NEWARK, N.J., Feb. 12 (UPI) -- Newark, N.J., police said they were hunting for the perpetrators of a brutal beating and bullying incident caught on video and posted online.
In the 2 1/2-minute video posted to YouTube, the teenage victim is harassed by a group of individuals. Eventually the teen is forced to strip naked while one assailant mercilessly whips him with a belt, supposedly because the teen's father owes him $20.
The (Newark) Star-Ledger reported Tuesday Newark Police Director Samuel DeMaio has assigned three detective units to investigate the video, which has been seen about 38,000 times so far, and attempt to locate the person who whipped the victim.
"You don't know how bad I want to see the kid who did that taken into custody," said DeMaio, who has a son about the same age as the victim. "To see him stripped down naked and taken advantage of and abused like that, it was sickening to me. I pictured somebody doing that to my son ... . The people that did that need to be brought to justice for sure."
If caught, those in the video would likely face assault and weapons charges, he said.
