Teens Arrested Over Filmed Beating

Girl "Lured" To Friend's Home And Attacked By 6 Other Girls, Florida Police Say

(CBS/AP)  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.

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.

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

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

"There was talk about apparently after the fact, apparently there's other students that knew that they were going to post this just for the thrill of everyone to see it," Lindsay's mother, Talisa, told CBS News' The Early Show. "Which is just outrageous."

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Lindsay's parents have decided to have her home-schooled, they explained on The Early Show Wednesday. To watch that interview, click here.

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

"When we had them in custody at the station, they were laughing about it, saying, 'Well, I guess this spring break we won't go to the beach," Judd told The Early Show. "One of the suspects asked the detective, 'Am I going to get to go to cheerleading practice tomorrow?"

"They showed absolutely no remorse at all," Judd 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, Patrick, said the teens' motivation for the attack was to produce a video that would become popular on YouTube, a video-sharing Web site.

He told The Early Show that he has not been able to watch the video, that he is too distraught, although his wife has.

"I want stiffer punishments for these shock Web sites that entice kids to make these videos so they can be famous on the Internet," Patrick told The Ledger of 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."

[ranger1948]

I don''t care what this girl said on the internet, this attack was totally out of line. Is this how they intend to settle all their differences in life ? If it had been my daughter beaten none of these girls would be safe when they got out of jail. I would hunt them down myself.

[gunownerdan]

Self Defense!
Learn it and live it.
Criminals love defenseless victims.

[excoachken]

"Girls just wanna have fun." What a sick world that some teenagers live in!

[sunny2679]

I am absolutely outraged and disgusted by this behavior! What is wrong with children these days? I do not necessarliy blame the parents as they can not be there 24/7, but one would hope they have been taught right from wrong. I think these kids should absolutely be tried as adults, and if not they should be forced to do communtity service with domestic abuse victims and take manadatory classes on anger management and harrassment. It saddens me to see this type of thing out there. I am only 12 years older then these kids, and I would have never in a million years thought up something this cruel. The girls involved are evil and should be punished very harshly. This goes for the girls contributing to the beatting as well as the kids filming. They did nothign to step in and save this girl. They too should suffer the same harsh penalites! A lighter sentence just allows them to see that there are no real consequences for one''s actions.
To the parents of the victim I am sorry for your hardship, and wish your daughter a quick and speedy recovery.
sincerely,
sunny m turowski :)

[wave616]

My comment is addressed to the mother''s responce to her daughter''s involvement. It seems as though it was OK with her that they did this to the victom and that she had it comming to her. As a mother of an 18yr old myself, I would NEVER defend such an act. There are peacefull ways of resolving stupid gossip on my space. Legal action as one and they should never have taken it that far. Seems to me that these girls have done this type of thing in the past - they appear to be very practiced at it. Proper punishment is needed to set an expample!!

[taterbug3848]

My heart goes out to this young girl and her family. I hope they DO charge these kids as an adult and throw the book at them!!! I have a 17 yr old daughter myself and I dont even want to think of what I would do if this happened to her..

[theusa1st]

If it had been my daughter beaten none of these girls would be safe when they got out of jail. I would hunt them down myself.


Posted by ranger1948 at 07:38 AM : Apr 08, 2008

I totally agree...I also would hunt down the two boy lookouts. I am totally sick of nothing of consequence happening to the human trash that does this type of thing. That one girls parents doesn''t sound very intelligent either....more we''re the victim mentality.

[docofthebay]

Sick morons and parents who make excuses for their rabid daughters behavior. News flash: you CAN say what you want in this country, it''s called free speech. News flash: you CANNOT physically harm anyone in this country, it''s called assault.

Youtube should never publish fights of ANY kind.

[taterbug3848]

I am still fuming at reading this...I realize we cant watch our children 24/7 but with the mother of the one condoning this, perhaps they should charge the mother as well. I am all for them going after websites like Myspace etc and holding them responceble as well for allowing stuff like this to happen!!!

[docofthebay]

Self Defense!
Learn it and live it.
Criminals love defenseless victims.
Posted by gunownerdan

The sociopath is back. Yeah, uh huh, she should have whipped out her .44 magnum and shot all of those kids in the head, shot the two teen aged look outs, and then the parents for ever having the kids. The she could have shot the managers of Youtube for enticing kids to commit crime in the first place. There ya go, self defense, right Dan you warped trailer dweller?

[mistyrtiffin]

those kids need to be charged all with the same thing... kidnapping for sure... she was trying to leave and they would not let her out!!! i hope the parents to this girl sues the other parents for damages now a days that is the only way to even get their attention!!!

[tutkill1]

I can''t believe the mother of that horrid girl-who helped set up, imprison, and torture that victim. Excuses, Excuses, Excuses, how about some justice (Put that custodial mother in jail with her hoodlum daughter). Everyone involved in that crime should be tried as adults. Oh the excuse of my daughter turned over the tapes doesn''t wash since they were turned in after being posted on the net and an investigation was started. Gosh mom better hope you don''t upset your daughter or she might help plan a ambush on you and film it, plus put it on the net. Oh it would be ok because she would turn the tape over to the police. LOL. This women and her daughter need to hide in their torture house for awhile. Both are cruel and stupid. I am very upset for the victim and the victims family-this is just too sickening to be believed. Hopefully, the local DA has some guts to do the right thing.

[mistyrtiffin]

those kids need to be charged all with the same thing... kidnapping for sure... she was trying to leave and they would not let her out!!! i hope the parents to this girl sues the other parents for damages now a days that is the only way to even get their attention!!!

[mistyrtiffin]

those kids need to be charged all with the same thing... kidnapping for sure... she was trying to leave and they would not let her out!!! i hope the parents to this girl sues the other parents for damages now a days that is the only way to even get their attention!!!

[peggydutcher]

I think the judge should send these girls to a visit at a woman''s detention center for violent woman. In a controlled situation let them be cornered and fear for themselves like that poor girl had to. Let them realize the extent of abuse and battery they are guilty of. And then make them carry out a punishment that will burn that memory in there heads so they don''t raise children that would behave that way.
Shame on the parents of the beaters...I hope they are smart enough not to stick up for them and get them into extensive council. And back up and take a look at themselves to find out were there daughters learned this was ok.

[mmkjc]

Instead of sensetionalizing the act itself by showing the video (which teens watch), how about showing what the consequences are. This horrible, violent act was shown on national tv to millions of viewers. I would rather have seen these girls on tv saying they have been brought up on felony charges, been suspended from school, thrown off cheerleading squad, punished for months, lost privileges, have a permanent record, etc. In the next month or so, this will all be forgotten, except for the YouTube video. Come on news people, do the right thing.

[justme0328]

I think that these children need to be tried as adults, why would anyone do something like this. It blows my mind

[hamptonsunse]

If I was that girl I would smash everything in the house. I would have grabbed the glass things that were on the wall and beat them girls in the head with it or I would have grabbed the stick that was behind her and would have started to swing. Jab the fat girl in the stomach and then smack her in the head with it and then I would have left. If the guys that were outside would have stopped me I would have screamed FIRE or RAPE someone would have came to her AD. Girls like that make me sick, they are too scared to fight someone on their own. Come on don%u2019t people teach their kids anymore if they have a problem with someone then deal with it on your own. It makes me fear when my child gets that age what will happen.

[dmd1984]

I think all the children involved should be on house arrest for the rest of their school years. No cheerleading...extra-curricular activities. After a hopeful jail term, they should be able to only attend school and be home with a parent or guardian. They should have to do community service of cleaning the school and environment and even better, help the unfortunate ie work in soup kitchens. We need to use these children as examples of what our society no longer wants. Get the parents involved also as to disrupt their schedules (Family is team work-good or bad) then other parents will start teaching empathy and kindness. The children should have monitoring braces so that Lindsay never has to feel threatened by them again. NO MYSPACE for them or Lindsay, especially about this subject. I hope this gets turned into a petition so these children don''t just get their hands slapped. They made their bed, let them lie in it. Please,don''t let anyone in society think or feel that These Actions are OK. As a parent, I want it to be a lesson for my children and for other children. And No-one should accept this type of behavior. No more tolerance for such misconduct. dmd1984

[mommy_to_3]

sicks and stones (and fists and walls)...

There''s a huge difference between a few things slung around in myspace and planning a largely outnumbered physical attack. I cannot believe a parent is using that argument as a justifiable excuse for this.

Pathetic.

I certainly hope we will be seeing the resulting consequences of this rather than just showing America the initial beating for shock value ratings, CBS.

[bozworth4]

Welcome to the new world order. We have taught our children well. Cannot correct them for fear of being taken to court. Again welcome to the world of tommorrow, today.

[mistyrtiffin]

those kids need to be charged all with the same thing... kidnapping for sure... she was trying to leave and they would not let her out!!! i hope the parents to this girl sues the other parents for damages now a days that is the only way to even get their attention!!!

[bluenc5]

I think that these girls should be prosecuted to the full extent of the law and so should the boys that were outside and aloud this to go on. The mother should be charged with something. YouTube needs have more control over stuff like this! They can control this they have a "report this video" on there. As parents we are responsible for the behavior of our children. No mother or father should ever think that is okay. They have to control it in their own house!!!!! To much you hear "they are just kids" " it will pass" you know some picking and fights might but others do not. Parents have stopped being involved in their children''s school most importantly when they hit jr high or high school. WE can''t afford to anymore our children are out of control. Computers and game systems should be monitored. We as parents have made it to easy for this stuff (***) to happen! WE need to take our children back!!!!! It makes my heart hurt, I have a fourteen yr old and a 12 yr old I wouldn''t want this for them or let them be a part of anything like this. I hope I have raised them better.!

[sirkgirl]

This attack is absoulutely disgusting! What kind of parents do they have when they think hurting someone like this is fun!! These girls should be convicted as adults!! My heart hurts for this poor girl who will never be the same again!! And I pray that her pysical injuries heal completely!!

[sumarongi]

We need to enact legislation that will require web services like YouTube and such to increase their level or technique of monitoring postings. They need to pass through a sophisticated filtering program and then scanned more vigorously by editors.
We need to determine if "hate law" jurisprudence should apply in cases where slander and prevarication can be proved.

[ncadman07]

This has NOTHING to do with the internet, it has to do with how we raise our children today. Who cares if this girl threatened to make comments on the internet. How can a parent justify their child attacking another because of words?

[ncadman07]

And I don''t think there is anything wrong with the victim being HAPPY that those who attached her are in jail. That is where they belong. If children are doing things like this now, what are they going to be doing as adults. Instead of fists it will be guns.

[bmxmom448]

I can''t understand what makes kids do this kind of stuff. I have 3 kids 22, 21 & 18. I don''t care what anyone says about them, on the internet or in person, could not justify what these kids did to this girl. That kind of reasoning is part of the problem, a "she asked for it" or "she made them do it" atitude, because of the things she said about them. These kids need to be punished, and maybe that will stop others from doing the same thing. If they know there are going to be serious consequences they will think twice before they hurt someone.

[xpaintball21]

It is very sad that these kids actually think that they will become popular for doing something like this. I also believe these kids parents should all be held responsible legally as well as financially. They should lose their rights to have the internet in their homes if they are going to do something like this. I hope the poor girl is ok and that she makes a full recovery.

[rational_1]

Sound like trailer trash wannabees. Most of them will probably end up married to wife beaters and get to experience the other side. Stay tuned to Jerry Springer...

[taymatcam]

This is so disgusting!!! Those kids should be put in jail!!! When they get out, they should have no cell phones not internet no outside activities what so ever till they can learn to be civilized people. Me personally I would hog tie each one of them up and let the the poor girl who got beat up beat the living *** out of them and so they could see how it felt. This is just uncalled for. I truely hope they get prosecuted to the fullest extent that the law will allow. Including kidnapping charges. This makes me so sick.

[hoosiermoon]

Plenty of outrage for everybody on this story. Hopefully there will be enough public pressure on the prosecutor so that all eight psychopaths will be charged with everything possible and follow up with the maximum sentencing. Its obvious that all eight thought the event was cute and funny, and saw no potential threat of consequences. But now we''ll see how cute and funny they think it is when they leave the courtroom after sentencing.

[madeupnews]

Jail time is the only proper punishment that would sink in for these kids. Let''s see how tough these girls are at a Women''s Correctional facility.

[bmxmom448]

I can''t understand what makes kids do this kind of stuff. I have 3 kids 22, 21 & 18. I don''t care what anyone says about them, on the internet or in person, could not justify what these kids did to this girl. That kind of reasoning is part of the problem, a "she asked for it" or "she made them do it" atitude, because of the things she said about them. These kids need to be punished, and maybe that will stop others from doing the same thing. If they know there are going to be serious consequences they will think twice before they hurt someone.

[mcneillmama3]

This is the most horrific thing I have ever seen in my 48 years and past 11 years working as a nurse. It makes my blood run cold. If there is a rating system for movies and TV, why is My Space and Face Book allowed to get away with this?? My Space and Face Book is nothing more than underaged teens and out of control college brats bragging about smoking pot, getting drunk, and having ***. Look at some of the lyrics to the music these kids are listing as their favs and you can see that it is full of the DEVIL himself. I am warning parents everywhere about this new evil. It will steal your child''s soul. Our oldest son lost a college scholarship because of his involvement in this lifestyle. When we confronted him with the My Sapce page, he moved out and now he won''t have anything to do with us. He said we invaded his privacy. I told him that anyone who is stupid enough to publish anything on My Space deserves to have their privacy invaded because it is very public. It wouldn''t surprise me if our oldest son can''t get a job when he gets out of college. If we can see what he is posting on My Space and Face Book, so can potential employers who wouldn''t touch him with a ten foot pole. This My Space video is going to come back to haunt these 8 teenagers for the rest of their lives. I hope it''s worth it. And I am sick of their parents making excuses for them. There is no excuse for it.

[kat1012]

that is just so mean!they are ganging up on their friend!they should keep them in jail for 3 years!they deserve it!

[straightmate]

I''m sure there is plenty of community service work that needs done. Trash pick up, painting ballpark bleachers, cleaning toilets in the courthouse, and so on. Say 500 hours+. It worked on me folks. Working for free teaches self control

[hamptonsunse]

What goes around comes right back around. I think that the girls should go to jail not juvenile hall. They sound be tried as adults. As well as the boys that was outside talk about being a man. Please do men teach their boys how to become a man? Come on, It is trash. And the girls think that it is funny guess I am missing cheerleading practice. If I was the coach that wouldn%u2019t be on the team. Cheerleaders are supposed to be role models. They don%u2019t need community service they need hardcore jail time. And the mother that let this happen needs jail time as well. Maybe then she will learn how to be a better mother.

[mistyrtiffin]

those kids need to be charged all with the same thing... kidnapping for sure... she was trying to leave and they would not let her out!!! i hope the parents to this girl sues the other parents for damages now a days that is the only way to even get their attention!!!

[stewart_ew]

I believe we as parents should have more control over our kids. Parents today are afraid to discipline their kids. We DO NOT need internet or government filtering our personel mail in whatever form it takes. If you feel the government SHOULD then move to a communist country, problem solved.

[tink7404]

i think that the 8 kids involved should all be charged as adults including the 2 boys outside standing watch they obviousely knew what was happening. as for the girls they need to learn the old saying sticks and stones not everything said deserves a beating! their parents have a financial responsibility to this girl and her parents now that those 8 kids will never understand unless their inprisoned for their actions and made to take responsibility. get well wishes to the victim and good luck to her parents you have a difficult time ahead.

[krebsbachjm]

Thiis is absolutely outragouse,disgusting and very,very sad. Sad to see where we have gotten as a society. As the victims father said, we have taken God out of our shcools and the disipline and accountability of our children out of the hands of the parents and teachers. Where have these children come from?? I cannot imagine how the parents of this victim feels, I am sickened by it. All involved, directly and indirectly (the boys outside??), need to be punished and held accountable as well as any parents that contributed to this kind of behavior. It needs to be made public so that other young people learn from it. More control and monitoring is desperately needed on these websites.
God help the children and God help us as a nation!!

[wtchitnw]

While watching, I thought I heard the words ''girl fight'' mentioned? This looked more like ''girl beating.'' Better yet, how about ''girl assault.'' I hope the courts see it that way and carry out the proper punishment!

[hamptonsunse]

Don%u2019t blame this on the music, T.V or Myspace. It%u2019s not the music it%u2019s not myspace LEARN to be parents.

[farah1277]

Not only do I think that they should be charged as adults and prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law I think that this incident should be used as proof that they are not civilized enough to be allowed back into school or into a future college. They are poster children for the growing problem of unsafe campuses.

[ncadman07]

Give me a break people. The only people on myspace are not "devil children". Myspace has security in place. These children just don''t care about the rules. I have many friends who are youth pastors in their churches that are on myspace to communicate with their members. Many people use myspace as a way to keep in touch with friends and family, and use it in a proper way. I said it before and I will say it again...this is a PARENT problem. And in case you didn''t know, things like this have happened before we just didn''t have the technology to post it online.

[str8fuct-2009]

These girls need to do some serious time. They should be removed from all school activites. what could that girl have done that was that terrible? the fact that they show no remorse means that they need to be taught a real lesson, prison usually provides a nice cold hard painful scarring lesson that would do nicely in this case. I hope that they have to endure the same situation, but they double the size and number of attackers. If it happens you can post that and i''ll be glad to watch.

[hamptonsunse]

DO not blame this on myspace, music, or T.V. It''s have nothing to do with any of that it''s the parents

[bigpedaler]

granted, i didn''t see the whole thing (couldn''t WATCH the whole thing that WAS put up by the station), but what i did see was MOST of it was one girl, almost like the ''alpha femme'', white top/pink pants. they ALL need to be prosecuted, but this one needs a bit more...say, a taste of her own medicine. after their trials, they all need to be put in one room, and the rest handcuffed to the wall while some ''veteran'' of the women''s prison system works over ms. pinkpants for awhile. they all need to watch while their ringleader gets what she dished out. trash-talk on myspace? please!

[taymatcam]

I think that every single one of the girls and boys involved in this horrid attack should go to jail. Also they should have to pay every single penny of the doctor and hospital bills the victum has for these injuries. The girls should go to a womans correctional institute for at the very least a year, the boys to the mens prison. They did an adult thing and need to be punished as an adult. Not as a minor which will only be a slap on the hand and told not to do it again. I just get so angry when I think of the beating the poor girl took. And for what!!! Just words, give me a break!!!! The parents must be monsters to raise their children to act like that.