Assault on Calabasas boy may be tied to Facebook message targeting redheads

Los Angeles County sheriff’s detectives are investigating an assault on a 12-year-old middle school boy in Calabasas who may have been targeted after a Facebook group urged students to beat up redheads, a sheriff’s official said today.

The boy was kicked and hit in two separate incidents on the campus of A.E. Wright Middle School in Calabasas by as many as 14 of his classmates, Lt. Richard Erickson said. The students who participated in the attack may have been motivated by a Facebook message telling them that Nov. 20 was “Kick a Ginger Day,” Erickson said, but had few other details about the message.

A “ginger” is label given to people with red hair, freckles and fair skin. Erickson said the victim has red hair. He said the Facebook message stems from an episode of the animated show TV “South Park.” A show in 2005 focused on prejudice against "gingers."

The incident occurred about 8:30 a.m. Friday. The boy sought help from the school nurse, who contacted the principal. Sheriff’s officials arrived on campus shortly afterward.  “He was accosted by seventh- and then eighth-graders,” Erickson said. “He was kicked and hit with fists in various areas of the body.”

No arrests have been made yet. Detectives are investigating the incident as a possible assault with a deadly weapon. Erickson said he didn’t believe that the boy’s injuries were serious enough to require hospitalization. The victim's name was not released because he is a juvenile.

Deputies believe there may have been other victims but no other students have come forward.  The principal of A.E. Wright, Kimmarie Taylor, could not be reached for comment today.

One parent, Steve Bernal, said he was told that school officials made an public address announcement about discrimination and then teachers led discussions about the topic in their classrooms.

Bernal said he was upset about what happened but glad that the school responded so well. He said he was concerned about how the Internet may have motivated the students involved.

“How does this happen off of Facebook?” he said. “Doesn’t Facebook monitor these groups that are being created?”

Bernal said what happened prompted him to have a candid conversation with his daughter.  “First thing that I need to do is start talking to my daughter more,” he said. “It’s an eye-opener as a parent.”

Last year on the same day, several similar incidents occurred in Canada, according to media reports.  Anyone with information about the Calabasas incident is encouraged to call the sheriff's station at (818) 878-1808. 

--Anna Gorman

Comments

[Baffled Observer]

Lord of the Flies. And a lot of adults aren't much better.

Facebook, or any other company that distributes or publishes encouragement to this kind of savagery, should be held criminally and fiscally liable.

And the parents of the attackers should be publicly shamed. They, too, should share some liability. At the very least, mandatory parenting classes are in order. These parents don't seem to be succeeding at raising decent adults, if they're trying at all.

[stevo]

time to put the fear of god into these little punks, lock them up in juvenile hall for a month and lets see them peeing in their pants.

make them do 200 hours of community service.

[Jordan Cohen]

Hi, I was there yesterday during this all occuring. The victim's name whom this article is directing is not seriously hurt, but has a broken arm.

[Melina]

I'm fourteen & go to A.E. Wright & I am appalled... I knew this boy & he did nothing to deserve this! It just shows us what kind of world we live in.

[L.A. Ostermeyer]

A broken arm is too much! This is insane. I think sending the kids to be locked up and having a little bit of their own medicine might be a good idea. My other question - did anyone try to get them to stop hurting the victim? We are quickly becoming a group of spectators to violence. Whatever happened to standing up against the bad guys...

[Harlowe Thrombey]

Shouldn't those who commit these types of assaults be charged with a hate crime?

[A Very Disappointed AEW Parent]

As a parent of an AEW student, I am appalled by how the school responded. Yes, they did take care of the injured student, however, many of the students(if not all... including the student who inflicted the most injury) who were involved in this travisty were given "white slips" and sent back to class! How do I know this? I know because I have a 7th grader who was sitting in class as some of these students walked into class after the incident. As a concerned parent, I certainly do not consider that a way of handling the situation responsibly! Each of the students involved in this incident should have immediately been expelled! And I agree with the previous writer....should be sent to juvenile hall and charged with assult! This was a premeditated, well planned and, unfortunately, well executed crime. These students should not be given a "slap on the hand" and sent home! They should be charged with the crime they committed. If this happened in East LA I am certain those students would have had the "book thrown at them!" I am very disappointed at how this was handled and hope that it does not get "swept under the carpet" as many of these type of incidents are. We must NOT igonore this! Also, I would like to know why students are "mingling" in unsupervised areas around the school. I hope the school board and the principal take this situation a lot more seriously and consider expelling these students...I am certain I am not alone when I say that I certainly do not want my children anywhere near these students AND EVERYONE knows exactly who they are...and their parents!

[parent]

Broken arm - that's a serious injury. If an adult broke another person's arm, he would be charged with a crime. The kids responsible should not be let off easy.

[just_joe]

So, there are a subset of people that take orders via remote control (social networking sites). Seems to me that destroying that portion of the gene pool, much like a cancerous growth it mimics, would be the best plan of action.

[Sarah]

Just so everyone's clear: this is a common prejudice in Great Britain and elsewhere (that's where, as far as I know, the term "gingerism" and the use of the word "ginger" in reference to red hair, incorporated into that South Park episode, comes from.) Facebook can't possibly monitor every group as it is created, and everyone would think it seriously Orwellian if they tried (they respond when someone complains.) Anyone who went to high school ought to know that teenagers are quite often evil and in groups will almost invariably pick on anyone their companions has identified as the Other.

And all of you ought to read Canadian news more. This was on Canada.com earlier; they have the group founder's name and age, and details of similar incidents.

[Long time Calabasas Resident]

I just read, with complete disgust and disbelief, the story
about the horrific and unnecessary abuse on this innocent victim. The fact that kids would succumb to the stupidity of Facebook, and that their parents would allow them to use it without monitoring their activity, is bogus and irresponsible.

I fully support the Lost Hills Sheriff Department releasing the names of the parents whose kids assaulted this poor boy. These parents should face the community and endure the embarrassment of being the typical uninvolved parent who is more concerned about their self-image and too busy to monitor problems brewing right in front of their faces.

[Concerned]

I agree very much with the "...very disappointed AEW parent". Only b/c Calabasas is considered to be one of the more affluent cities, people tend to become naive and ignore a very serious incident. This kid who got hurt does not deserve this and those who were responsible should be held accountable.

[Beth]

@A baffled observer

Blaming Facebook is stupid. They had nothing to do with this. They are merely a networking site. No, they don't monitor every group unless it's something illegal. Creating a group based of a satire cartoon is not illegal. It's not up to Facebook to monitor children, it's up to the children's parents. That's like holding a restaurant liable because a group of guys used it at their meeting place to plot a bank robbery and their waitress didn't eavesdrop.

@A Very Disappointed AEW Parent

Pull the stick out of your arse. What happened was unacceptable and they need to get to the bottom of it and discipline the offenders but immediate expulsion? No, that would do nothing nor would it fit the crime imo. This isn't some hate crime, cult, gang or epidemic problem. It's a small group of stupid kids who took a joke from a cartoon and thought they were being funny. Yes, they need to be dealt with and made to see how what they did was wrong but I'd be highly surprised if this wasn't an isolated incident at this school that can be resolved by in school suspension, punishment at home and loss of other activities. Your over reactive, knee jerk rant isn't going to help anyone either. Also, as far as 'mingling in unsupervised areas' of the school, did your school have more teachers than students? Chances are it didn't, teachers can't be everywhere at all times.

And people need to stop saying the kids arm wasn't broken, it wasn't. The article even says as much.

[L.]

I hope this young man fully recovers both physically and emotionally from this horrific attack. Some quality time spent alone in a county juvenile detention facility could be a life changing experience for each member of this "brave" pack of Calabasas bullies. I imagine these kids separated, living with hardened juvenile criminals bragging about their alleged crimes; when asked what their crime was, they'd have to state "My buddies and I beat up a red haired boy because somebody said it was Kick a Ginger Day". How utterly pathetic.

Best wishes to this young man and his family.

[Henry]

I go to AEW and I saw this event occur, he started running, until he was trapped and tripped, and kicked by a group of about 12 students. They kept on kicked even though they saw he was hurt and on the floor. This, I am pretty sure, is a hate crime, and they should be put in juvy. And there were also more people, not just that 7th grader.

[Ellen]

The television show, South Park, is probably more at fault in this than Facebook. If the kids who bullied and injured this boy lived in East L.A. they would all be in jail by now. I am glad I no longer live in Calabasas—the intolerance there was astounding.

[fed-up parent]

Our daughter (a ginger) was also attacked last Friday at Holmes Middle School by a male Hispanic boy. He came up behind her and hit her in the back of the head. Then wiped the sweat from his face and head into her hair in a demeaning, pulling manner. She didn't know who he was, and didn't understand why he attacked her. He did the same to the two other white kids who were there, and the rest of the "non-white" kids present did nothing. She was not physically injured, other than some pulled out hair. She was emotionally injured. She kept it to herself the rest of the day, and has had difficulty concentrating on lessons at school since.

The week prior to that she told us there was a fist fight in the girls locker room which was also not reported to school personnel. Again, none of the kids tried to stop it, and none will ever tell school personnel. This fight was confirmed to us by her friend. This is the new culture - keep your mouth shut, and if you're the victim, take it.

We did not report our daughter's attack to the school because it is a futile exercise that will only make things worse for her. LAUSD will not expel these kids, and does little on campus to supervise the kids. We're looking into a Private school. Our kids need an environment where they can focus on education, and not on who's going to attack them next.

[CC]

All I can say is I see nothing has changed very much as far as the Administration and how they handle or discipline children for there actions.
I am very familiar with AEW because I was a student there back in the 80's as was my brothers back in the 70's and my mother was the lead bus driver for AEW when it first opened & 70"s & early 80"s. The problem that the Administration has is they do not like public humility and further more there has always been a lot of favoritism with Administration and certain parents. What ever parent donates ( Money, Gym Equipment, Library Equipment, Etc) they look the other way when there child gets in trouble and they get a slap on the wrist. That is fact, it has always been like that and will always be like that.

[been there, done that]

@Beth - it was obviously a hate crime, and a serious one at that. Immediate expulsion? Without a doubt! It's people like you who are ruining our schools. You obviously don't care about children, or what is best for them. If I we're this boy's parents, I would sue not only the school district, but the parents for everything they have, and I would never give up until the little criminals were put in Juvie, for a very long time. These parents must be held accountable for raising criminals. And it's long past time that our schools got the message that they MUST provide a safe environment for our children to learn in.

[Parent]

To Beth: Thought they were being funny? Yea, right!

[TheBigPicture]

Well, if they change the name from Ginger to to Gigger they could make it a hate crime...kind of...

[EllenJ]

Whatever happened to zero tolerance for this kind of behavior- this should have been grounds for immediate suspension and possible expulsion. That the students involved were sent back to class afterwards sends a very very poor message to the rest of the students.

Completely unacceptable.

The responsibilty for these actions lie with the students and their parents as well as with the school since it's obviously not discouraging this sort of behavior, not Facebook, and not South Park.

[Calabasas Mom]

A broken arm? My god. Outrageous. I hope the assailants are charged.

[obervers]

This is criminal and everyone that took place should be prosecuted. The parents should be held accountable for their underage kids behaving like this. Who has raised them to this point. Gorillas ? I do not think so! The next thing will be when they gang rape someone? Help our youth! They are in trouble all over this country! This is our future! We are all in trouble!

[j]

"He [parent of student at middle school] said he was concerned about how the Internet may have motivated the students involved.

“How does this happen off of Facebook?” he said. “Doesn’t Facebook monitor these groups that are being created?”

Bernal said what happened prompted him to have a candid conversation with his daughter. “First thing that I need to do is start talking to my daughter more,” he said. “It’s an eye-opener as a parent.” "

First off,' South Park' is on television, cable tv, that you, Mr. Dad, are probably paying for. Maybe parents should sit down and watch 'South Park' with their kids to see what the electronic babysitter is up to these days. Facebook -on the internet that you, again, are probably paying for- is a money making info gathering marketing tool for its founder, nothing more. And yes, I'm on the 'social networking site', as is my COLLEGE age child. My high school age child is not.