Ottawa police say they have identified and charged four teens in connection with the beating of a 15-year-old boy near an Orléans high school that was shared on social media.
According to police, the assault occurred on Nov. 8 at a bus stop not far from St. Peter Catholic High School. In the video, the victim can be seen being beaten by four attackers as he lies on the ground. The victim suffered a concussion and was sent to hospital.
School resource officer Staff Sgt. Steve Boucher is in charge of the investigation and was the officer responsible in identifying the suspects.
“The Ottawa police consider all acts of violence to be serious matters,” said Boucher in a release. “We don’t consider the online posting of these fights and assaults to be appropriate. We encourage anyone witnessing such events to phone police immediately.”
The four teens, all of Ottawa, have all been charged with aggravated assault. Two of the suspects, Patrick Mbaya and Shirlvin Desir, are 18 years old. The other two are 17 and cannot be identified.
Mbaya is scheduled to appear in court on Jan. 16, Desir and the two minors are scheduled for Jan. 15.
At the time of the incident Matthew Wall, the parent of a student at the school, voiced his concern over the video via a post on Facebook, particularly the fact that other students didn’t jump in to help but instead took out their phones to start recording.
“Teach your kids to put your phones down and stand up to what’s wrong,” Wall said in his post. “Put yourself in this kid’s parents’ shoes today … how would you be feeling right now that a video of your son getting his head kicked in is going viral while you’re beside him in a hospital?”