Ok, so here's what happened.

I was walking home from school. It was a nice day, sunny out, and I had no homework. Everything seemed like it was going right.

Then I saw a gang of six teenage white guys holding a smaller teenage white boy, coming towards me, in my direction, but not coming AFTER me. They were laughing at him and poking him, and shoving him and throwing some punches at him.

I stopped. I hadn't seen something like this in a while. I ducked behind a trash can, not wanting to be next. You know what I mean. So I hid and they walked past me, teasing and tormenting the kid.

The two teenagers that were holding the kid suddenly slammed him into the wall to their right. The kid was stunned. Another guy spun him around, and another guy shoved him back into the wall. Then another guy sent his fist crashing into the kid's chest. The kid got the wind knocked from his body. Another guy then kicked him in the knee. His legs buckled. Another guy punched him, hard, in the shoulder. It snapped back. Another guy grabbed his arm and pulled it across his back, and the kid gasped in pain. Yet another guy sent his fist into the kid's eye.

They then pushed him into the middle of the wide sidewalk and circled him. Then they all started slamming their fists into his gut, and kicking him, HARD, and punching him in the noise, and ramming into him. Then it got worse. They took sticks and hurled them at him. But they didn't cluster around him and flail at him randomly. Each hit was given by a different guy, and it was consistent. The hits were clear and sharp, and not all at once. The kid staggered around. Twice he fell, and both times he was kicked, REALLY HARD, a few times, and hastily yanked back up. They forced him to his knees a bunch of times, and beat him like that. The last blow was delivered by the strongest and biggest and toughest of the guys, into his stomach. It was the hardest blow yet. The kid cried out in pain and crumpled to the ground, clutching his stomach and moaning in agony. His beating had lasted about five minutes, which is a long time to be in pain.

I was horrified. The guys laughed and high-fived eachother, then the leader, the strongest and biggest and toughest guy said, "Remember that, JOHNNY, the next time you borrow my basketball." And they left.

I ran to the kid, once they left, and knelt by him. He was about twelve, way younger than me. He had a bloody nose, a black eye, and many bruises. He was still groaning. He looked at me. I gently helped him up.

"You okay, kid?" I asked.

"You saw?" he asked, embarrassed.

"Yeah," I said.

"Oh. They owned me, didn't they," said the kid with resentment.

"No, not too bad," I said, and gave him a friendly slap on the shoulder. "But what'd you do to get it?"

"I borrowed the leader's basketball when I was using our school's basketball court. They dragged me over here and.... well yeah, you know the rest."

"Hope you'll be ok," I said.

He smiled. "I will." And then he walked away, waving. I waved back.

I continued home, mortified at the teenage guys who had beaten the twelve-year-old. I hadn't seen something like that in a while, and I haven't since. And I hope not to.

But the incident seems to haunt me. Should I have done something? Please tell me. I am muscular enough, but I am smaller than them, and I would most likely have gotten beaten even worse than the kid.

This post has been edited by seez: May 30 2007, 08:49 PM

wow. thats competely insane. the only thing i could think of is to have called the cops, and thats only possible if you had a phone. but another possibility, is if you were fast, to distract them and have them run after you and go to a public place where there would be a phone and other people and they would have been the ones that got owned. but if neither of those options were available, i would have waited till the beating was over and talked to the kid and try to get the guys names and rat on them, i mean beating a kid is bad. they should be knifed for that, thats y me and my friends always have blades with us.

Cops wouldn't bother with that, trust me, I know. I live by a huge city, if any of you heard of millwaukee, I live by there. Pretty tough, you just gotta do what you gotta do as long as you don't wear the wrong colors, talk to the wrong people, or look at the wrong people, you'll be good. This kid just took something that didn't belong to him, and got jumped for it. He learned his lesson, although I don't agree with what happened, it does happen to people. No matter if they like it or not. Hes just lucky it wawsn't that bad.

The cops wouldn't exactly do much. At least not around here, a person getting jumped is like seeing somebody walk their dog, its just that common. They go for more gang violence, felonys, and drug dealers.

i live by milwaukee too, in elm grove, which is by brookfield. around where i live, cops would do something about it, *BLEEP*, i got called by the cops for something i didnt do and it was something that was nothing. i suppose it matters where u live, if u live in the burbs, they will do something, in a big city, nothing will happen, unless it is a hate crime or gang related. however, the kid could press charges and sue the other kids asses for a lot of money, and they would go to jail/juve. that is if u live anywhere, even in milwaukee (ik cuz miltown has like 5th highest crime rate).

I probably would have tried to tell the kids off, but I live in a pretty mundane neighborhood and never see anything like that. I would have definitly called the cops and helped the kid sue them. Other than that, I really don't see what you could have done other than get your butt kicked too. It's horrible that they would have done that. I really hope those kids get caught.

The worst thing about the incident is that nor the cops nor you could have helped the kid. IF you had tried to help him then they would have come after you and beat the crap out of you even if you guys ran or something.

The problem with bullies is that they are too cowardly and they are too insecure so you can be sure that if their leader chases you he will have his goons along with him.

I was shocked when I read the post and how the kid took it for granted of his fate. I mean all that he does is that he leaves and this is a sign of helplessness coz if we see it we are helpless where bullies are concerned.

these kinds of people really make me sick and reading your story makes it infuriating. i've been there too, but it wasn't physical, it's more like they keep on teasing me and i'm like the center of their jokes and they always laugh at me. it's hard really. i guess the extent of damage depends on what kind of bullying you receive. i guess i'm a bit lucky compared to that kid you saw. physically harming someone would have psychological effect too, so aside from the life-threatening punches and kicks, he also develops this inferiority complex because he just lets these kids beat him up without a fight.

i guess if you're the same age or height as that kid, it's natural to be afraid and hide somewhere safe. and it takes great courage to stand up and help someone and defend them against bullies like these. don't be too hard on yourself if you weren't able to help. at least you were kind enough to lend him a hand after he got beat up. there are still ways for you to be able to help, like going to his parents and telling them what had happened. even though the police could help, i don't think they're the best people to approach with this problem. instead of going to the cops, you could approach someone who has more control with these kids, like a teacher, or a principal of the school. in that way, they could be kept in check.

Wow, tough situation. If you tried to get in there and stop the kids, you would have gotten a beating. If you really have a lot of guts, you could have tried to get the kid free and take the beating for him. Other than that all you can do is watch and wait til it's over. You did fine, and you shouldn't be hating on yourself for it. I live in a smaller town and I have never seen this happen, but one time I was walking home and a car drove by and beeped and called out "**** you". I hate these people. Something that helps me deal with it (and it probably won't work for you) is telling myself that in 15 years, these people will be begging for money and I can just step on them and I walk by going to my job. I'm worried about America, it seems to be becoming more violent and there is less that we can do. People that do this are losers!! They are just plain stupid. Don't mess with them, but if you do seem them later in life in a lower position then you, you can just smile and tell them how stupid they were for choosing to beat up a kid. Revenge isn't the answer, although it sounds sweet. Try my advice, I hope it works for you. Best of luck!