Surveillance video captured five teenage girls in Seattle viciously attacking and robbing a woman on a public bus, FOX13 reported Thursday.
The violent incident, which occurred in March, left the woman with multiple injuries and the loss of $375 worth of items she bought for her family, according to FOX13.
Footage shows one of the teens grab the victim by her hair while the others violently push her down the steps of the bus and out onto the sidewalk. The woman tries to hang on to one of the bus’s safety poles while apparently calling for help. (RELATED: Disturbing Video Leads To Hate Crime Charges Against 12-Year-Old Boy In Brooklyn)
In a shocking incident captured on surveillance footage, five teenage girls attacked and robbed a woman after dragging her off of the H Line bus. https://t.co/gAVDSYMTTR
— FOX 13 Seattle (@fox13seattle) August 23, 2024
Three teenage boys who were with the girls allegedly laughed at the victim while she lay on the sidewalk, FOX13 reported.
Senior Deputy Prosecuting Attorney, Diana Chen, said that the surveillance footage, along with tips from officers, school employees and prior arrest records, helped authorities identify the suspects, according to the outlet.
Initially, the King County Prosecutor’s Office charged all five teenage girls, ranging in age from 12 to 17, with second-degree robbery, but three of the teens have raised alibi defenses claiming that electronic home monitoring program devices show they were in different cities when the alleged attack occurred, FOX13 reported.
“After a review of the available admissible evidence, the State was unable to proceed with prosecution against those three respondents,” Chen stated.
Steve Strachan, Executive Director of the Washington Association of Sheriffs and Police Chiefs, said, “As we see juvenile involvement in violent crime go up, we’re going to need to respond to this much more proactively than we are so far.”
“Juveniles need to be held accountable, when necessary, 100 percent,” Strachen added. “At the same time, nobody wants juveniles to be permanently labeled. That’s the balance we have to strike, but it’s going to be really challenging.”
Law enforcement officials are stressing the need for tough legislation to combat the rise in juvenile crime, emphasizing the need for the system to balance justice with rehabilitation, FOX13 reported.
