MARION, IN— This from Fox59.com: The Marion Police Department has issued a statement on a video that appears to a show a juvenile getting harassed and battered by his peers.
The video, which has been widely circulated on Facebook, shows a group of four or five juveniles surrounding a boy in a “Fantastic Four” t-shirt. The confrontation appears to be taking place under a bridge or concrete structure of some kind.
For the first minute of the video, the juvenile at the center of the conflict has his hands raised and continually apologizes to his peers. He also pleads with those surrounding him to let him go.
During the altercation, the juveniles accuse the alleged victim of getting one of their peers “locked up.” The juveniles also told the alleged victim that he should not have called the cops on them. In the video, the specific incident that resulted in police being called is not clear.
As the conflict escalates, the juvenile continues to ask those around him to let him go. At one point, one of the other juveniles in the video says, “no, that s*** not happening this time, bro, we’re not letting that s*** slide.”
About a minute and a half into the video, the juveniles begin slapping the alleged victim on the back of the head and in the face. The juveniles also call the alleged victim names throughout the confrontation.
Just over two minutes into the video, one of the juveniles says, “you get consequences once you play with us.” After that, the alleged victim is swarmed by his peers. The juveniles are seen punching the alleged victim repeatedly for the last 30 seconds of the video. The alleged victim repeatedly apologizes and asks the other juveniles to stop hitting him.
The video ends when the group surrounding the juvenile disperses and begins to run away. In the video, it’s unclear what caused the group to run.
In its statement, the Marion Police Department indicated that it has identified all of the juveniles in the video. MPD also reported that the case will be handled by the juvenile justice system.
“As a review and update, MPD is and has been aware of the incident and the video and has been actively and diligently investigating the matter since becoming aware,” department officials wrote in a post on Facebook. “In summary, MPD has consulted with and has worked closely with the Grant County Juvenile Probation Department and juveniles involved have been identified. The case has been submitted to be handled within the juvenile justice system. MPD detectives will continue to assist juvenile authorities in any way as the case progresses.”
Posts on Facebook suggest the alleged victim may have autism. Marion police indicated that online conjecture about the incident and additional messages they received related to it are what ultimately led them to investigate.
“The Marion Police Department has received multiple messages regarding a video circulating on social media recently that shows a verbal and physical altercation involving a group of juveniles,” department officials wrote on Facebook. “Citizens have expressed concern as the video depicts multiple juveniles intimidating and assaulting a single juvenile.”
MPD did not publicly identify the juvenile suspects allegedly involved in the incident. Juveniles are also afforded more privacy protections in Indiana’s justice system, so potential consequences for the juveniles seen in the video are currently unclear.
As of this article’s publication, no additional information on the incident had been made available.