- Dec 9, 2004
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http://www.wsbtv.com/news/19569831/detail.html
Teen Charged After Attack Caught On Tape
Posted: 3:00 pm EDT May 26, 2009Updated: 5:35 pm EDT May 26, 2009
DOUGLAS COUNTY, Ga. -- One teen beat another at school and the victim said he was so scared about retaliation he didn't tell anyone about it for months. Now, a teen is facing felony charges in connection with the attack that was caught on tape.
A 15-year-old has been charged with two felonies in connection with the beating of a student inside Lithia Springs High School. The beating happened in December 2008 and was caught on cell phone video.
The video apparently shows one 15-year-old kicking and stomping the head of another 15-year-old in a school hallway.
RAW VIDEO: School Beating Caught On Tape (Warning: Video May Be Disturbing)
Channel 2 Action News reporter Justin Farmer met with the victim, Zach Cielo, to talk to him about the incident.
Cielo said he was so worried about retaliation, he didn't tell anyone about what happened to him -- including school officials or his mother -- until now.
"I didn't know what was going to happen to me," said Zach Cielo. "(He) could've put a clot in my brain...I could've died. But I lived through it."
But Cielo's mother said she has seen enough.
"I have made (the) final decision that I am taking them out of the school and I'm taking them out of the country," said Lulu Cielo, Zach's mother.
Going against her children's wishes, Lulu Cielo said she has decided to send Zach and his 12-year-old sister to her native Philippines to go to private Catholic school.
"She's doing it for the better of me and the family," said Zach Cielo. "I understand where she's coming from."
Lithia Springs High School officials are being supportive of the victim's family and plans to expel the accused.
The accused is a juvenile and his name will not be released.
"He was one step away from an aggravated battery, which would have been if he had broken his spine, or actually killed him. You saw the kick to the head," said Chief Deputy Stan Copeland with the Douglas County Sheriff's Office.
The suspect is in his mother's custody. The Douglas County Sheriff's Department said they are hoping prosecutors will come down hard on him to show others beatings won't be tolerated.