Two adults and three juveniles are now in custody, arrested for the gang rape of a fifteen year old girl in California that took place Saturday evening at Richmond High School in the San Francisco Bay area. The juveniles will be charged as adults, and they face possible life in prison. The victim was released from the hospital yesterday.
The police are still looking for up to five more suspects, as well as at least ten others who watched the assault, which took place over TWO AND A HALF HOURS, and did nothing to stop it or report it.
This case sickens me more than anything else I have heard in recent memory. This assault took place on school grounds, during the school's homecoming dance. The school was being patrolled (apparently inside only) by police as well as the school security guards and staff members.
A law in California makes it illegal to witness a crime and not report it, but ONLY if the victim is fourteen or younger. So the crowd who watched will probably not be charged with anything. Sickening.
As a parent of a soon-to-be 15 year old daughter, I do not know how in the hell I would be able to control myself from getting my own revenge. I would be a madwoman!
I remember learning about a principle/law in canadian criminal law that allows you to charge bystanders if their behaviour can be perceived as encouraging the crime to continue.
We didn't get into too much detail about it, and I don't know if it's something that Cali law has.
No, I heard the police or security were released at 9:00pm and the victim left at near-abouts 9:30.
Yeah, disgusting...
I would like to say that I would have spoken up and stopped this heinous activity. Would you speak up alone? Knowing that you very well could be the next victim?
I like to think I would. But sometimes I'm stupid and don't realize until after the fact. I think I would realize a GANG RAPE/GROUP RAPE however...
One of the first people to finally call the police was someone who overheard two young men bragging about having watched the assault take place. Apparently, there were many people who photographed and/or videotaped it with their cell phones, and some of that video has already made it to the 'Net.
I would think that as soon as I could get myself away from the crowd, I would call 911 immediately. Of course, there is fear of becoming the next victim or retribution in the form of having your face bashed in for reporting it. I'd be scared as a student of that school to report it, but I'd still do it.
The person I am today, there would be no way in hell I wouldn't call 911 and or try to step in.
Back in highschool, I am pretty sure I would report it, but I'd probably wait till I got home or something. Of course I didn't have a cell phone in high school.
Not sayin it's right, but Richmond is a really, really tough place and snitching might get you killed. It's easy to say you'd call 911, but if you were a teenager living in one of those shitty neighborhoods and had to go to school with those guys, doing the right thing would probably result in a bullet to your brain.
For sure. I'm just saying if I were there and not involved in anyway and I was 15, I'm not sure if I would have said anything. The cops would at least have to offer me witness protection.
I've been reading up on this story for a few days and have seen some coverage on the news about it too.
From what I gather the girl did leave with someone she knew, I believe it was a male. How they met up with the group or if it was pre-meditated I don't know. I do know she was found under a bench in really rough shape and was released 4 days later.
Unbelievable. And a school spokesperson said something along the lines of 'well when there are late events, we assume the students will be picked up by their parents or a responsible adult' made me feel he wasn't friggin getting it.
There was a huge case decades ago about a woman in NY who was either being raped or beaten (sorry I forgot)and nobody did jack. There were dozens of witnesses who either saw or heard something. The case was documented in some psych texts in an attempt to examine why people are frozen bystanders.
That was Kitty Genovese. We learned about her in psych class and altho people ignored her all those years ago, I will never, ever forget hearing about her.
What made me so even sadder about the whole thing was the description of the victim by some of her classmates as a semi-lonely girl who was very involved with her church. She walked outside the school alone to meet her father, who was coming to give her a ride home. Outside, she was approached by a 15 year old boy she knew, who led her around to the back of the school where several students and former students were drinking. Reports say she had consumed a large amount of alcohol before they attacked her.
The image of this happening to ANYONE is heartbreaking. The image of this happening to a young girl who attended her homecoming dance alone and relied on her father for a ride home, trying to fit in with an older tougher crowd breaks my heart.
Obviously, I don't know if all this imformation is 100% accurate; it's just what I read in various articles over the last few days.
Mev's attempt to defend the onlookers who called their friends to come watch, and jeered and taunted a 15 year old girl who was beaten and gang raped for two and a half hours horrific.
Walking away and dialing 911 is anonymous. Not doing so is indefensible, and watching, and cheering and calling your friends to come see is monstrous.
