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'I Can't Believe That's Me,' Says Girl In Video Attack

POSTED: 6:12 pm EDT October 9, 2007
UPDATED: 7:17 pm EDT October 9, 2007

Katelind Lewis was just 12 years old when she was attacked in the girls’ locker room at Norwood Middle School.

She just turned 13 years old but she’s hardly celebrating, because a videotaped clip of the attack is all over the Internet.

“I didn't want to go to school at all,” Katelind said. “I was just scared what people would be saying to me.”

Katelind said she was attacked in the school locker room while a group of seven girls taunted her and videotaped her attempts to fight back, which they posted online at YouTube.com.

“I don't even remember the whole fight because I was, like, blacked out," she said. “(It’s) awful, you don't what to think when you see it. It's like, ‘My gosh, I can't believe that's me.’”

Katelind said she’s been humiliated after reading comments posted online about her and the fight.

“Some people are like, ‘Ha-ha, you got beat up,' and some people are like, ‘My gosh, you got beat up?’” Katelind said.

Katelind’s family said the attack was planned, and a group of girls encouraged the attack and prevented the teen from fleeing.

“She was just embarrassed and humiliated to the point where she felt that she could not tell us about it,” said her sister, Shawna Wright. “It's just upsetting, it's just really, really upsetting.”

Wright said her younger sister was afraid to return to school.

“Your peers' opinions mean so much to you at that age, and it hurts me that she's hurting, and that she's actually afraid to go back to school,” Wright said.

The clip has been removed from YouTube, after a company spokesman said the video violated site’s policy.

“Real violence on YouTube is not allowed, (and) if a video shows someone getting hurt, attacked or humiliated, it will be removed,” the spokesman said, adding that viewers police the site and flag content they find inappropriate.

However, Target 5 found dozens of videos that show violent fights involving school-age girls posted at YouTube.

After a one-week suspension, the girl accused of instigating the attack on Katelind will appear Thursday in juvenile court.

Katelind said she’s gotten e-mails from people who are angry that she spoke out, but she’s also gotten messages from strangers who said they were victims of similar attacks.


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