NEW YORK DAILY NEWS
Published: Wednesday, March 11, 2015, 1:14 PM
Updated: Thursday, March 12, 2015, 12:03
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None of the witnesses at the Flatbush Ave. fast-food joint — many of whom were cheering during the after-school onslaught— called 911, police said.
One callous onlooker even joked as the girl lay on the floor, “Yo, she’s dead. It’s a murder!”
And even though every punch, gasp and cheer was captured on video, the girls who carried out the brutal beatdown may never be caught since witnesses refuse to speak up.
The pummeled 15-year-old, a student at Erasmus Hall High School, was hospitalized overnight Monday but collapsed Wednesday while she was recovering at home and was rushed to Kings County Hospital, her devastated grandmother said.
“She can’t sleep because she got kicked to the body,” the grandmother said as tears streamed down her cheeks Wednesday evening. “She fell again and they had to take her to the hospital.”
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Despite being beaten to a pulp, the teen has refused to talk to police, officials said. She’s apparently afraid of retaliation — some of the girls who attacked her have links to the Young Savages, a violent crew that operates out of Crown Heights, police sources told the Daily News.
On Wednesday — two days after the 2:50 p.m. attack, which took place right after school dismissal at Erasmus — community leaders called for the victimized teen and witnesses to come forward and press charges against the girls.
“We are asking that young lady to not be afraid,” community activist Tony Herbert said outside the McDonald’s near Church Ave. where the 2:50 p.m. attack took place. “Come forward. We will stand with her. We will go to the police. We need her and her family to step forward and press charges.”
Herbert also asked that the teenage assailants surrender to authorities.
“We have names,” he said. “We have pictures. We have video of all these individuals. So save the taxpayers money and bring yourself forward.”
As the video caught fire online, New Yorkers and viewers from as far away as Nigeria who watched the jaw-dropping attack were stunned nobody stepped in.
“Everybody that was watching is mad p---y for not breaking it up,” wrote Janae Aiko as she posted the video on her Facebook page. As of Wednesday night it had been shared more than 25,000 times.
Cops said the victim’s mother has also refused to cooperate. Investigators now want to speak to the teen’s father in the hopes he can convince her to press charges.
Police believe the brawlers were embroiled in an ongoing feud — but cops didn’t immediately know what sparked the fight.
“(The victim) was there to fight,” a police source said. “It looks like they went there to straighten out their differences and she wound up getting the worst of it.”
The video clearly shows the victim throwing the first punch, but, within seconds, her 17-year-old rival and three other teens swarm her and launch a volley of teeth-rattling haymakers at her head.
COURTESY TONY HERBERT
COURTESY TONY HERBERT
A group of girls beat the teen inside a McDonald's in Brooklyn.
“At first she was fighting just one girl,” said 15-year-old Tiana Smith, who saw the fight as she walked by the McDonald’s Monday. “Then like about eight to 10 others joined. It looked like 100. I felt bad for her. No one was helping her. It was messed up. Not even the adults (helped her).”
“I wanted to help her, but I knew I would get jumped, too,” Smith said.
Despite being outnumbered, the teen refused to let go of her rival — and even pulled one brawler’s black hoodie off to reveal a purple bra. By the end of the three-minute video, the teen is pummeled to the ground and left cowering under a table.
Her attacker doesn’t seem to care that the young woman is sprawled on the floor. She kicks and stomps on her head several more times, calling her a “bitch,” before storming off, the video shows.
It’s not until the very end of the melee that a few students finally take the beaten teen and lay her down on a bench.
Cops patrolling Flatbush Ave. were flagged down by a witness and rushed over to the McDonald’s — but by then the fight was over, police officials said.
JEFF BACHNER FOR NEW YORK DAILY NEWSPolice officers stand outside the McDonald's on Flatbush Ave. where the attack took place.
Battered and bruised, the teen refused to talk with the police. They had to go to Erasmus High School and get a dean, who convinced her to seek medical attention.
Another school staffer stayed with the teen at a nearby hospital until her parents showed up, a Department of Education official said.
“The actions in this video are abhorrent and our primary concern right now is for the well-being of the student,” schools spokesman Jason Fink said in a statement.
Cops were out in force at the McDonald’s Wednesday, but Herbert claimed the popular fast food chain has to take some responsibility for the assault.
“The NYPD is not their private security force,” Herbert said. “They have to provide security knowing they get an abundance of these young minds. Keep in mind, a bunch of children in the room, it will be chaotic.”
Workers at McDonald’s disputed police accounts, claiming they called 911 twice within six minutes of the attack.
“The safety of my employees and customers is my top priority,” McDonald’s franchisee Paul Goodman said in a statement. “In keeping with my restaurant policy, my employees contacted the police at the onset of this situation."
