Teenage Girl Beaten, Burned, Has Hair Cut Off In Brutal Park Assault (VIDEO)

UPDATE 6/6 5:30 P.M.

SAUK VILLAGE, Ill. (AP) -- Bond has been set at $75,000 for a suburban Chicago teen who was allegedly caught on tape beating a girl, burning her scalp, and cutting her hair.

Sarah Kraft of Park Forest has been charged as an adult with one count of aggravated battery. Prosecutors say the 17-year-old was the main aggressor in the June 2 fight.

Bail has been set at $25,000 for 17-year-old Marcelena Castillo of Steger (STAY'-ger), who is also charged in the attack.

Investigators are still trying to determine who videotaped the assault with a cell phone. They're looking for a third girl who's thought to have burned the victim.

Sauk Village police say Kraft and Castillo lured the victim to a public park, then assaulted her. The girls' attorney, Jay O'Brien, declined to comment.

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Information from: the Chicago Sun-Times, http://www.suntimes.com

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-ASSOCIATED PRESS

The victim Mercedes Michaels talked about the attack on Fox News Chicago:

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A girl was savagely beaten in a Sauk Village public park June 2 and a cell phone video of the attack was posted Friday on Fox News Chicago.

The footage begins with two girls fighting in the dirt then quickly turns into a one-sided pummeling, with other girls rushing over to beat the victim, cut off parts of her hair with scissors and burn her with a cigarette lighter.

The victim, who the Sun-Times reports is 17, can be heard yelling, "You're burning my head!"

The victim, who is from South Chicago Heights, according to the Sun-Times, spent the night in the hospital with a concussion, bruises, cuts and burns. Two other 17-year-old girls were charged with aggravated battery and at least two more are under investigation, the paper reports.

Sauk Village Police Detective Robert Grossman told the Sun-Times that cause of the attack wss likely "a misuse of [the assailant's] vehicle by the victim some weeks before."

Comments

[woahxangel]

my best friend since first grade..
get better mercedes

[Flavor]

This was vicious and all one of these girls had to do was say I am not participating in this because a bully tends to need others to accomplish his or her nasty deed. To attack this girl and then turn around and cut her hair and then burn her is unbelievable, yes they have to be punished. My dad said, to me and my brother if you do the crime, you must do the time, we have to stop blaming others for our children mess ups and tell them that if you continue to want to go down the wrong path, the wrong path won't stop you you will have a criminal record that will follow you. As parents we are our childrens first teacher.

[zenwhenicanbe2]

enjoy the slammer.
I'm adamantly opposed to the prison nation that we've become due to the drug war... but violent crime must be met with time behind bars

[karela]

Why on earth weren't the police going to file any charges until the video played on TV? The girl was obviously beaten and burned. She had a concussion and there will be scars on her face. She was brutalized. And they didn't think it was worth charging to perps? This is the kind of stuff that led to George Tiller's death last week. The man who killed him was caught on tape twice, they had a license number, a witness and his face on tape, but the police didn't act until he escalated and killed. If these girls got away with this, do you think this would have been the end of it? I don't. They showed no remorse. They would likely have committed more of this behavior against this girl or against others. Our police force seems to too often be caught on tape beating people and too seldom enforcing the law when crimes are committed unless the crimes somehow make the news. This country's law enforcement needs some over hauling.

[Jacqueline3]

What is going on with these kids?

[LetMeUnderstandThis]

My sentiments exactly.

[Flavor]

First it does not matter what color these females were, they are teenagers. Second, it does not matter who drove what and gave who the keys, this was a vicious attack and why? did not one of these girls say no! I am not participating in this act. A bully seems to thrive off of people watching and helping him or her committ their nasty deed they hardly ever act alone. This young lady was burned and beat and had her hair cut by these bullies. Honey, let me tell you if she had got stopped for driving with no insurance then that is what would have happened, because she violated the law but beatings and burning someone leave scars forever. It is time for us to stop trying to blame others for our children actions and tell them that they are going to be adults and if they act up and continue down the wrong path that they will have a criminal record and it follows you. The lady that I spoke about on my blogg on this page has been in out of prison and never raised her child(Thank god), she is still fighting and starting trouble, they tried to get her help but she (chose) this kind of life style.

[Chicago48]

Let's backup folks: What was the victim doing "borrowing" the car? Why did the accused let her "borrow" the car. That means, the driver didn't have insurance and had she done something more violent, like hit a pedestrian, the victim would be in hotter water. Never lend your car to a "friend". That's #1.

Next, it appears this took place out in the open in a play field, so where were the neighbors?

[dontpanic1]

First, if these girls had been black, this would have been on every news network at 7am, 5, and 11 - just like the video of the teacher being beat in Baltimore. Just to reinforce the idea that blacks are inherently violent. Second, notice how the article doesnt call it what it is - a GANG. Because, "Noooo... that cant be possible in the suburbs...These are just girls being girls ... Lets not tarnish their records by calling it a gang... That's what THOSE people do."

[Chicago48]

There is a black kid involved, I can't tell if it's a female or a male. But what's got to do with anything????

[roald]

Whites don't assault people. Only Blacks do. Or so our news media says by what they cover.

[tokenconservative]

First it's "they never cover our crimes and the police hate us" to "they always cover our crimes and the media hates us." Choose a side (I'm also not white and trust me I can relate to some degree, but seriously, you're being ridiculous).

[roald]

How about,"They never cover the crimes committed against us and always cover the crimes we commit."?

[Flavor]

Mercedes, honey I am so sorry that you had to go thru this torture, when I read this article it made me sick, but it brought back memories. When I was in seventh grade I had thick hair on my head and quite long,being an african american we at that time used pressing curls and my mom would always do my hair in massive curls all over my head. We were having a seventh grade math test and our instructor stepped out of the room for a minute to go to the school office. While I had my head down doing my math test someone shouted that they smell smoke and I said, so do I. This girl, that sat behind me had brought in a ciggerette lighter and had set some of my hair on fire. (True Story), everyone rushed to me and tried to put it out and the fire did not spread all over my head but she did burn a strand, now the catch is this she was suppose to be one of my friends. This lady has now been in jail off and on for years, she is an alcoholic, and still after all these years still fighting,never been employed, her child was taken ect... Now parents we are the first teachers that our children will learn from, we have to get involved and see what is going on in their life. Sometime precious ain't being precious they are other people tormentors.

[thats2much]

Savage Beasts! oooops... Suburban Savage Beasts!

[maikonen]

These girls are sociopaths. They have no remorse for what they've done. And i they're not treated, they'll do something worse next time. We can't always blame the parents without intimate details beinng revealed, but most of the time, the apple never falls far from the tree.

[bragladish]

you can't treat a sociopath, they are just like that, and will be like that forever! The best you can hope for is to punish them and hope that plays out as a deterrent. You have an estimated 14 million of them in America alone, and most of them don't ever attack anyone physically, but they do mentally abuse people all their lives. If you do find one who is violent, like these girls, then you have to punish them, or they will feel empowered by the experience, not shame by it or feel any remorse. Sad fact, but the truth!

[BVictor1]

And people talk about city kids.

[Blaqstorm7]

This is really sad. I'm from Sauk Village. I moved away 15 years ago and it use to be such a nice and quiet town. Now gangs have taken over and parents aren't keeping up with their children. I don't even want to go back and visit my old friends who still live there. It's getting worse than the city.

[Mahi Joe]

This is a suburban town.

[Ryoki]

We didn't act that way in my day. Everyone was way to stoned to fight.See the damage the war on drugs has done!

[gakota]

Lock them up and give them maximum time.

[Rangergirl]

What is happening to our childres? This horrific beating, and I heard of a group of boys in Fl. that raped another boy...This is disgusting....Where are the Parent? What are these kids learning at home? I sure hope these kids spend time in jail...alot of time...

[arcanepsyche]

"What is happening to our children?"

Nothing is happening. This sort of behavior has happened for as long as history has existed. It just finally got a point where people like you are noticing.

Welcome to the real world.

[timetorevolt]

true... the only difference is there are ways to document these situations.. plus, history of this country has been white washed so a lot of white americans live in a bubble because the boogey man was always minorites..

[crayola 08b]

yup, i was about to say the same thing. teenagers are just mean. always have been, always will be ... well until we decide to genetically engineer aggression out of humans later this century.