A bat, a paintball gun, and a camera
Video captures cruel teen adventure
March 9, 1996
Web posted at: 7:30 a.m. ESTFrom Correspondent Charles Feldman
LOS ANGELES (CNN) -- It sounds like something out of a dark satire of the video generation: four teen-agers on a joyride, armed with a baseball bat, a paintball gun, and video camera, smashing cars, shooting people at close range and recording the terror they exacted upon innocent bystanders, along with the attacker's glee. But this video is not a fantasy. (842K QuickTime movie)
On at least two nights last November in a Los Angeles suburb, four teenagers cruised the darkened streets looking for cars to bash. Music from the car's radio provided a soundtrack for their narration of the chaos and fear they caused.
"Okay, we just found a nice car and we're going to bash it," one of the teen-agers says as the car crawls along. And bash it, they did. As they roll past, the bat swings out the passenger window and shatters the driver's window of parked car. "Strike one," one of the teens calls out.
But soon, bashing cars seemed less exciting than bashing a head with a baseball.
"Human head baseball!" says one of the teens. So the bat is once again jabbed out of the passenger window, this time into the ribs of a passing person on a bike.
"I rib-caged 'em!" (52K AIFF sound or 52K WAV sound)
But still, the four teens were apparently not satisfied with their night's work. So out came a paintball gun, used to fire on people at close range and at extremely high velocity.
At one point on the video, a man about four to five feet away is shot with several paint balls. Stunned, possibly thinking he has been shot with bullets, the man collapses on the sidewalk with a groan. The camera captures him then scrambling to his feet and darting away.
"I got him in the eye! I got him in the mouth; he's crying!" A teen yells out as the others explode in laughter.
Four suspects in the night of terror were caught by police and await trial. A plea bargain is considered likely.
The tape the suspects allegedly made was recently released by the Los Angeles District Attorney's office in an effort to get more victims to come forward.
What shocks most people who have seen the videotape is the attitude of the teens. With each assault they burst into shrieking laughter, punctuated by quips about how the victims reacted.
Another bike rider is repeatedly fired upon and appears to collide with a parked car while covering his or her head from the marble-sized pellets. When the rider hits the ground, the car erupts in shrieks of delight.
Three of the teens will be tried as adults should the case ever go to court.
"This is more than a childish prank. The attitude they displayed was horrendous, was horrific," said prosecutor Robert Cohen.
Malcom Boyd is one of the defendants in jail. His mother recently sat down with CNN and talked about the incident publicly for the first time.
"He has spent a lot of time crying. He's had a lot of time to just sit there and do nothing and think about what he did and he said that he will never ever do anything to cross the law again," DiAnn Boyd said.
And Boyd's lawyer says that a long prison term would be the wrong punishment. "Yes, they must be punished, but also give them a chance to repay society and show the world that they're not the young men that are depicted on that tape," attorney Leonard Levine said.
A high school friend has talked to the teen who allegedly ran the video camera. "Ruffy's been saying that he's been praying a lot for forgiveness from God," Mike Khorrami said.
No one was apparently seriously injured in the spree, but prosecutors say the potential was there.
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