Finish: Norfolk, Va.
Posted on 09/25/2007 2:39:51 PM PDT by Jack Black
Police investigating videotaped attack on Ocean View teen
UPDATE: Five youths will be charged with misdemeanor mob assault
Edited video of the attack. NORFOLK
In the video, the 13-year-old boy struggled to stay on his feet as several youths punched and pushed him from all sides. When he finally went down, the blows didn’t cease; he tried to protect his face and head with his hands. As he pleaded for them to stop, he was kicked in the face.
After the weekend beating in Ocean View, which lasted less than 40 seconds, the boy struggled to his feet, his face bloody.
The youth, Damin O’Rourke, who only recently moved to Norfolk’s West Ocean View from North Carolina, was left with bruises and scrapes. Police have identified several assailants – juveniles who they said could face misdemeanor assault charges.
Once again, the city is facing questions related to an assault involving several young assailants.
Damin is white; his assailants are black. Still, police said in a news release: “The assault does not appear to be racially motivated according to information gathered by investigators that we are unable to release.” The city’s Gang Squad was investigating, said Officer Chris Amos, police spokesman.
In July, a group attacked three men in East Ocean View; one died. Police charged seven people, ages 15 to 29, in that case. Police do not think the two attacks are part of a larger pattern, Amos said.
The incident comes on the heels of a march that drew thousands to Jena, La., to protest the treatment of several black youths who were charged with serious crimes in connection with an assault on a white youth. While the circumstances were very different – protesters in Jena said the young defendants were being treated too harshly – the national news media, and some international news outlets, nonetheless took an interest in the Norfolk case.
Billy Cook, a city School Board member who is black, said in an e-mail that community leaders, especially black leaders, should speak out against violence. He said in an interview that black youths are over represented in discipline reports he sees from the schools.
“We need to address the issue directly, deliberately and intentionally, and say 'Enough is enough,’” he said.
Damin, a seventh-grader at Northside Middle School, spoke about the beating Monday at his family’s home on Hickory Street. He said it started without provocation or warning around 5 p.m. Saturday at Marlow and Orange avenues.
He said several people attacked him. Most were strangers, he said, although one went to Northside Middle School.
The attack was videotaped by a youth from the neighborhood who uses a camera to capture images of skateboarding, said Damin, who refused to identify the boy. He said the youth gave his family a copy of what he recorded; they, in turn, released it to news outlets.
WVEC reported that the youth with the camera had been threatened at school for taping the assault.
Police acknowledged the Gang Squad was investigating but did not otherwise reveal any theories about what may have been the motive for the assault.
Doesn't sound like it was all that wrong to me. These kids will skate with an enhanced rep, and be looked up to by the other kids.
Looks like it's open season on whites. And no, I don't that assessment is over the top at all.
RACIST!
:)
Interestingly there were two similar events on TV news today,
in one the victim was black and it was called a “hate crime because the perps said he used the “n.....” word;
in the other (Norfolk) the victim was white and even though the assault looked more violent, the police immediately said it was not a hate crime.
I don’t understand!!
The police are part of the problem. They sold their souls for a pension and early retirement.
What’s not to understand? What do you suppose was the purpose of enacting so-called “hate” crime laws?
Some years ago two white teen-aged girls were kidnapped, raped and murdered by a group of black youths who explicitly said they were out to get white girls. Was this prosecuted as a hate crime? Of course not.
By an odd quirk of circumstance, the first prosecution under Wisconsin’s hate crime statute was against a black that assaulted a white. I doubt very much that such a mistake has been repeated.
If the police will not enforce the laws fairly, then the entire police force needs to be replaced.
It seems to be OK for anyone to commit violence on whites
I guess as long as it is against whites, you can be a racist
Nothing to see here...
"They're only following orders"!!!
No, it’s not over the top at all.
That’s the number one reason why others won’t live in black neighborhoods, won’t send their kids to predominantly black schools, and clear the hell out of most major downtowns by dusk.
Well of course...6 blacks beating on 1 white kid can't be a racial incident....
In a country gone mad
These animals are defended by Jesse Jagmo and Al Sleazeball. They should be flogged then jailed for attempted murder.
There are no ‘hate crimes” against whites because whites are officially “hateful” and hatred of whites is a normal part of a vibrant multicultural community.
Nothing personal guys but this really isn’t news. This was going on when I was a kid and I am almost 50. A gang of black kids jmping on a white kid is not anything new.
Look to the elected officials and the appointed of the courts, for one’s answer. The Police are as frustrated as the public, if one would like to hear the truth. No Police Officer writes the laws, nor does the General Public write the laws, only those holding office (elected) or the courts.
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