Two Benicia girls arrested after video of assault on schoolmate was posted on YouTube

Two Benicia Middle School girls, 12 and 14, were arrested last Sunday and booked into Solano County Juvenile Hall after allegedly beating a 13-year-old schoolmate and posting the filmed assault on YouTube. The two have been charged with felony assault.

The video, recorded on a cell phone, has been deleted from the Web site, Lt. Mike Daley of the Benicia Police Department said.

Daley said the victim’s mother told police her daughter had been lured into an athletic field at Robert Semple Elementary School about 4:45 p.m. last Saturday by two girls who promised to return some property. Instead, he said, the girls beat the victim, causing injuries to her head and neck.

It was the second time the two girls attacked the victim on the elementary school’s campus, the mother told police. The victim, possibly accompanied by a friend, first met her attackers Nov. 25 to retrieve some of her property, which the assailants had acquired legitimately from her when the three were friends, Daley said.

During the first assault, the two girls beat the victim on her head, dragged her to the ground and pulled her hair, Daley said. Using a cell phone, they recorded the attack and posted it online, he said. As far as police have determined, only the first attack was filmed and posted, Daley said.

In neither case was the girl hospitalized for her injuries, he said.

Police found the posting of the Nov. 25 attack and identified the two assailants. The posting was removed Sunday, Daley said.

After speaking with the two girls in their homes, police took them into custody and booked them on felony assault charges. All three girls are Benicia Middle School pupils who live in a neighborhood near the campus where the attacks took place, Daley said.

The assaults are still under investigation, Daley said. Police are looking at whether the two attacks were isolated, or whether there has been an ongoing dispute among the former friends. They also are investigating reports that up to 10 other pupils observed Saturday’s assault.

“We’re still trying to speak with other witnesses to answer this,” Daley said. “We’re talking to other students to get to the bottom of the whole thing.”

The victim returned to school Monday and “had a very good day,” said Janice Adams, superintendent of the Benicia Unified School District.

Benicia Middle School, like other schools in the district, was closed last week for Thanksgiving and “you could say it’s not our responsibility, but it is,” Adams said. “We’re all responsible. Because this appeared on the Internet, we’re going to get involved. I don’t think the children know how serious this is. This will be out there forevermore.”

She said the school has policies in place against bullying, illegal activity on its campuses (even when the schools are closed) and using cell phones during school hours. She said the district’s Governing Board will re-examine its policies to see if they need reinforcing.

The district may slate educational assemblies, have special lessons in classrooms and schedule informative meetings with parents to prevent future attacks, Adams said. She said the school system had no record of disputes among the girls, and is awaiting the results of the police investigation before deciding whether to expel the attackers.

Police and the district are working together to examine bullying in schools, Daley said. Reports of bullying rarely rise to the police level in Benicia, he said, but  “unfortunately, it probably does happen.”

Nationally, “posting physical fights and illegal activities is more prevalent,” he said. “This is the first time we’re aware of this in our community. We are working with the school district to see what we’re not aware of and to educate the students not to do this.”

One of the two Benicia Middle School girls who allegedly assaulted a classmate and posted a video of the incident online has been released from Solano County Juvenile Hall, police said Wednesday.

As of Thursday, the younger of the two students, 12, has been returned to the custody of her parents, said Lt. Daley. The other girl, 14, is still being held in Juvenile Hall, Daley said.