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Teens Arrested Over Taped Beating

CBS News
Posted: 2008-04-08 17:14:27
Filed Under: Crime News, Nation News
(April 8) - Eight teenagers have been arrested after filming the beating of another teen and threatening to post the video on the Internet, sheriff's officials said.

Victoria Lindsay was attacked on March 30 by six teenage girls when she arrived at a friend's home, the Polk County Sheriff's Office said.

Two girls confronted Lindsay when she walked in, yelling and threatening her, an arrest report showed. Another girl struck her in the head several times and then slammed her head into the bedroom wall, knocking her unconscious.

"That is animalistic behavior. It's pack mentality. They lured her there to beat her," Sheriff Grady Judd said.

When she woke up, she was on the couch in the living room surrounded by the six girls. The teens blocked the door, held Lindsay down and began beating her, the report said. Two teenage boys waited outside the home as lookouts.

Portions of the video were released by the sheriff's office and posted on CBS affiliate WTSP-TV.

All eight were charged last week with battery and false imprisonment, which are third-degree felonies, the report said.

Lindsay was taken to the hospital by ambulance and treated for a concussion, damage to her left eye and left ear, and numerous bruises, the report said.

Lindsay's father said the teens' motivation for the attack was to produce a video that would become popular on YouTube, a video-sharing Web site.

"I want stiffer punishments for these shock Web sites that entice kids to make these videos so they can be famous on the Internet," Lindsay's father, who declined to give his name, told The Ledger in Lakeland, Fla. "That is the motive, I am sure of it. It's crazy and it's terrible and they're gonna pay."

But the mother of one of the girls said that Lindsay had provoked the other teens by threatening and insulting them on MySpace, a social networking Web site.

After the girls were arrested, Christina Garcia told the newspaper she looked at Lindsay's MySpace page and saw the message: "hahaha all in jail."

"A lot of people think, 'I can say whatever I want on here and nobody's gonna say anything,'" Garcia said. "A fight is a fight, but this was a beatdown. She did not deserve what she got, but I don't know how she's that messed up and able to get on the computer and talk about that."

It's not immediately clear if the video was ever posted on the Internet.

Copyright 2008, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. The Associated Press contributed to this report.

2008-04-08 07:46:32
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Recent Comments

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5391 comments

darkheartedfairy 08:15:23 PM Jun 21 2009

i saw the videos out of this and the whole time i kept thinking "man i wish i was her cause i would knock that girl out and teach her a leasson" i really think she should of defended herself. maybe it wouldnt of gone on as long if the other girls would have gotten a few knocks themselfs! they kept hitting her for the fun of it and thats so wrong. the girls did it to show off and act all big. what a shame! im scared every day for my daughter and the world she has to grow up in but you bet your bottom dollar i WILL teach her how to defend herself if she ever needed. or being the protective mother i am i will have to step in. i wouldnt allow this to ever happen to my daughter without doing something myself.

radarmuzik 04:57:51 AM Jun 03 2008

HOPE THEY ARE ALL MURDERED IN JAIL!!! STUPID *******, bunch of wimps who could not do it alone they needed back up!! WHAT STUPID HO'S AGAIN I HOPE THEY ARE ALL MURDERED IN JAIL!!

twinirish 02:25:31 PM Apr 28 2008

I've heard nothing further about the outcome of th is case. Hopefully the 8 predatory students have gotten - or will get - some jail time. Also, the two boys who were the lookouts will get punishment too. I agree with the remarks that this was a form of kidnapping by not letting the girl leave. It's pretty disgusting when teenagers think this is a fun thing to tape and put on YouTube. YouTube and any other venue such as this should be fined themselves if they put this or anything like it on there. Why anyone in their right mind would want to watch this for entertainment is something I will never understand. Small minds and not enough of interest in their lives I imagine. The mother of the leader of this bunch of thugs should do some time too - make her wear a sign that says "I think anything my daughter does is fine - I teach her to get even with helpless girls over petty annoyances". -Paula

studioafterdark 05:59:47 AM Apr 22 2008

I have noticed this is the second article where aol has closed with Garcia's comment after the "but" as if it somehow talking on myspace was a reasonable justification for kidnap and beating. Or that Garcia the mother of one of the accused would be a reliable testimony to end the story with basicly unchallenged giving her more weight.
Also her last comment was barely coherant yet it was the finish of the story. Yah she shouldnta got beat but how can she talk about it on my space??

purtnergon 05:52:23 AM Apr 22 2008

This one's gonna take on a whole new meaning, for any teenager getting involved in this kind of mayham and phyisical violence. And it's actually a situation WE have power in numbers, to do something about. If someone in Lakeland, Florida would put the snail mail and E~mail address of the Gov. of Florida, Attorney General of Florida as well as the E~Mail of the Defense Attorney, on this site ASAP
when the trial is publicized, the U.S. citizens as well as Florida voters CAN SWAY
the out come of this case. I'd love to see the look on the faces of those 8 kids, when their attorney explains he can't do a thing for them,....they have to do all their time, cuz America wants her fair share of punishment, taken outta their azzes!!

diedrick5 03:34:25 AM Apr 22 2008

What a pig Christina Garcia is. Hopefully she'll end up jail with her dumb-ass daughter.

What a bunch of trashy hos!

lilmissdiva653 03:30:27 AM Apr 22 2008

I'm 18, right. And no way at all am I defending those girls and saying what they did was acceptable. Because it most definitely wasn't. But part of it is our fault (my generation, teenagers) cause we are the ones who make the big deal about youtube. We're the ones who click on the links and just have to see it because our friends said so. We, as a generation, are indirectly responsible for what happened. What those girls did was atrocious and I hope it doesn't happen again. Although I just saw and article about it happening to another girl in Indiana. I believe that stuff like this should not be published in the news because everyone wants their 15 minutes of fame. And now two violent sets of girls have had theirs. In my opinion, this is the new wave of school shootings, except they have turned into beatings :( I am very saddened by all of this.

xoxgreeneyes71xo 11:01:40 PM Apr 21 2008

what a buncha sick bastids!!! That not so skinny girl beating up that thin girl should come to my house- Id love to see her do something to someone who can and would defend themselves, instead of this poor girl who was locked in a house with a buncha girls intending to hurt her. I do believe not letting her leave the house is kidnapping- which is a federal offense. I think they should be charged with that among other things! what a buncha punks- It would be quite funny to see what the women in prison would do to them just for kicks since they seem to think a half dozen trash surrounding 1 tiny girl is acceptable behavior. As for the mother- well lets just say my son ever got beat up by the product of that person who calls herself a mother- well this mama would be knockin at her door to teach her a valuable lesson- seeing how her words to the press have offended me!

littlewhitejeep 10:59:29 PM Apr 21 2008

This is so sad If it happened to my daughters I kick some azz on those girls and there parents too

xoxoginjointxoxo 10:48:29 PM Apr 21 2008

She is tiny. The girl shown most in this video is a chunker! These trash cans that attacked her should just be put down and save the world having to deal with all the other anti social crap they will do in the furute.

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