Police in Minnesota arrested a suspect after a disturbing video of a disabled teen being beaten went viral.
The video of an attack on a 14-year-old disabled boy quickly spread in the Minneapolis area last weekend, the Minneapolis Star Tribune reported.
Police in Crystal, Minnesota, a northwestern suburb of Minneapolis, reported that the beating appeared to have taken place outside a local Target store at around 11:30 AM on Saturday, September 16.
Soon thereafter, Deputy Police Chief Doug Leslin said the department had launched an investigation into the attack. Leslin also noted that the victim’s mother reported the attack the day after it occurred.
By Tuesday, Leslin announced that four boys that appear in the video were identified and a 16-year-old from Columbia Heights was arrested and charged with the attack. Police did not say what will be done with the other three.
The video of the attack was posted to Facebook and quickly garnered over five million views. But by Monday it was deleted.
The video began showing the victim being taunted by the group of four boys. At one point the 16-year-old arrested by police slaps the disabled teen. After being assaulted, the victim is seen trying to walk away toward the Target store entrance. Then the attacker launches a flying kick to the victim’s back causing him to fall in a heap onto the pavement.
The attackers are heard laughing and then seen running away. An edited clip of the video was posted by KARE channel 11 in Minneapolis.
The victim said he knew some of the attackers, but not all of them.
The 16-year-old, whose name was not released due to his age, was booked on charges of third degree riot and fifth degree assault, CBS News reported.
Follow Warner Todd Huston on Twitter @warnerthuston
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