Goshen beating caught on tape

July 17, 2008

Anonymous The Goshen News Thu Jul 17, 2008, 06:31 PM EDT

Three juvenile girls have been arrested on assault charges after an attack was taped and posted on YouTube.

The girls are charged with battery resulting in serious bodily injury. They were to have a court hearing today. They are being held at the Elkhart County Juvenile Detention Center.

Shana Westbrook, whose 15-year-old daughter was the victim of the incident, said that it wasn’t until a friend recently showed her the video that she decided to press charges on the three girls. She reported the incident to police on Tuesday.

The fight took place on the last day of school between a group of girls at Goshen High School.

“I didn’t think too much of it at the time because I thought it was just another fight between girls,” Westbrook said. Her daughter complained of pain to her ribs and a lump over her eye and still suffers from headaches, according to Westbrook. Her daughter has since moved out of Goshen due to continued threats.

Westbrook said her daughter has not been charged with any crimes.

Court Hearing

A preliminary detention hearing took place in Elkhart County Juvenile Court Thursday morning regarding the three Goshen girls who were arrested in connection with a fight involving another girl that was posted on the Internet.

The three accused girls appeared in juvenile court Monday.

Crystal Rishel, mother of one of the girls, was told by the judge that her daughter will be kept in detention until her next hearing. The reason given to her was that 24-hour supervision could not be provided at their home. The girl’s next hearing will be July 28.

No formal charges against the three girls have officially been made, according to the court clerk’s office. It may take up to a week for that to take place.

Rishel thinks that in the meantime her daughter should be able to stay home.

“She (her daughter) is not a violent person,” Rishel said. “This is the first time she has ever been in trouble like this.”

“The judge said she was a very violent person. She got in with the wrong group at the wrong time and did something stupid,” Rishel said.

Michelle Waters, a senior-to-be and sister to one of the accused, said that the fight was not preplanned contrary to other reports. She also said the fight did not occur on school property.

Waters also said that she and her family have received threats of retaliation since the incident.

The court hearing was not open to the public.

The Video

The video, which has since been removed from the Web site, shows several people appearing to kick and push the girl repeatedly as she lies on the ground. At least 10 teens appear in the video, Goshen Community Schools Superintendent Bruce Stahly said Wednesday.

“I was, one, disappointed in our students and shocked,” Stahly said. “If we had known about the fight prior to the posting, we would have investigated it.” School officials also learned of the video Monday.

Stahly said those involved face school disciplinary measures once they are identified.

He said the video appears to have been inspired by a similar scheme in which a group of teenage girls in central Florida posted the videotaped beating of a 16-year-old victim online.

In April, a group of middle-school girls in Clarksville videotaped an assault on a 12-year-old girl and posted it on the Web site PhotoBucket.

Nancy Willard, executive director for the Center for Safe and Responsible Internet Use, said such postings are becoming too common.

“There’s definitely an online social-norm aspect to this,” she said. She added that the prevalence of the postings seems related to the attention teens receive. Willard believes schools should play a significant role in trying to control such behavior.

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