LF: 7 Black Teens Accused of Hate Crime in Videotaped Attack on Latino Boy

PALMDALE, Calif (KTLA) -- Seven black teenagers are facing assault and hate crime charges after allegedly attacking a Latino youth as he walked home from school.

It happened around 4 p.m. March 14 near Cactus Middle School in the 3200 block of East Avenue R-8.

According to investigators, the 15-year old victim was approached by a group of up to 10 male black teenagers who challenged him to a fight, said

"The suspects surrounded the victim and began punching him while several other juveniles watched," according to Deputy Robbie Royster of the L.A. Co. Sheriff's Dept.

The victim reportedly fell to the ground while trying to defend himself and the suspects allegedly continued to beat him "by punching and kicking him in the face and head," Royster said.

The victim was eventually able to get away, but was later hospitalized for multiple head wounds, including shoe impressions left in his skin.

The victim is also undergoing surgery to repair several of his teeth which were kicked out during the attack.

Detectives were able to identify the alleged attackers from a video of the assault, which was posted to YouTube.

The video is not being released by the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department.

The suspects range in age from 13 to 16 years old and were arrested for "assault with force likely to cause great bodily injury and committing a hate crime," Royster said.

Anyone with information about this incident is asked to contact Palmdale Sheriff’s Station investigators at 661-272-2400.

palmdalesd.org

What's going on at Palmdale Unified?

Did a race-baiting Facebook post lead seven black teens to smash in the face of a random Latino 15-year-old on March 14?

L.A. County Sheriff's Detective Chris Bergo says that while interviewing the seven suspects, one of them -- who attends Cactus Middle School in Palmdale -- "talked about a Facebook post where Hispanics were going to beat up the blacks."

"After talking to all the subjects involved, none of them admitted any kind of gang membership," says Bergo. He says it couldn't have been a personal beef from school, either: "Nobody knew this kid."

The fight went down outside Cactus, on a desolate stretch of cracked road where the victim was walking home from school.

After the victim dragged himself home, he was rushed to an Antelope Valley emergency room and treated for "multiple kicks to his head resulting in swelling and shoe impressions left in his skin. "

According to Detective Bergo, he's now "missing his front tooth, and one of the other teeth in his mouth was bent backwards."

(Bergo adds that the 15-year-old recently visited "another country" to see about getting his teeth fixed, as dental work is cheaper there.)

Race was apparently the motivating factor in the attack. One of the suspects admitted in an interview that he had beaten the Latino kid "because he was Hispanic," says the detective. And during the fight -- a video of which somebody posted to YouTube but has since taken down -- one of the black middle-schoolers slurs, "Fuck Mexicans."

Three of the seven alleged attackers are charged with "assault with a deadly weapon," says Bergo, and the L.A. County District Attorney is still contemplating more serious charges of "hate crime."

Although Bergo says "there's not too much of this that we've seen" in the area, he adds that the racial tension does appear to go "back and forth" at Cactus Middle School.

One commenter at the Antelope Valley Times who lives in this northeastern tip of the county speculated last week that "even if they catch the kids who did it, nothing will happen to them. Meantime, the video will be on Facebook or YouTube."

And here's one from Palmdale High, which inherits its student population from Cactus Middle.

Obama's watch stopped on 24 May 2008, but he's been too busy smoking crack to notice.

Many Latinos will be looking for someone other than Obama to vote for, that's for sure.

Mitt probably hired these black thugs to beat up some mojados. Al Sharpton's on the Romney payroll too.

DORAL, FLORIDA - It was evident when an energized Mitt Romney got a more enthusiastic reception than Mr. Gingrich at a conference near Miami of the Hispanic Leadership Network, an advocacy group founded by former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush(R).

A recent survey bears that out. Forty-nine percent of Latino likely voters in Florida’s Republican primary back Romney, with Gingrich coming in a distant second at 23 percent, according to a poll by Latino Decisions for ABC News and Univision. Eleven percent of the Republican primary electorate is Latino, and in a close race, could tip the scales.

Romney is also supported by four of the state’s most prominent Latino politicians – all of them Cuban-American, the largest subgroup of Florida’s 1.5 million Hispanics.

Former Sen. Mel Martinez is honorary co-chair of Romney’s National Hispanic Steering Committee, and Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, Rep. Mario Diaz-Balart, and his brother, former Rep. Lincoln Diaz-Balart, are all committee co-chairs.

In addition, Romney announced the endorsement of the Republican governor of Puerto Rico, Luis Fortuño. Puerto Ricans represent the second largest segment of Florida Latinos.

So why more enthusiasm for Romney than Gingrich or the other Republican candidates still in the race? In a word, it’s Romney’s career in the private sector, which appeals to entrepreneurial-minded Hispanics. (Source: Christian Science Monitor)

Story Date: January 30, 2012

Obama's watch stopped on 24 May 2008, but he's been too busy smoking crack to notice.

C'mon, don't you suppose Mitt, having ridden in his Caddy up its elevator from his new Batcave, was nearby actually directing the yout's racial crime?

You gotta liven it up a bit if you're ever going to make the big leagues of conspiracy-mongering.

Blacks and Latinos have fought and shot each other everywhere I've ever been, they just seem to hate each other..... I would have thought you would have seen that going on in Texas when you were there....

"If you voted for Obama in 2008 to prove you're not a racist, you'll need to vote for someone else in 2012 to prove you're not an idiot."

There was only one black kid where I went to school in Texas. His name was Craig. He was kool. These Mexicans started a fight at school with me one day. We were playing wall ball. They took the tennis ball. We agreed to fight after school. I got the mexican down on the ground and started pounding his face in. Two of his friends started to try and pull me off of him. Craig just shook his head no. They were afraid of him. They didn't try to remove me. I finished kicking his ass by pounding his face. He never screwed with me again. It was fun.

When I was in Abilene a good portion of the North side of town was in habited by the Blacks and Latinos. All they ever did was fight each other on a daily basis... On one street that seemed to be the border between them most if not all of the houses sat empty and had numerous bullet holes, broken windows and missing doors...

Neither one seemed to mess with whites very much other than stealing their cars for gang initiation.... Guess they knew there was a very good chance they would be caught and shot doing B&Es......

"If you voted for Obama in 2008 to prove you're not a racist, you'll need to vote for someone else in 2012 to prove you're not an idiot."

Sure, it's all fun and games until the illegal aliens show up on your doorstep trying to convert you to LDS!

Obama's watch stopped on 24 May 2008, but he's been too busy smoking crack to notice.

Truly an unsurpassed epic documentary on the social struggles of Mormo-Americans.

Perhaps Odinga will come out and say the Latino kid reminds him of the guy who mows the south lawn of the WH.

Heal me, O Lord, and I shall be healed; Save me, and I shall be saved, For You are my praise. Jeremiah 17:14