hate the parents for even sticking up for their stupid kids and i am sure they did not do a good job raising them to act civil in situations like this. If my child did this to her i would make her get a job to help pay for medical costs and pay her compensation for a long time. To make her realize she was wrong and this is not a way to settle a dispute among friends and to be brave to not always go with the popular vote that’s wrong among friends. Plus she would be grounded for like a year. Jail would not help them. But their parents said this behavior is okay so i believe NOT A LESSON WAS LEARNED. THEY GOT AWAY OH WELL, RIGHT?