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What is wrong with these kids where they can just randomly start beating the shit out of some innocent kid they don't even know. No words, no reason, they just come up behind them and gang up on them. It's fucking sick and pathetic.
Teen violence is reaching new levels in Saskatoon in the form of frightening incidents of planned attacks that draw swarms of cheering bystanders and at times are widely circulated as video on the Internet.
Jessica, 14, and a friend were waiting for a ride home from school on March 4 when she was approached by a group of girls, she said in an interview Thursday.
"Two jumped on me and the one jumped on my friend," Jessica said. "They just started kicking me in the head and punching me. We were just kind of in shock that it happened.
"I had a chunk of hair ripped out, I had goose eggs on the back of my head and a bruise on my temple."
She said she was surrounded by nearly 100 onlookers who were cheering and shouting obscenities during the planned fight.
She found out later the fight had been taped by one of the bystanders, uploaded into a computer and widely distributed via e-mail and MSN.
City police Const. Dave Malanovich, a school resource officer, said he's never investigated a complaint of this nature involving video in Saskatoon, but is aware of "plenty" of amateur videos making the rounds via the Internet of fights organized by students.
"Large groups gather, anywhere from 100 to 200 kids may gather at some location at a certain time, and they appear to be waiting for, looking for this fight to occur, so to speak," he said.
The fighters usually have "no beef" with the other person, he said, but hear third-hand information from chat rooms or on buses that prompt the fights, which draw crowds of watchers.
Cellphones and digital cameras make it easy to record the events.
Jessica said she knows of three fights taped the day of her attack.
Although it's difficult to say how often this happens in Saskatoon, Malanovich said he responds to calls "more than likely" once a month.
He said many kids trust teachers, counsellors, administrators and school resource officers, letting them know about fights that are about to occur.
However, the odd fight happens without anyone being able to stop it.
"It happens very quickly, like within a matter of 10 or 15 minutes, they're there and they're gone," he said.
"Bystanders can get sucked into these things as well. And it's really scary to think about, 'Oh I'm going to watch a fight,' and all of a sudden you're grabbed by the shoulder and you're in the middle of the fight."
Malanovich said police are still "mulling over" whether it's an offence to videotape fights, and will have to consult prosecutors.
Jessica's grandmother, Nancy Cochrane, said school staff have a responsibility to look into rumours of planned fights when they hear of them.
"Eventually a child is going to be severely injured."
Malanovich agrees.
"If you kick anybody in the head, they can die from that. So that's how scary it is," he said.
Jessica, who was knocked unconscious for a few seconds during the attack, was able to leave the scene and contact the police, where she later filed a complaint.
"It's just entertainment (to them). I don't know what to say, there's nothing you really can say," said Jessica, whose last name is not being published.
Her mother, Jenna, was horrified by the attack.
"It was awful about it being put on the Internet for people to see," she said.
"I guess I just don't understand because these kids didn't know her at all. It's not like, oh, she was with one of their boyfriends, or they were girls having a beef about something. They didn't even know her. It was just something to do -- entertainment value to watch a girl get beat up. I don't understand that."
Jessica, 14, and a friend were waiting for a ride home from school on March 4 when she was approached by a group of girls, she said in an interview Thursday.
"Two jumped on me and the one jumped on my friend," Jessica said. "They just started kicking me in the head and punching me. We were just kind of in shock that it happened.
"I had a chunk of hair ripped out, I had goose eggs on the back of my head and a bruise on my temple."
She said she was surrounded by nearly 100 onlookers who were cheering and shouting obscenities during the planned fight.
She found out later the fight had been taped by one of the bystanders, uploaded into a computer and widely distributed via e-mail and MSN.
City police Const. Dave Malanovich, a school resource officer, said he's never investigated a complaint of this nature involving video in Saskatoon, but is aware of "plenty" of amateur videos making the rounds via the Internet of fights organized by students.
"Large groups gather, anywhere from 100 to 200 kids may gather at some location at a certain time, and they appear to be waiting for, looking for this fight to occur, so to speak," he said.
The fighters usually have "no beef" with the other person, he said, but hear third-hand information from chat rooms or on buses that prompt the fights, which draw crowds of watchers.
Cellphones and digital cameras make it easy to record the events.
Jessica said she knows of three fights taped the day of her attack.
Although it's difficult to say how often this happens in Saskatoon, Malanovich said he responds to calls "more than likely" once a month.
He said many kids trust teachers, counsellors, administrators and school resource officers, letting them know about fights that are about to occur.
However, the odd fight happens without anyone being able to stop it.
"It happens very quickly, like within a matter of 10 or 15 minutes, they're there and they're gone," he said.
"Bystanders can get sucked into these things as well. And it's really scary to think about, 'Oh I'm going to watch a fight,' and all of a sudden you're grabbed by the shoulder and you're in the middle of the fight."
Malanovich said police are still "mulling over" whether it's an offence to videotape fights, and will have to consult prosecutors.
Jessica's grandmother, Nancy Cochrane, said school staff have a responsibility to look into rumours of planned fights when they hear of them.
"Eventually a child is going to be severely injured."
Malanovich agrees.
"If you kick anybody in the head, they can die from that. So that's how scary it is," he said.
Jessica, who was knocked unconscious for a few seconds during the attack, was able to leave the scene and contact the police, where she later filed a complaint.
"It's just entertainment (to them). I don't know what to say, there's nothing you really can say," said Jessica, whose last name is not being published.
Her mother, Jenna, was horrified by the attack.
"It was awful about it being put on the Internet for people to see," she said.
"I guess I just don't understand because these kids didn't know her at all. It's not like, oh, she was with one of their boyfriends, or they were girls having a beef about something. They didn't even know her. It was just something to do -- entertainment value to watch a girl get beat up. I don't understand that."
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