04-14-2008, 09:06 PM
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#1 (permalink) |
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Groupie
Join Date: Apr 2008
Location: Florida, USA
Posts: 5
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Teenager Beated by 6 Teenagers
LAKELAND -- The Polk County teenagers allegedly involved in the taping of a 16-year-old girl being beaten will be in court Friday.
The video shows several girls punching and slapping the girl. Deputies said the fight started over comments posted on the Internet. Polk County investigators said the suspects will be tried as adults. The eight teens are facing felony charges -- some of them for kidnapping. If convicted some of the teens could possibly get life in prison. News 13 is not naming the victim in this case. Suspects On The Web News 13 looked at some of the Web sites of the accused teens. The MySpace Web page for Mercades Nichols, 17, shows that the girl who she is accused of beating is still listed as one of her top friends. There is another MySpace Web page that is apparently a support site for suspect April Cooper, with people posting comments of support for the 14-year-old. There are other Web pages that appear to be for the other people involved, but they were are all set to private and were not viewable. One of the MySpace pages News 13 found was one that appears to be the Web page for the victim in the beating. On the page, she says that she is doing fine. She gives thanks for everything and says that she is loved. Why Do Girls Attack? "It was a pack mentality and they really didn't care how bad they hurt her," said Sheriff Grady Judd, of the Polk County Sheriff's Office. The girls allegedly intended to post video of the attack on YouTube.com, but a parent intercepted it. Being a bully, experts say, is all about getting attention, and gender doesn't matter. "If they're not the prettiest, if they're not the most athletic, if they not the smartest, they have to find a way to get the popularity, the attention and the things that they need," said Meline Kevorkian, of Nova Southeastern University. "We, as a society must say this is enough. We must say, 'Why does YouTube run any of this that encourages this kind of behavior and activity," Judd said. The victim's mother said today's culture is to blame. "These kids, I feel, are lashing out because it's their trend. They see everything on the Internet, the media, people beating the snot out of each other. They think it's funny and, in a sense, it's warped their minds, to think, well, I'll be the next one to do it," said Talisa Lindsay, the victim's mother. Youtube.com does not pre-screen material, but insists it pulls violent videos once they are flagged. Its guidelines state: "If your video shows someone getting hurt or attacked, don't post it." ------------------------------------------------- LAKELAND -- The eight teens accused of taking part in the videotaped beating of a 16-year-old will all be charged as adults. The teens, who range in age from 14 to 18, are charged with kidnapping and battery for the attack in Polk County, and face life in prison because of Thursday’s decision. Deputies said six girls beat the 16-year-old girl while two boys stayed outside the home and served as lookouts. The judge also recently issued a gag order in the case because he was frustrated that the parents of the victim and some suspects were talking to the media, along with the amount of details the Polk County Sheriff's Office was releasing about the case. The Polk County attack made national headlines after video surfaced showing a 16-year-old cheerleader being attacked for 30 minutes. At one point in the video, the beaten girl was knocked unconscious, and was later seen pleading to be let out of the house. The attack was allegedly in response to insults the victim posted on a MySpace.com page. The sheriff's office said that after the attack, three of the teens forced the victim into a vehicle and drove her to another location, where she was told she would be given a worse beating if she called police. The victim's father said a number of videos were recorded and that the teens intended to post it on YouTube.com. The girl is still recovering from a concussion and has lost some vision and hearing. She said she won't be returning to public school because of what happened. ----------------------------------------------- |
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04-14-2008, 10:01 PM
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#2 (permalink) |
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Commercial Actor
 Join Date: Oct 2006
Location: Pensacola, The Hurricane State
Posts: 1,155
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I don't understand how people can be so cruel and thoughtless. My husband read a news article that says the girls were laughing and joking when they were arrested. What is wrong with these girls? It's frightening to see so many cases of young people being cruel and violent and showing no remorse.
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04-17-2008, 08:06 PM
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#4 (permalink) |
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Groupie
Join Date: Apr 2008
Posts: 19
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thats terrible
i read something a while ago about these two parents posing as this guy over myspace and harrassing this girl their daughter had some kind of false fued with out of revenge for their daughter. i don't even know if their daughter knew they doing this. and the girl killed herself because of messages those parents were sending her. people are screwed up.
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04-21-2008, 11:09 AM
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#6 (permalink) |
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Extra
Join Date: Mar 2008
Posts: 231
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The internet is a double edge sword. While it has made life simpler in so many ways (for example, I travel a lot for business and can't recall what I used to do before electronic gate info, alerts, maps, etc). At the same time, it seems to have created a whole new set of problems - like jumping someone and video taping it to post it on YouTube? How sick is that? There are website dedicated to hooking up people who want to cheat on their spouses. Lovely. Hackers and ripoff artists on ebay. And on and on and on.
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