Published: Tuesday, April 8, 2008
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EIGHT CHARGED WITH FELONY BATTERY
Mulberry Cheerleader Recovering From Beating
By Jeremy Maready
MULBERRY
(From top left) April Cooper, Britney Mayes, Cara Murphy, Brittini Hardcastle, Kayla Hassell and Mercades Nichols, Zachary Ashley and Stephen Schumaker,
While a week has passed since the pummeling, Lindsay is still recovering from a concussion and has not fully regained her hearing and vision on her left side.
But as swelling subsides, doctors hope those will return, her parents said Monday.
"When I saw my daughter in the emergency room, I didn't recognize my own daughter," said Patrick Lindsay, Victoria's father.
Almost immediately, he handed her a pen and paper to write down the names of who was responsible and how it all happened to give to police.
"She was in fear for her life,'' he said. "She thought she was going to die."
Polk Sheriff Grady Judd said Monday the argument between the teens erupted from "trash talking" on MySpace and through text messaging.
The Sheriff's Office declined to elaborate on what specifically was said, citing its ongoing investigation.
But Judd said the video was created for use on YouTube and MySpace, which has become a growing trend among teens.
"This is animalistic behavior," he said while showing a clip of the recorded video at a press conference Monday. "That is pack mentality."
"It's incumbent upon YouTube and MySpace to make drastic changes," Judd said. "If we desensitize kids to this kind of beating today, what's next?"
According to investigators, Lindsay was attacked about 8:30 p.m. on March 30 by April Cooper, Cara Murphy, Britney Mayes, Brittini Hardcastle, Kayla Hassell and Mercades Nichols, while two boys, Zachary Ashley and Stephen Schumaker, stood outside the house as lookouts.
The girls and Ashley ranged in age from 14 to 17 years old.
All have been arrested and charged with felony battery and false imprisonment.
The single adult, Schumaker, 18, was taken to the Polk County Jail and has since been released on bail.
The Sheriff's Office said after the 35-minute beating, Lindsay was put into a car and taken to South Lakeland, near the intersection of Lakeland Highlands Road and County Road 540A.
Mayes, Hardcastle, and Nichols, who deputies said forced Lindsay into a vehicle and drove her around, will also be charged with felony kidnapping, sheriff's officials said.
Judd has asked the State Attorney's Office to charge all the teens as adults.
"But that's not my decision," he said.
Patrick Lindsay, who still refuses to look at the taped beating, is advocating for removal of these types of videos from Internet sites like MySpace and YouTube.
"As far as I am concerned, MySpace is the anti-Christ for children," he said. "I hope this comes to a final resolution. I am not going to stop here."
Lindsay, her father acknowledges, wasn't perfect and had her share of problems, and was not living at home at the time of the incident.
After an argument with her parents, Lindsay had been living with Nichols for about a week when the beating occurred.
While she was well-liked among her friends, an honor student and maintained a job, her father said, she also had a history of anger problems.
A few years ago she had a fight with her mother, and had been put on probation, he said.
Judd said investigators suspect there were as many five video clips of the incident taken by more than one camera. Investigators have only been able to track down one.
That video, which was made available to the media, shows several girls taunting and hitting Lindsay, who was not seen fighting back.
Judd said the video obtained by investigators shows only the latter half of what happened. What happened earlier isn't part of the video.
Following their arrests the girls joked in a holding cell. One asked if she would be able to make it to cheerleading practice the next day, while several others joked that they wouldn't be making it back to the beach anytime soon, he said.
"They seemed to have absolutely no remorse at all," Judd said. "They were just going to beat her. And beat her they did."
