Fla. Teens Charged In Taped Beating

Mistaken Identity: Wrong Family Getting Harassing Phone Calls

(CBS/AP)  The Polk County State Attorney's Office says it will charge all eight teens believed to be involved in the beating of a classmate as adults. The suspects will have their first appearance in a Polk County courtroom on Friday.

Being charged as an adult carries with it much stiffer penalties, possibly including up to life in prison on the kidnapping charges. Facing charges of battery, false imprisonment and kidnapping are Mercades Nichols, 17, Brittini Hardcastle, 17, April Cooper, 14, Cara Murphy, 16, Britney Mayes, 17, Kayla Hassell, 15, Zachary Ashley, 17, and Stephen Schumaker, 18. The two boys are accused of acting as lookouts outside the house in which the beating took place on March 30.

Meanwhile, a central Florida couple says they're being hounded by angry callers who mistakenly think they're connected to the notorious videotaped beating.

Darlene and Jerry Ashley's phone number was mistakenly posted by a user of the YouTube video-sharing Web site, along with the numbers of the other teens charged in the beating.

Callers think the Lakeland couple are the parents of one of the teen boys involved who has the same last name.

They say they got around 300 angry, abusive calls Wednesday.

A judge has ordered most everyone involved with the case to stop talking to the media.

The videotaped beating released on Monday by the Polk County Sheriff's Office was just one of five fights filmed over a period of 30 minutes. At one point the victim's head is slammed into a bedroom wall and she's knocked unconscious. Investigators say the beating happened on March 30th in Lakeland while the victim was spending time at a friend's house during spring break.

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," the victim's mother, Talisa Lindsay, told CBS News' The Early Show. "Which is just outrageous."

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

"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.

The victim's father, Patrick Lindsay, 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.

[chinodon]

How sick can you get? I hope these girls all do some prison time. I still don''t get the motivation. How did they pick on this one girl? Something is seriously wrong with their upbringing if they beat up a fellow human being and take it so lightly.

[susiegray4]

The first time I saw the vidio was at work, once I got home I watched and read everything and was shocked. I am sitting here wanting to cry for that girl and her parents. Please let them know I will be praying for there peace. I am so glad my kids are all grown up and don''t have to tollerate what I see going on now a days. Kids have no respect for anyone, they never think of what there actions do to others. I don''t know what else to say I''m so sad for the lost childern and what there actions have done to another.
Susan Gray of Pgh Pa.

[gmond]

Susan Gray - it was so awful you had to watch it twice?

And as badly as I feel for the parents and their child, I wish they would realize that blame needs to be placed solely on the persons who committed the crime.

Books, music, movies, television, video games, Youtube, Myspace, what''s next in the blame game?

[temple62-2009]

Blame is with the ones throwing the punches. Thanks to the Democrats, our society always wants a check in the mail when liberalism surfaces. Put the offenders in jail, there is no one else to blame.

[chandlerkat]

All of these little punks are lucky that wasn''t my daughter. I wouldn''t be doing interviews, I would be digging 8 very deep holes in a place rarely travelled.
Can''t wait until they go to jail and find out how tough they aren''t!

[zykracosmos]

Posted by temple62 at 07:28 PM : Apr 10,2008:
"...Thanks to the Democrats, our society always wants a check in the mail when liberalism surfaces..."

I remember a time when we didn''t have these sick rightwingers attributing every negative news story to their schizophrenic "left vs. right" outlook on a culture we supposedly share with them. I''m surprised people as ignorant as "temple" can log in and type.

[michellem99-2009]

I have not watched the visual of it..We can not blame books,TV,movies,computer,games..no people..It is adults that allow this..They should have put a stop to it right then and there. They did in my day..Yes I am aware it is different today..manners and the social graces are not taught and they need to be. This is awful. They got their bloody fame well I feel for the child they beat up. Respect is earnt.

[sbcarlosm]

I don''t appreciate my tax dollars going to support these retards for the rest of their lives. I think they should be put to sleep (like stray dogs).

These kids need to be sentenced harshly. An example needs to be made of them to show the rest of the younger generation that doing stupid things like this will not be tolerated. I read on CNN.com that they might be sentenced to life. I think that''s a little bit harsh, but they deserve to at least get 10 years.

Todays teens have no grasp of how their actions hurt others. Cyber bullying is the new wave and parents and teachers have got to wake up to what is going on. Teens can computer circles around 90% of their elders and half of the remaining elders don''t have any idea what can be done.

These kids are going to have to shoulder the burden of punishment for their actions. But their parents, and the parents of other teens need to sit up and take notice that they must still monitor and if necessary restrict their teens activities. Otherwise, this will only be the beginning.

[marcpcbs]

I hope the judge and jury take into consideration the kids didn''t show any remorse at all.

I would give them all at least 24 months in prison to think about what they did.

The parents of these kids should also do prison time.

[marcpcbs]

SBCarlosM

Interesting idea

[rmgli922]

I don''t get the behavior behind this brutal beating? Why did they beat her for half and hour and when did they decide to stop. And I want to know... who called the ambulance that took the victim to the hospital?

[ranger1948]

It says they lured her to a friends house. Was the friend in on this ? Was the friend also charged as one of the eight ? Lots of unknown details but sounds like a Charlie Manson gang in the making.

[singingrick]

I can''t imagine why anyone would do something like this. They are like a pack of wolves.

Savage.

[meoncbs]

heraldtkel, you are a cretin; you should suffer the same beating and then tell us if it is hot. But since you don''t seem to have a brain, you will probably feel no pain.

[newsterl]

"Lindsay''s parents have decided to have her home-schooled, "

EXCELLENT! now, if every parent in the country would do this, we can close up and sell those costly A/C brick and mortar schools, then sell off those $175,000 school buses that burn $4 a gallon diesel fuel to transport students 3 blocks from home because the parents are too LAZY to take their own kids in, of course the kids cant walk 3 blocks because its hard work and they might get COLD, brrrrr!

This would do away with school shootings, bullies in the playground and so much more.

[newsterl]

"of course the kids cant walk 3 blocks because its hard work and they might get COLD, brrrrr!"

Ive SEEN it here where theres a school bus stop THREE FREAKING BLOCKS from the school, they cant walk THREE BLOCKS???? gezus, no wonder a large percentage of them are FAT, and out of condition- they get door to door limo service.

[carolt1965]

I hope they serve about 25 years in prison so when they get out, they will be too old to have kids. I would be afraid of how they would raise them. I want them to miss what should be the best years of their lives, going to college, getting married, starting a family. And I hope the parents of the injured girl sue each of the kid''s parents! I sure would! Based on what I hear from my 12 yr old son about the behavior of many of his classmates, I think parents teach children to talk and walk and etc. but never think to teach them about kindness and other people''s feelings. I have taught my son these things since he was little. We don''t say bad things about anyone; we don''t use words such as dumb, stupid, fat. My son is one of the few that cannot play video games rated Mature and even some with Teen ratings. I don''t allow him to watch extreme violence, including wrestling. I tell him I don''t like violence, and that we don''t do it or watch others do it. It''s about morals, and I teach those to my son. He doesn''t like it sometimes when his friends play those video games and he can''t, but one day, hopefully he will pass along good morals to his children. I sure hope that judge puts them away a long time, and maybe it will make others think twice about trying it. They need to do some community service too, where maybe they can learn to care about others...maybe something like a shelter for abused children or abused women.

[ranger1948]

carolt1965
Your heart is in the right place but i wouldn''t trust these teens to be around anyone in plublic.

[leilani23-2009]

How come none of these girls'' parents are saying:

"I AM SO ASHAMED. I DIDN''T RAISE HER THIS WAY. WHY SHE WOULD TAKE PART IN THIS AND NOT WALK AWAY IS EMBARRASSING. SHE WILL DO HER TIME, THIS IS APPALLING."

Instead, the parents are defending what their children did. Minimizing it. Having no compassion or empathy for the victim. It is so sad that in our society today, family''s act this way. It is no wonder these girls did this. Their parents are immature and irresponsible and their children are products of that behavior. It is sickening.

HAVE SOME REMORSE.

[newsterl]

"Instead, the parents are defending what their children did. Minimizing it. Having no compassion or empathy for the victim."

No surprise there, like I said, krappy parents breed krappy children


"its pity. childrens parents maybe need to chat at " intimateSPAMMER dotcom " share your experience and ask others to help you.
Posted by daynina"

Its more of a pity how you keep spamming this site for your stupid dating site url.

[leilani23-2009]

How come none of these girls'' parents are saying:

"I AM SO ASHAMED. I DIDN''T RAISE HER THIS WAY. WHY SHE WOULD TAKE PART IN THIS AND NOT WALK AWAY IS EMBARRASSING. SHE WILL DO HER TIME, THIS IS APPALLING."

Instead, the parents are defending what their children did. Minimizing it. Having no compassion or empathy for the victim. It is so sad that in our society today, family''s act this way. It is no wonder these girls did this. Their parents are immature and irresponsible and their children are products of that behavior. It is sickening.

HAVE SOME REMORSE.

This is easy to solve. Line the little wastes up, put a bullet in their head, dump the bodies on the doorstep of their parent''''s house.

Posted by FloydZepp at 09:05 AM : Apr 11, 2008

This is exactly the attitude that caused these kids to do this in the first place. Thinking that violence of any kind is acceptable. These kids don''t need to be killed, they need to be punished. If you kill them, what do they learn? What does anyone learn except that violence begets violence. Adults are supposedly smarter than teens. We should be able to come up with some creative punishments, that are not violent, and yet get the message across to teens that this behavior is not tolerated in a civil society.

[carolt1965]

Ranger1948,
You have a valid point as it is saying on the news they were supposed to be friends of the girl. If they treat a friend that way, who is to say what they would do to someone else. They would definitely need supervision if they had community service. After rereading my post, where I said parents teach their children how to walk/talk but not kindess and about other''s feelings, I meant many parents, not all. I wanted to clarify that before anyone said anything. The parents that are defending their kids, I would be horrified if my son was involved, even if he was just the lookout. Those boys are equally at fault because they knew what was happening, and did nothing to try and stop it. It is scary what teenagers are doing and what our society is coming to. Like the stories of teens thinking it is funny to beat homeless people. While in college to get my teaching degree, in my Teaching Social Studies class, we had to do some 20 something hours of community service. Instead of doing just one thing, I did several and took my son along too, to help. (He was about 8-9) I wanted him to learn about helping others. We did volunteer work with the Humane Society and at a homeless shelter, even helping to serve food to the homeless women. While we were struggling financially at that time, I wanted my son to see that there were many others even less fortunate than us and for him to be thankful for what we DID have (food, shelter, love, and quite a few possessions, including his toys.)

[missybelle-2009]

I think it would be appropriate to take these rejects out to the school they attended each day for a public beating as a form of punishment and humiliation to them, and as a warning to other students. Apparently these little prizes were rewarded and praised each time they remembered to breath or blink, and never discouraged from inappropriate or antisocial behavior.

I think it would be appropriate to take these rejects out to the school they attended each day for a public beating as a form of punishment and humiliation to them, and as a warning to other students. Apparently these little prizes were rewarded and praised each time they remembered to breath or blink, and never discouraged from inappropriate or antisocial behavior.

Posted by missybelle at 11:12 AM : Apr 11, 2008

So what you''re saying is that it is NOT okay for you to beat someone up. But it is okay for us to beat you up because you did it to someone else.

The only thing that you''re telling these kids is that it''s okay as long as it''s the many versus the few... which is EXACTLY what they did!!!!

Beating someone up to make a point... ANY POINT... is wrong. We as a society of supposedly civilized adults should be able to come up with more creative solutions instead of resorting to the same behavior that we are telling these teens NOT to commit!!!

[missybelle-2009]

I''m saying that I think they need to know the same pain and humiliation. Sometimes the punishment needs to fit the crime, and these kids think they can do whatever they want with very little, if any, consequences. I''m not an advocate of beating children, but I do believe they need to understand consequences and not be treated like little princes and princesses. Humility is not a bad thing, and neither is fear. Or empathy.

Posted by missybelle at 11:24 AM : Apr 11, 2008

You contradict your self in your own post!! You said that you are not advocating the beating of kids, but your very first line is that "I''m saying that I think they need to know the same pain and humiliation."

I am not advocating that they not be punished, I''m saying that they don''t need to be punished by having what they did to someone else done to them. They need to be punished, but not by doing the SAME THING TO THEM!!!!

That''s Called Hipocrasy!!!

[libh8er]

Try them as adults, convict them as adults (including kidnapping), and make the little social rejects do hard time. They will get PLENTY of like treatment once they meet ''Gertrude'' - who likes to sleep on top!

[missybelle-2009]

These are not kids. These are quasi-adults indulging in pack animal behavior. They need to learn something. Raising children should be a lifetime plan, and I don''t think they do a very good job of raising themselves.

[michellem99-2009]

I like the teacher''s posts..made alot of common sense and teaching yer son the same..I am 53. I am legally blind. It happened in my day the bullying. I was billed and I bullyed right back..Was that right no..I GREW UP..I was fostor child and life was hopelwss so I felt as I was used for the bloody state aid..that was all. I made a choce at recess at age 10/11 I knew I did not want to be a parent and never wanted to marry..I have kelp that vow..If they wwere mine they would not have pulled that krap...Teacher May I give ye an idea for yer class..visit a jail and see that life,,they won''t let ye see the imates..ye get an education...why not..Our class years ago did that..Our was was sp ed ..So..The cell was stinky..That is how I remember it. Not much bigger that the family bath room..In our day we did not sass our elders..We had less...They are not abused if grounded...Parents have to get over* I want my children to have it best than I* line of thinking..bs..Surely the adults heard the banging about and did nothing..Mum/Dad...

[michellem99-2009]

I am apalled that a Poster got the gall to as say they need to a slave of a man..Ye know very well what I mean,,Having babies..ye fool is the last thing those girls should do,,they are not fit fot it..sexxist..is what it is called..The church is not the answer..Thank God Allmighty we have sep of church and state..

[woodydx]

LibH8er: Try them as adults, convict them as adults (including kidnapping), and make the little social rejects do hard time. They will get PLENTY of like treatment once they meet ''''Gertrude'''' - who likes to sleep on top!

I love it! Some of them were laughing about the whole incident inside the holding cell according to the Sheriff. I wonder how much laughing they will be doing in prison inside a cell with a mean hardened cellmate with a crewcut named Bubbette! These girls and boys are beings bereft of decency and need to be taught a lesson by unconventional means!

[gramane]

Thank God my kids never did anything like this to anybody else (my son was bullied at school but never to this extent) I say put them in a work rehabilitation program!! Work their behinds off and let them know if they don''t work you don''t eat!! I used this philosphy when my kids would accidentally miss the bus, they would call me and ask what needed to be done. If they act like this now I am sure someone will come along and give it to them the way they gave it to that girl (whom I hope is doing better)you know what they say about Karma

[libh8er]

These girls and boys are beings bereft of decency and need to be taught a lesson by unconventional means!
Posted by woodydx at 01:52 PM : Apr 11, 2008

So, so true. And why did they do it? So they could be ''somebody'' on Youtube. They will no doubt grow up and register as democrats.....once free from prison.

[michellem99-2009]

Yes Dear..WE CAN ASK WHY /HOW COME TIL THE COWS COME HOME..WE STILL NOT KNOW..Ye can''t hold food from them..They can be grounded..Yep..and that is not abuse..It mean no tv,with friends,computer for school work only etc..I was just in Safeway and some little girl was naugty and she was allowed to do as she pleased..Well can we blame the children when parents won''t be parents...

[sgtrds]

Try the ones they can as adults and throw them into adult prison. Actions have consequences and the real crime would be the example society sets for other teens if we let them escape without serious punishment.

[newsterl]

Someone needs to THWAPP them upside the head.

[ranger1948]

LibH8er
If they are convicted as adults when they get out of prison they will not have the right ot vote and cannot register as democrats or anything else.

[libsrweak]

LibH8er
If they are convicted as adults when they get out of prison they will not have the right ot vote and cannot register as democrats or anything else.

Posted by ranger1948 at 09:01 AM : Apr 13, 2008
+ report abuse

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that is true..however that would not stop them ACTUALLY IT WOULD ENCOURAGE them more to think and agree with the liberal democrats..

[libsrweak]

Try the ones they can as adults and throw them into adult prison. Actions have consequences and the real crime would be the example society sets for other teens if we let them escape without serious punishment.

Posted by SgtRDS at 05:40 PM : Apr 11, 2008
+ report abuse

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wont happen.a lot of your fellow bleeding heart liberal would not allow that..THEY RATHER GIVE ANY CRIMINAL ACTION A SIGN OF AGREEMENT AND DEMAND A NEW LIBERAL REALITY SHOW ABOUT THIS.

[ranger1948]

libsrweak
This is true, however then they would still be with their own kind, more criminals.