YouTube, MySpace give school bullies widespread venue for violence
4:26 p.m. Thursday, January 18, 2007
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It is disturbing. First one girl assaults the victim, a 13-year old 8th grader, punching, pulling hair and then kicking her face.
A second assailant joins in, and then a third.
Police in North Babylon, New York, say the victim knows one of her assailants. They had been arguing online about a boy and, police say, had arranged to meet face-to-face outside of Woods Road Elementary School on December 18.
"I don't believe the victim went there with the idea of having a fight with one girl, let alone three girls," said Suffolk County Police Lt. Robert Edwards.
The assailant brought two 9th grade classmates from North Babylon High School. One person, who shot video and some boys who watched, did nothing to stop the violence.
The video spread quickly on YouTube, MySpace and Photobucket.
High school officials brought it to the police who Wednesday arrested the three girls at school-charging them with assault and juvenile delinquency. Two of them are 14, one is 13. All have been suspended from school.
"This is not cool. It's a disgrace," said North Babylon School Superintendent Joseph Laria. "It's despicable. And forceful action has to be taken."
It used to be that school bullies beat up other kids and let word of mouth send the message of their attacks.
But now, teens here say video Web sites like YouTube and MySpace are becoming bullying tools -- beat someone up and post the video. The digital world brings a new way of telling the world "don't mess with me!"
Some seniors at North Babylon High say such beatings on the Web - called "hopping someone" - are getting posted with growing frequency.
Mental Health Counselor Deborah Arundale says she's helping another girl from Babylon whose beating was also posted on the Internet.
"It's humiliating. It's embarrassing. It's frightening to think that other people have seen this, have seen them at their weakest moments," Arundale said.
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