Eight teens were arrested, including six girls investigators say pummeled the 16-year-old victim until she was bruised and had a concussion. According to the victim, the girls bragged that they planned to post the beating on YouTube and MySpace.
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 thePolk County 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.
Jonathan Parker Walton of the Sentinel staff contributed to this report. Susan Jacobson can be reached at sjacobson@orlandosentinel.com or 407-420-5411
The Video ( at top of the page )
http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/local/southwest/orl-beating0808apr08,0,6721790.story
OUCH
Comments
Are any of them hot?
member of imminst.org
The sad thing is this kind of thing happens all the time...
but mention myspace and their apparent involvement and the media has a field day..
In my high school people got the crap beaten out of them if they didn't watch their mouth and they just mouth off to people....
but that's kind of screwed up they taped it, knocked her out and woke her up(i didn't watch the video, I can't tolerate certain types of graphic violence and this is one of them) and beat the crap out of her again..
I hope she wasn't seriously injured but she should press charges... Maybe she at least learned the hard way to watch her mouth and stop badmouthing people behind their back..
I can think of at least 3 instances back in high school rumormongering, badmouthing someone behind their back, messing with another woman's boyfriend = cat fight, women just hate each other
link to the mugshots :P
machinist.salon.com/blog/2008/04/08/myspace_beating/
Trump 2016
This is real bad, real, real bad. Don't these suburban princesses today realize you are supposed to take a gun to school to settle things? Or settle things out on the street as you drive by in a car? Those are the socially accepted ways, so much so that the media doesn't even bother to cover them anymore.
Geez, kids these days.....what a bunch of drama queens....not using a gun......
Geez, no wonder they're all so pissed off, those girls are seriously fugly. It's pretty messed up though, they not only beat her, but they planned it, knocked her out, transported her, and then kicked her ass. That one girl is a serious bull, the one with pink pants.
Meh.. I dunno, watching a bunch of skinny teen girls hit each other really doesn't look particularly brutal to me. Kinda violent, yeah, but hardly brutal. That one gang beating in the UK we had on here a couple of months ago was a hell of a lot worse.
It's part of our nature I don't see why people are sooo shocked, these things have happened since the start of time and were much worse than they are now seeing as laws can be properly enforced. Everyone needs to realise this is a dangerous world where you can die any day, there are no rights to life, it's all just rules the higher power made up for control over the rest so he can keep his place in power.
All need to come out from under your blankets.
Yeah they probably have a count of kidnapping to go with assault which is a much much more serious offense
and if they're charged as adults :O serious jail time...
Trump 2016
I see a couple I would be willing to hold under house arrest once they hit 18. I sentence them to a year of hard labor to be served 3-8 minutes at a time
member of imminst.org
Yea but high school fights are totally different, its usually 1 against 1 or 1 against a few but its outside where everyone can see and if it gets out of hand then outsiders will usually step in and break it up. In this case she was lured into the home knocked unconcious, kidnapped in a way, threatened, and then mentally and physically harassed, no matter how much shit you talk no one deserves that, getting beat up in a fair fight yes, but what happened to that girl is just cruel and messed up.
Welcome to the human race sweetie
I am extremely disappointed here, i thought i was going to see hot teens and graphic violence. I saw NEITHER. I've seen worse cat fights.
Either way i hope the 17 year old ones are charged as adults. If they aren't i hope they at least have a hard time at juvy. Out of it too.
Stupid bimbos. I hope they go choke on a cock.
Charge them as adults.
Trade in material assumptions for spiritual facts and make permanent progress.
I am about as non-violent as a person could possibly get. And I'm proud of it. I understand there is a time to fight and I'll put up a damn good one, but if there is ANY way around it I'm going the other way. Violence is stupid and idiotic every single time someone starts it. Period.
You can call me hippy or whatever, I don't give a care what you call me. But stuff like this is completely unnecessary to me. I have seen enough real life violence, death, and fighting to make you fall to your knees in disbelief and I'm experiencing the after effects of it as well. It leads to nothing but stress, depression, and loss of hope. I don't believe that most of us want that in our lives. I know I'm working like hell to get rid of it so I can get back to being a stable dependable person again for my family and friends.
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14-16year old girls... your profile say you are 28 -.-
Yeah I saw that video. White girls are crazy. That was the 2nd incident they hurt that girl. I was sure the victim would know that the 2nd time around it was a trap. I'm glad they all got what they deserve, but the victim, I don't know how she is doing. I hear she got loss of hearing, sight, bruses, brain damage, all that bad stuff. I'll keep her in prayer. Stuff like this happens all the time like a previous poster said. Some people are just dumb enough to film it.
-In memory of Laura "Taera" Genender. Passed away on Aug/13/08-
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RISING DRAGOON ~AION US ONLINE LEGION for Elyos
crap, I went to a college in Lakeland lol! I was a sheriff deputy in neighboring Pasco County. Doesn't suprise me though about Lakeland. Lakeland, Florida is unofficially called the armpit of Florida. Its so trailer trash and ghetto there all rolled up in one.
Has a bunch of lakes with some nice homes around the lakes (more like ponds) but 80% trailer trash and ghetto
People who have to create conspiracy and hate threads to further a cause lacks in intellectual comprehension of diversity.
This is incredibly sad.
But it happens because: a bunch of abusers/griefers find someone who isn't fighting back. They PICK her, knowing she wouldn't fight back.
I don't want to blame the victim, and I support her initial reaction, but once they corner her, she should have strike, always aiming at necks, to kill rather than fight. They would have back off and let's her out. But if someone corner you, you gotta make an example. Nobody want to be the example/next example; nobody.
I am vindicative in life, and this is the only flaw which I don't even try to work on, I encourage it. Until humanity has cured ALL other nasty flaws, there is no way I am going to change my attitude toward my vindicative nature. Anyone trying to "change" my vindicative nature is indeed "attacking me", which of course would lead to vindication. :P
- "If I understand you well, you are telling me until next time. " - Ren
As much as I agree with you that she should have fought back, remember that there were 6 girls. Could it be possible that if she had attempted to fight back to save herself, that they all would have jumped on her. That would even be worse than having one person attacking if six are. Also, if she somehow did attempt to get close to escaping (if she was a super-ninja who can take on six hores -i mean girls- at once) then there were also two people at the door.
And this is truly sad, and it's always bad for stuff like this to happen. But, unfortunately, I would not have been surprised that if she attempted to escape/fight back than she would have been beaten harder. It is possible that what the girls were screaming about is warning her not to attempt to escape, unless they would hurt her harder (although they did give her a concussion and loss of hearing). If it were 2 or even 3 on 1, than mabye she could have attempted something. You just wish that these girls who did this get locked up for a while, and then when they get home after X number of years, they are outcasts for life.
..And a lil off-topic, but as I walk around school, I wonder if these kind of things happen not video-taped. I look at slutty girls and wonder if it is easily possible for them to get into this mess. I guess there is never really a way to know (although we all hope not).
__________________________________________________
In memory of Laura "Taera" Genender. Passed away on Aug/13/08 - Rest In Peace; you will not be forgotten
14-16year old girls... your profile say you are 28 -.-
this my friend is part of the arguement against net neutrality 20 something men trying who are sexually attracted to underage girls.but back on topic this crap does happen all the time.
I will never understand my generation for wanting to videotape everything, it just makes no sense.
that video is going to be used to send them all to jail, yet they dont think about that before hand.
98% of the teenage population does or has tried smoking pot. If you''re one of the 2% who hasn''t, copy & paste this in your signature.
I think the attackers were seriously messed up in the head. They tell the victim "If you go to the police the next beating will be worse" yet they planned on posting the video to the internet...lol. The attackers were obviously jealous and not very clever either imo.
We're all Geniuses. Most of us just don't know it.
Haha, behold the future of America! Look at all the retards mass media has spawned and embrace a dumber more easily controlled America.
O_o o_O
Is it just me or is this not news that needs nation wide attention?
I'm so tired of hearing about these kinds of stories. Even if they had killed her in the beating- it still wouldn't warrant being national news.
This is why people get it into their head that all they have to do is unload into a crowd and they'll be famous.
Just because it's a slow news week in the elections and with the "war on terror," it does not mean you have to run with the first beating you can obtain an unlicensed video of. Do some investigative reporting, do some journalism- tell me something- ANYTHING- that you aren't just reacting to after having just seen it yourself.
I saw this story on goodmorning america a couple days back. I was out at my local Coney Island having coffee and I found myself yelling at the TV, and confusing all the other regulars around whom I'm normally quiet. Some woman came on saying violent video games are likely to blame. I was pissed. I was pissed because this was a bullshit story to begin with, and double pissed that some stupid woman brought video games into it.
Hope you got your things together. Hope you are quite prepared to die. Looks like we're in for nasty weather. ... There's a bad moon on the rise.
I'd also like to say that I agree with the "post it on youtube to become famous" thought of yours. There was another discussion about youtube having merit and although I agree it has some merit, I believe it overwhelmingly promotes deviant behavior being filmed.
Hehehe, they're gonna get charged as adults probably and at least three of them could get life in prison for kidnapping,false imprisonment
Called it!
Trump 2016
Yeah