The police have made a third arrest in a case involving a group of teenagers goading two 7-year-old girls to hit each other in a Bronx park. A video of the fight was widely viewed on the Internet after being posted to YouTube and other Web sites.
The third person arrested, a 14-year-old girl, was not identified because of her age. But the police said that she was apprehended in the Bronx on Friday and was being charged with endangering the welfare of a child. A police official described her role in the episode, which took place in January in Poe Park on the Grand Concourse near East Fordham Road, as “encouraging this fight.â€
Two other girls, ages 14 and 15, were arrested and charged with the same offense earlier on Friday.
An investigation began after the Web site Gothamist posted a two and a half minute YouTube video on Tuesday with the hadline “Little Girls Forced to Fight in N.Y.C. Park.†A mother of one of the 7-year-olds saw the video and contacted the police.
In the video, a chorus of voices exhorted the two 7-year-olds with cries of “slap her,†and “harder.†After one 7-year-old attacked, the other responded to the jeers from the onlookers by sobbing and shouting: “I don’t want to hit her. I’m not playing. I like this little girl.â€
A police official said on Saturday that a fourth teenage girl was wanted for questioning in the case.
