Posted on 05/12/2005 7:46:54 AM PDT by SmithL
Cornered against the tiles of a Hercules high school locker room, the boy takes blows to the head as the camera catches the action.
Shouts of encouragement bounce off the walls. At least two boys take turns punching the boy in the face.
The assault, later posted on the Internet, is real: Attackers crushed a 17-year-old's jaw, a juvenile is under arrest and police are seeking a young man.
The group of males attacked the victim at the high school shortly before 1 p.m. May 6, said Hercules police Deputy Chief Tom Muehleisen.
The footage then appeared on a Web site, a fact the victim's mother called "really disturbing."
"That would be any parent's worst nightmare," said Lorena Cruz, the mother of Hassan Rahgozar, the beaten boy.
Youths recording such behavior for public dissemination is becoming more common, experts say.
Almost every unsavory adolescent behavior now has an online counterpart, said Nancy Willard, executive director of the Center for Safe and Responsible Internet Use, a consulting company based in Eugene, Ore. Part of the problem is the powerful sense of anonymity people feel the Internet affords.
Teens do things online they wouldn't want their parents to know about, said 64 percent of respondents ages 12 to 17 in a March study by the Pew Internet and American Life Project.
"One of the social norms for kids is what happens online stays online. If it happens online, nobody offline is supposed to know about it," Willard said.
"Kids think, 'On the Internet I have a free-speech right to post anything I want about anybody, without concern for the possible impact on that person.' "
Kids use camera phones to take surreptitious photos of other students in locker rooms, then post them online. They create message-board versions of "burn books" and use instant messaging to harass less popular peers.
The problem has worsened in the past few years, said Willard, as blogging, social networking and peer-to-peer sharing sites explode in popularity.
"The new information and communication technologies are putting the capability of publishing into the hands of kids, and kids do not have any understanding of the ramifications," Willard said.
"Life on the screen tends to be perceived as a game. Nothing is real, and anything using these technologies isn't real," Willard said.
The Web site where the beating footage appears allows people to share videos and photos free but bans pornographic, obscene or otherwise offensive material, reviewing files before they're uploaded for public view.
"We do like to run a clean and safe site, but we rely heavily on user input," said Gordon Page, managing director of PutFile Ltd., which is based in the United Kingdom.
Users can submit complaints, but Page said he was not aware of any complaints about the assault video.
"What some people find offensive may be different than what other people find offensive," Page said.
Police said they do not know who filmed the event or posted it.
"That's part of our ongoing investigation, too," Muehleisen said.
On the day of the attack, officers arrested one minor. He is at Juvenile Hall and is expected to be charged with felony assault today, Muehleisen said. Police think the other suspect may be someone over age 18 who does not attend the school, he said.
The attack seemed to be in retaliation for the victim giving information on the arrested juvenile, who had been suspended for an April 29 fight in which Rahgozar was also involved.
ping
The perps took pictures of themselves committing a crime and then posted it on the web? They sound like candidates for the Darwin award.
I'm for putting webcams in execution chambers and posting the images on line - as long as we're executing scum in a clean and safe manner.
They don't meet the "must be dead, so therefor not able to pass on their defective genes" rule.
We need to reopen Alcatraz and make a few other prisons like it.
Thats just a matter of time. And probably a short time at that.
If sentenced to life in a small cell, they won't be reproducing.
does it look like two blacks beating the hell out of a white
Nothing to see here lets move on
Nothing has changed since I survived junior high, thirty years ago.
"That would be any parent's worst nightmare," said Lorena Cruz, the mother of Hassan Rahgozar, the beaten boy.
Hardly. Most parents' worst nightmare is losing the free schooling babysitting.
It's likely already to late. They've probably already passed on their defective genes.
This is one step removed from a snuff film. They shot a violent assault and distributed it. Turning one person's misery and denial of civil rights into their own entertainment.
Better get some laws on the books. This is vile.
post #13
The attack seemed to be in retaliation for the victim giving information on the arrested juvenile, who had been suspended for an April 29 fight in which Rahgozar was also involved.
Also know that the assault which broke his jaw could be ruled to be an unlawful use of deadly force.
Unfortunately the Supreme Court has said that the minor cannot be sentenced to death row.
How many assaults has he already been involved in? How bad have the beatings gotten? Any weapons used?
Perhaps he has already killed.
Let's give him another chance and let him walk around some more, he's ONLY 17.
I think it looks like two guys beating up Santa Claus.
Well boys will be boys...at least they weren't caught reading a bible. THAT would be truly horrifying! /s
News like this makes be really appreciate my junior and senior high schools in Maryland, I graduated in '80. I didn't realize it at the time but I went to school with saints. They were like little adults, good people. No cliques. No mean people. The popular students were nice to everyone. I wish I could go back. Those were much better days, the stuff of fiction today. I guess I was extremely lucky to live where I did.
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