🚀 go-pugleaf

"clintonG" <csgallagher@REMOVETHISTEXTmetromilwaukee.com> wrote in message news:<l7kIa.97024$Xl.1667616@twister.rdc-kc.rr.com>...
> Come on now, don't be so negative.
> That was an 'isolated incident' and there is no cause for concern regarding

http://www.washingtontimes.com/national/20030620-120928-9265r.htm


Special day probed in girl's beating


By Steve Miller
THE WASHINGTON TIMES



    Eighteen young people ages 9 to 15 have been charged with ethnic
intimidation in connection with a May 1 attack on a white teenager in
Cleveland, part of what the participants called "beat up a white kid
day," according to prosecutors.
    "I have been looking into this urban legend about May Day and
found nothing," said Carmen Naso, supervisor of the Juvenile Justice
Unit of the Cuyahoga County Prosecutor's Office.
     He said the day was cited by several of the accused attackers as
a factor in the attack.
    "If there was a plan to do this, it would be real bad," Mr. Naso
said. Such a finding could lead to criminal conspiracy charges.
    Ethnic intimidation is the state's version of a hate-crimes law.
The accused were also charged with felonious assault and aggravated
riot. The charges were formally filed June 12 after an investigation
by the Cleveland Police Department and the school district's own
security force.
    The 18 teenagers charged � 11 black girls, five black boys, one
Hispanic girl and one white girl � are accused of beating and kicking
a 13-year-old white girl near a middle school in a low-income part of
the city.
    According to a witness statement, several of those charged in the
crime blocked the view of police as the victim was beaten. School
officials summoned police to the school prior to the incident based on
rumors something would happen that day, Mr. Naso said.
    "I got down to the end of the street and people were saying, 'I
hit her and got my stomp in,' " one attacker said. The victim was
called "white trash," according to the report.
    The victim, who is now 14, was taken to a local hospital, treated
for cuts and bruises and released. She returned to the hospital five
days later with headaches and is still under medical care.
    A family friend who answered the telephone at the victim's house
yesterday said the teenager was "doing well."
    Several of the accused perpetrators were students at the middle
school, and received 10-day suspensions following the episode, which
occurred after school as the victim walked home with two friends.
    Calls to the Cleveland Municipal School District were not returned
yesterday.
    Only one of the 18 accused participants has a record, Mr. Naso
said.
    "Considering their histories, none of the charges warrant charging
them as adults," he said. The defendants are expected to have hearings
within the next four weeks.