INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. (March 15, 2015) — Graphic cell phone video of a fight at what police believe to be a park in Indianapolis is spreading quickly on Facebook. The video appears to show a girl severely beating another girl and a young child, identified as the second girl’s brother. Police said the aggressor was arrested Saturday for an unrelated incident. Juvenile detectives with the Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department are investigating. Police believe the fight happened at Brookside Park and that the girls know each other from George Washington Community High School.
Police were dispatched Saturday to a location at East 19th Street on a delayed battery report. An officer spoke to a girl who says she does not know the suspect’s name but does know that she is in the eighth grade. Police checked Brookside Park for the suspect, but were unable to find her.
In the video, a girl wearing black is pulled to the ground by a girl in white. The girl in white repeatedly kicks, punches and even smashes the other girl’s head with her foot. Seconds later, the video shows the child being attacked as well. Rev. Charles Harrison with the Ten Point Coalition could only watch the video once.
“It looks like the way it started out that she was going there with the purpose of fighting and brought the crowd with her,” said Harrison, who added that such fight videos are important to the young people involved.
“This is glamorized, this is glorified, this brings them ‘street cred,’ this brings them notoriety, ya know? She’s tough, she’s going to beat somebody up,” Harrison said.
Saturday night, fights broke out in the streets near Circle Centre Mall. Another fight in January prompted increased security at Castleton Square Mall. Harrison said it’s a sign of the times we live in.
“This is a time where we have to begin to really say, as a society, do we have to change the culture out there, the mindset, where violence is the way that people handle their conflicts with each other,” Harrison said.
Police say they have been able to identify the victims and suspects, but are not releasing names because they are underage.
