September 8, 2014

So you go to the police to complain about the threats you're getting over people seeing a video of you assaulting a mentally disabled man. Wow, you'd think they'd want to keep this to themselves, but apparently the threats were serious enough that they had to contact the cops:

Two Delaware teens were arrested and charged with assaulting a mentally disabled man after they complained to police about being harassed when a video of the victim being attacked was posted to social media, authorities said.

The teens' personal contact information was shared online with the video. The Newark teens, 13 and 14, were arrested Saturday after they and their parents went to police headquarters to complain about threatening phone calls, New Castle Officer Tracey Duffy said Monday.

The two boys were charged with offensive touching, assault of a vulnerable adult, and conspiracy. They were released on bonds of $2,500 after being arraigned. Their names were not released.

Duffy said their complaints triggered an investigation that led to police finding and viewing the video, which shows a 26-year-old mentally disabled man being body-slammed to the ground, stomped on and repeatedly punched in the head.

Duffy said she didn't know whether the suspects were cooperating with authorities investigating the attacks.

Sixteen-year-old Angeliz Marrero, of New Castle County, told WPVI-TV in Philadelphia that she reposted the video to her Instagram followers after she first spotted it.

"I was so mad, but at the same time the first thing I thought was, 'I have to do something about this,'" Marrero said.

After she posted it, Marrero said her followers went from 2,000 to 20,000 in less than 24 hours."It spread so fast, and I'm just so grateful for everybody that's helping me out. Because if it weren't for everybody helping, supporting and everything, this wouldn't even go viral, and that man really deserves justice," Marrero said.

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