Police have a video recording of an ambush of a 15-year-old girl lured by friends into the woods in St. Francis, where one of the attackers snipped off many inches of the girl's long hair as she was on the ground being beaten and punched.
The attack occurred about 12:30 a.m. Friday and was captured in a 2½-minute video that police have reviewed. The video has also been seen more than 300,000 times online as of Monday morning.
An 18-year-old woman was arrested the next day and then released. "The police department is continuing its investigation into others who may have been involved or witnessed the attack," St. Francis police said in a statement.
Robert DeTenancour of St. Francis reported that his daughter, Sydney, "will be OK" but is "shaken up still" from what the family says was an attack carried out as a dozen or so teens and young adults watched and did not intervene.
"This all started the night before the assault when Sydney was in a car with a group of kids and the driver was pulled over for speeding and was arrested for DWI," Sydney's mother, Jennifer, wrote in a note accompanying the video she posted on Facebook. "Somehow through all of this [the woman arrested] decided it was Sydney's fault that he got pulled over and wanted to make her pay for it."
The suspect started by accusing Sydney of catching her with "my man" before unloading a flurry of punches and profanity. The victim was also accused of being "a snitch" in connection with the drunken-driving arrest.
The beating continued on the ground, and soon someone pulled out scissors and took a large amount of Sydney's long hair. Another female also joined the attack on the prone victim, which included several kicks, dozens of punches and being dragged a short distance by what was left of her hair.
Paul Walsh • 612-673-4482
