The police have taken a schoolboy into custody after he and another boy were seen in a viral video beating a fellow student. All three student attend the Denham Town High School in West Kingston.
The video depicted two male students ordering another to kneel then they took turns kicking and slapping him.
The officer in charge of the Kingston Western Police, Senior Superintendent Michael Phipps, said charges will be laid against the teen in custody. He noted that the police will also bring charges against other students.
“We got wind of the video, and we have taken some action around it, in that we have identified the student who was beaten up, and we basically recorded a statement from him and are in the process of laying charges on one of the persons involved.” SSP Phipps said.
Senior Superintendent Michael Phipps
“We have only located one so far; we have been searching for the others. We have gone to premises and addresses and asked the parents to take them to us. With the support of the school, we should be making other arrests very soon,” Phipps added.
Opinion/Observation
After watching the video, reading comments, and listening to voice notes, I am astonished that so many people seemed puzzled over the aggressive behavior of the antagonists in the video. But even more so is the vengefulness of some of the responses. Finally, I am amazed that Senior Superintendent Phipps was so hasty to talk about bringing charges against the kids.
Of course, what the kids did was a despicable act. And I condemned their poor judgment in the strongest terms. But children live what they learn. And what we saw reflects their environment and Jamaican society as a whole.
So, rather than pressing charges against these children, Michael Phipps should be talking about social intervention because it is clear, like most of the people who commented on the video, these children do not know any other way to solve a conflict but with violence.
So, I would like to ask Senior Superintendent Michael Phipps to take off his police hat and put on the cap of a social worker.
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