http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pNVxxeGzZEw&eurl=http://smartenupnas.com/
Video shows group of black teens attacking white rider on 'A' train
BY ETHAN ROUEN, TINA MOORE and CORKY SIEMASZKO
DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITERS
Thursday, December 6th 2007, 4:00 AM
In shocking video that first appeared on YouTube, a black teen taunts a white straphanger on the A train in Brooklyn.
Then someone in the teen's group waves a plastic bottle in the rider's face. The group eventually jumped the rider near the Broadway Junction station.
Watch the video
If you know anyone who appears in this video, please email csiemaszko@nydailynews.com.
It's either a sickening subway attack - or a sickening 4-minute, 18-second hoax.
Either way, a videotaped beating of a white man by black teenagers on the A train sparked a citywide search for the alleged suspects and victim Wednesday night after the shocking footage hit the Internet.
The film grab shows foul-mouthed girls taunting the sitting straphanger, who pleads with them to calm down and can be heard saying, "Why are you arguing? Stop. Stop."
The camera moves to a nervous woman, then a teenager in a pink coat and the filmer asks, "Do you have something to say about this?"
Both look nervous and shake their heads no.
As the train hurtles underground through Brooklyn, the girls' taunts get even more strident and at one point a young man in a baseball cap gets up and waves a plastic soda bottle in the victim's face.
As the train pulls into the Broadway Junction station, the man gets up - apparently to confront his tormentors - and an older female rider tries to intervene and is pushed away. Another girl can be heard off-camera saying, "They gonna hit him. They gonna hit him. I know it."
Moments later they do. The man covers his head and then tries to fight back before he is overwhelmed by the attackers, who viciously beat him.
As the film ends, the victim is smacked in the face at least once with a plastic soda bottle.
Alerted by various media outlets, police launched an investigation and last night were trying to identify the alleged culprits - and the man they targeted.
"We're looking to see if we have any reports or complaints on file," said Lt. Gene Whyte, an NYPD spokesman.
Detectives are also looking into the possibility that the whole attack might have been staged - a suspicion stoked by the fact that the footage was first posted Nov. 7 on YouTube by a 17-year-old aspiring filmmaker, Kadejra Holmes of Harlem.
In an interview with The Smoking Gun Web site, Kadejra admitted taking the footage but denied being part of the pack that attacked the man.
Immediately after the interview, she took down the footage and closed her YouTube page, said Smoking Gun editor William Bastone.
A man who identified himself as Kadejra's father insisted yesterday she did not film the attack - or take part in it.
"She had nothing to do with it," the man said as Kadejra shielded her face from the photographers waiting for her at the family's apartment on Adam Clayton Powell Blvd.
"I have nothing to say about it," her mother, Sharon Holmes, said. "I don't even know what the hell is going on."
When she posted the video, Kadejra titled it "Jump Up to Get Beat Down," The Smoking Gun said.
That appeared to be a reference to a 1992 single by rap group Brand Nubian called "Punks Jump Up to Get Beat Down," whose video featured members of the group attacking at least two people in a subway car.
Kadejra is a talented filmmaker who shared a top prize at an Oregon film festival for a short movie called "What If?" which explored the inner-city kids' obsession with status symbols.
Kadejra also participates in the film program at the nonprofit Harlem Children's Zone.
"This is something she did on her own private time," program director Laura Vural said of the subway film. "What I'm doing now is meeting with Kadejra and her mother to make sure they go to the police. That's the first order of business."
The Rev. Al Sharpton said if the violence turns out to be real - it should be condemned.
Video shows group of black teens attacking white rider on 'A' train
BY ETHAN ROUEN, TINA MOORE and CORKY SIEMASZKO
DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITERS
Thursday, December 6th 2007, 4:00 AM
In shocking video that first appeared on YouTube, a black teen taunts a white straphanger on the A train in Brooklyn.
Then someone in the teen's group waves a plastic bottle in the rider's face. The group eventually jumped the rider near the Broadway Junction station.
Watch the video
If you know anyone who appears in this video, please email csiemaszko@nydailynews.com.
It's either a sickening subway attack - or a sickening 4-minute, 18-second hoax.
Either way, a videotaped beating of a white man by black teenagers on the A train sparked a citywide search for the alleged suspects and victim Wednesday night after the shocking footage hit the Internet.
The film grab shows foul-mouthed girls taunting the sitting straphanger, who pleads with them to calm down and can be heard saying, "Why are you arguing? Stop. Stop."
The camera moves to a nervous woman, then a teenager in a pink coat and the filmer asks, "Do you have something to say about this?"
Both look nervous and shake their heads no.
As the train hurtles underground through Brooklyn, the girls' taunts get even more strident and at one point a young man in a baseball cap gets up and waves a plastic soda bottle in the victim's face.
As the train pulls into the Broadway Junction station, the man gets up - apparently to confront his tormentors - and an older female rider tries to intervene and is pushed away. Another girl can be heard off-camera saying, "They gonna hit him. They gonna hit him. I know it."
Moments later they do. The man covers his head and then tries to fight back before he is overwhelmed by the attackers, who viciously beat him.
As the film ends, the victim is smacked in the face at least once with a plastic soda bottle.
Alerted by various media outlets, police launched an investigation and last night were trying to identify the alleged culprits - and the man they targeted.
"We're looking to see if we have any reports or complaints on file," said Lt. Gene Whyte, an NYPD spokesman.
Detectives are also looking into the possibility that the whole attack might have been staged - a suspicion stoked by the fact that the footage was first posted Nov. 7 on YouTube by a 17-year-old aspiring filmmaker, Kadejra Holmes of Harlem.
In an interview with The Smoking Gun Web site, Kadejra admitted taking the footage but denied being part of the pack that attacked the man.
Immediately after the interview, she took down the footage and closed her YouTube page, said Smoking Gun editor William Bastone.
A man who identified himself as Kadejra's father insisted yesterday she did not film the attack - or take part in it.
"She had nothing to do with it," the man said as Kadejra shielded her face from the photographers waiting for her at the family's apartment on Adam Clayton Powell Blvd.
"I have nothing to say about it," her mother, Sharon Holmes, said. "I don't even know what the hell is going on."
When she posted the video, Kadejra titled it "Jump Up to Get Beat Down," The Smoking Gun said.
That appeared to be a reference to a 1992 single by rap group Brand Nubian called "Punks Jump Up to Get Beat Down," whose video featured members of the group attacking at least two people in a subway car.
Kadejra is a talented filmmaker who shared a top prize at an Oregon film festival for a short movie called "What If?" which explored the inner-city kids' obsession with status symbols.
Kadejra also participates in the film program at the nonprofit Harlem Children's Zone.
"This is something she did on her own private time," program director Laura Vural said of the subway film. "What I'm doing now is meeting with Kadejra and her mother to make sure they go to the police. That's the first order of business."
The Rev. Al Sharpton said if the violence turns out to be real - it should be condemned.
