UPDATED: 'Wolf pack' of bullies arrested at Upper Darby High
Six students from Upper Darby High's Opportunity Center, ranging from 13 to 17 years old, were arrested this morning at school for what township police Superintendent Michael Chitwood called a "heinous" act of bullying earlier this month that was caught on camera.
UPDATED: 'Wolf pack' of bullies arrested at Upper Darby High
William Bender
Six students from Upper Darby High's Opportunity Center, ranging from 13 to 17 years old, were arrested this morning at school for what township police Superintendent Michael Chitwood called a “heinous” act of bullying earlier this month that was caught on camera.
The teens have been charged with kidnapping, unlawful restraint and related offenses for dragging a 13-year-old student through the snow, tossing him in a tree and hanging him by his coat on a metal fence post. Police are searching for one more kid they think was involved.
“Seven on one, that’s a wolf pack,” Chitwood said.
The terrified victim was screaming for the kids to stop, but no one at the apartment complex where the incident occurred called 9-1-1, police said. The bullies are heard laughing maniacally throughout the video, which was recorded on a 17-year-old’s cell phone.
“They thought it was a joke,” Chitwood said.
Police want to send a message by arresting the kids at school: If you bully or threaten other students, Chitwood said, “You're gonna take a hike in handcuffs and in a wagon.”
Update: A couple hours ago, I showed the video to the 13-year-old victim, Nadin, and his mom and dad, Rebecca and Eric. It was the first time they had seen it. They were planning to go to the police station tomorrow to watch it themselves.
"Are you kidding me? Are you serious?" Rebecca said as she watched the video in her living room, shaking her head in disbelief. After about a minute, tears welled up in her eyes. "I can’t watch it," she said, turning away from the screen. "I’m just speechless. What did he do to deserve it?"
"I was surprised nobody called police" at the apartment complex, Nadin said.
Today's story.
Comments (91)
Hey Sputnik, Allow me to introduce myself. I'm JKitty, and I used to live at the Park Lane East Apartment. I still have a friend who lives there, but we haven't spoke in a bit. At the time we both lived there, things like this didn't happen. People went to work, took care of their children and lived a respectable life. I find what happened reprehensible and disgusting and I think the boys who did this and their families should be given eviction notices. Who wants to worry about their kids being attacked? Oh and another thing, and this is my personal opinion, No, I am not behind Mumia. He should've been sentenced to life without parole and without appeals. and one more thing,blabber-mouth, because what I want to call you wouldn't get printed, I'm a happily married black woman with a son who graduated from UPHS and I currently reside in a lovely home in West Philly, you know, the old Upper Darby. So not all "N" words are stereotypical, you however, will always be a coward with a keyboard.— Jkitty- We need an innovative solution here. Have every kid who's been terrorized by them come down to the station to taze them. 25 or 30 tazings should do the trick. Film it, show the bullies cr@pping themselves in the auditorium during freshman orientation. Would you become a bully if it would lead to a dozen public tazings?— Grazman
Comment removed.- ...and these are the kids whose families will be getting public tax dollar vouchers to go to private or parochial schools. Nice job there parents.— ktp
- The racism in these comments is disgusting. A person's race doesn't predispose them to crime, but their socioeconomic status does. It just so happens that a disproportionate number of the black community falls into this latter category. If you're going to hate on anyone, hate on poor people, black or white. It's still shameless to put a blanket label on an entire group, but at least you'd be a little closer to the truth. Your attitude affects your kids just as much as the parents of the kids in this video. The only difference is that, while these kids become thugs, yours are going to be labeled as unintelligent bigots and have to settle for some low-end job where that kind of personality is overlooked.— emoser
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- No, I'm just a little more educated than you. It sounds by your comment that you're only concerned about "black" crime... I take it you're OK with it as long as the perpetrator is white? Many successful black people started out poor and most of them do not act like animals. I'm a little curious about the last part of your post, too; could you please explain? It's true that both are probably the same socioeconomic status, but both are also black... so why are you only focusing on the black part and not the socioeconomic part? And could you also please point out to me the part of my post where I made an excuse for what they did? P.S. I don't know what Mumia has to do with this other than you're obsession with race, but no I don't support him... and I'm white, so this isn't about me just blindly defending my own race. Your move... GET ER DONE! — emoser
- One other thing. I'd love a link to the statistics you have that 390 of the 400 murders in the city were by black people. And please don't link me to your neo-nazi message boards. Thanks! — emoser
- No response? I'm shocked! What a coward... — emoser
- Chitwood never learned the "don't air your dirty laundry" thing. He goes out of his way to destroy Upper Darby property values and speed up the white flight. The "Opportunity Center" is a holding area for those on the fast-track to Graterford. If the school district could boot them all, No Child Left Behind wouldn't be as tough an issue for the district.— fire fighter
Chitwwod used to be a Philly cop,realized he wasn't gonna be Commish and went to Maine,They ran his behind out of Maine for this same type of behavior,he's a media hound,but he'll do something stupid,he always does— dmac6419- Letter I sent to the local TV stations The story tonight upset me. Let me say right off the bat my heart goes out to the boy was bullied. Where it happened is not news because this type of behavior has been going on since my 23 year was in school in the Upper Darby School System. Fights and being picked on are no big deal and go ignored year after year.Now someone wants to denounce the residences of this complex for not doing something??? GIVE ME A BREAK! Most of the residences on that side of building either working , don't have access to a phone or don't speak English. People around here don't react because they do not want to be the next victim. Sometime you report an incident and the cops take a while to get here .These kids in this neighborhood have no respect for authority. Like most kids today.In the 23 years I have been in this community I have seen this neighborhood change over and over and not for the better.I have reported violations and infractions and they have been ignored.Yes parents need to be more active in the schools and the community but again we have many problems here.This quiet little community is because an annex to some of Philadelphia's bad behavior. I heard that one of the kids that was arrested lives near the kid that was beaten. The mother of the kid that was beaten wants to move. The problem is not got going to go away bullies will just find another kid to pick on.What is the school going to do to step up their program about bullying? The one they have in place is not working.State government needs to CHANGE the law. Make Bullying a law punishable by a jail term, community service and therapy. Thank you— vrb1955
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- Hey Lefty, when was the last time a white wolf group hung a white person? They are what they are, the scum of the earth and the reason why they cry poor us, when people classify blacks as the class they want to be.@Andy, Chitwood is the chief of police in Chester County, you moron. And this just goes to show, no matter how much you dress up a monkey, it's fur still shows.— Handthatcreates
- Some A__hole judge will just give them probation and send them back home to do it again. Something needs to be done to the scumbag parents who know what kind of kids they have in their household.— BossTenor
- Here's the link. It's even more sad why he was bullied. This is a hate crime.
http://www.myfoxphilly.com/dpp/news/local_news/13111-bullies%27-teen-victim-talks-to-fox-29— uniongoodguy - upper darby is just an extension of west philly, same thugs— adamdude77
- licky boom boom down— longlane06
- Post the names of these kids. make the parents go to a parenting and anti-bullying class with their kids. I'd throw them out of school and send them to juvi— ExplorerFan
- Oh come on! The kid wasn't beat down, he was dragged through the snow. As far as I can see he was not kicked or punched. Who hasn't seen a scene on the tube where somebody is placed on a wall by their clothing. Again, not violent. Silly. If we are to expect consistent police intervention for every incident, including violent ones, (which this isn't) then every school in this country needs a police station. This is not news nor is it criminal in the grand scheme of things called reality. What's next, assault with a snowball? Handcuff the name-caller? They were having some fun. Again, was the boy hurt? If they did hit him, OK fine, I'm with that response. If not, I think it's an overreaction.— Yodude2
- Did you really watch the video? While not every person there put their hands on the boy, they did nothing to stop it or help the boy. The child was calling out for help and screaming. So yes, this was a violent incident. The boy was terrified and no one was helping him. I don't really call that fun. Thankfully, Chitwood is holding the entire group accountable for their behavior. The kids were much bigger than the victim and there was a group of them. This child didn't know what they were going to do to him. It could have been much worse.
— PHL Teacher - The majority of problems in this city are caused by...we all know the answer.— NoMoreSection8
- I had stuff done 10X worse than this to me in school, reported it, and no one got arrested.— tndmrtr
- This very painful to watch. Six teenagers already prime candidates for the criminal justice system pounding the hapless 13 year old. It's disgusting. Children with no home training and the spawn of bad gene pool.— Anne Arkey
- Behind every bully, there is a coward— joeace
- @sputnik42, you have been in outer space too long. What about those middle class animals (males and females) in New England who bullied a young Irish girl to the point that she committed suicide? Have you conveniently forgotten about that? This sort of thing crosses all color lines and classes.— Dolly92748
- the bullies involved,and their one or two parent(s) need a kick in the a** and jail time. no excuses for this behavior. I,m telling you all abortion should be able to be retroactive, for 3 to 4 generations.— Miss M.
- To say these kids acted like animals is truly offensive - its offensive to animals that is. To take offense by the "wolf pack" comment - saying that is racist is ridiculous. These kids acted like low life trash - stop coddling because they are black.— gob1234
- The parents of the Bullies should be fined $500 dollars each time their punk kids get caught Bullying. Then We'll see how quick it stops.— CrazyJoe47
- They have some good excuses; Teachers are prejudiced-they expect us to pass tests, My mother said "just don't kill anyone", My father left us and took all our drug money.— farley
- I am a student in Upper Darby High and this is just way too sick. I've ran into 3 of these guys before while on the way home in the early December but fended them off. About 2 weeks later 1 of my friend came to school with a red(blood) eye ball and he refused to check in hospital. It was done by the same kids. Seriously, what is this?— SkyCanopus
- OldSouthPhilly, the problem with you is that you are "OldSouthPhilly" ignorant. Bullies come in all shapes, sizes and colors.— Dolly92748
sickandtiredofit -- the victim was white? you are such a moron. seriously. you are just waiting to say something racist. anyway, what these little punks did was wrong, and they are going to pay for that. but i guess white schools dont have bullies in them either. yeah, ok.- Send them to the big house where Billy Bob will be waiting to bully them too!— Dolly92748
Bring back the military draft for non college students.
Our youths lack of civility started to decline with the end of the draft. These inner city kids need discipline, responsibility and a sense of direction.- Low IQ + low self esteem - parental support - assistance of any substance by society = the real problem. Those who choose to make it a color issue ought to look at the aforesaid equation. They also ought to take a trip out to the counties and see that it is more than a "color" problem. If they put as much money into discouraging parenthood as they do into birth control "education" these "wolves" would not be born, not be neglected, not develop the hatreds that are born when one wants, and never be a burden or bring harm. Just looking at the comments to this one article you can see almost the full scale of the evolution of our society. To some of you I am sorry I used so many words. To the others, my heart goes out to you.— OldSouthPhilly
- This incident is absolutely disgusting and I hope those involved get the maximum penalty. There is no excuse for this type of behavior. As for some of the commentators you are just as disgusting. Some of you are disgusting racists. Of course anyone who knows anything about American history knows racism is as American as apple pie and motherhood.— mindstorms
- Hope & Change!— Kaiser Sosa
- I see no reason to bring race into this. Look at how big those kids are, and how small the victim looks. If we don't want to say a wolf pack, how about a predator pack. In reality, though, they're a pack of cowards regardless of race. Just a bunch of cowards.— palmer1619
- Chitwood is channeling Frank Rizzo circa 1969.— bobcitydoc
- Boy! What an ugly picture is getting painted by the commentary here. Forget the kids... the kids involved will get theirs, but what the hell are we arguing about????— Norton
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- Confidence in numbers -- makes me sick.— The Pack Leader
- Charge them witha "hate crime", if the complextion had been reversed, the white boys would have been charged with it, and Rev Al and Jesse would be on the next flight into town...just sayin.— bczippy
The worse part is they probably laughed all the way to the station. Do you really think these kids were afraid? Like their parents were gonna discipline them?— fuss77- "Wolf pack" isn't racist. It's a term used to describe a pack of bullies attacking a much smaller number of people. Geez, some people will bring race into anything. If the guy was being a racist he would have called them what they are, n*gg*rs, and no that doesn't refer to all black folks, just the ones who act like they're savages.— Kanayd
- PS - Stop making this about race. It's about punks. Period. No race has the market cornered on virtue or vice.— BillyBob369
- If that was a group of white kids that did that to a black kid we would see all kinds of bull in the news, maybe even riots in the streets. But since it was the other way we will only see a slap on the wrists, if we even see that.— erniebanks14
- I hope to god that you don't have kids. Do you even realize that you're no better than these kids' parents? — emoser
- Theyre all black....what a surprise!— dennis14
- Send these punks straight to jail. We need more Mike Chitwoods and I don't care if they give him his own TV station. The man gets the job done.— BillyBob369
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- Randy Wolf fans no doubt.— Mike215
It's a shame each and every one of these punks can't be terrorized.
THAT would be the PERFECT punishment.- I think these 7 kids should apply to the Eagles for job. They deserve a second chance— NoMoreSection8
- The victim was white and the perpetrators were black. NBC10 did their best to alter the video to hide the race of those involves, but a keen eye could still tell.
Black people need to start criticizing their own kind. Otherwise, with consistent animalistic behavior like this across society, one cannot blame white people for being racist.— sickandtiredofit - F.Y.I the victim was black, his family is from Liberia. Story is really sad. — Bananagirl3
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- If any of you ever played football in high school in the early 1990's this thing happen in every locker room. No one called the cops because it probably wasn't a vicious act. The kids were laughing. This is typical 2011 media hype, anti bullying BS!— BentLogic
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- This happens all the time at UDHS. If you attempt to report these incidents to the police they tell you that they work in conjunction with the school and the school will handle it. And, according to UDHS policy if this victim would have raised his hands to defend himself HE would have been charged with fighting under their zero tolerance policy. What a joke! There is no way the school was not aware of this bullying. They just chose to do nothing!— kraymon
- Really? This is news? Come on Chitwood, do something more useful with your time than a high school fight. This stuff happened when I graduated from UDHS in '05 and it was never newsworthy, let alone a big deal. Make a real arrest of a real criminal Mike.
- This comment has been deleted.— MrBigDizzle
- What? First off, the only racist comments I see here are very subtle so it's safe to assume they're from cowards. Why waste your time with them? Secondly, when did anyone say white people were "sooooo pure?"
You realize that your comments just fuel the racist fire, right? For all you know, those comments were from an asian, or a hispanic, yet you assume the only racist people here are white.
Defending racism with racism, nice hypocrisy MrBig.
"White people are the most heinous and brutal animals on the planet. Check history!!!"
What history are you referring to? Perhaps you should brush up on your biology instead, and realize that we are all the same heinous, brutal animal no matter what color our skin is. - Comment removed.
- r u SERIOUS?!? What a shame that's what's in yer 'mind' Porky. — chris-odessa, ua
- I'm sure the accused will grow up to be model citizens and pillars in their community. What's sad is that you really can't even blame the kids. Without discipline, rules, and a solid example set at home; kids will do this kind of thing. The parents (or more likely parent) should be ashamed of themselves. And 20 years from now, when they can't get a job and have a grocery list length of criminal offenses on their record, they'll complain that society has wronged them and the "man" is holding them down. Pathetic and disheartening. Until the community decides to change itself, nothing will change. The school system, government programs, welfare, none of it will help without a fundamental mindset change. "Thuglife" has ruined most of the working class city areas of Philadelphia and the country for that matter.— dflpfan
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- Pattyjo, not quite sure when you went skipping thru Naylors run, but I went to high school in the early 80s and Naylors run was bad then. Also, these kids live at the Park Lane complex which as long I can remember has been bad.— mfeq
I'm an alumni of UDHS. Although it was awhile back, we NEVER had to worry about stuff like this. The worst thing we could do was to get caught smoking in the lavatories. I used to walk to and from work through Naylor's Run Park. Now I would need to pack my .45 to do that. When I hear Upper Darby is the new West Philly, I certainly understand what that means. Fortunately, my parents are buried in Broomall, but I still pack my gun when I go to put flowers on their grave!— PattyJo- PattyJo, you are an alumna (singular feminine; alumnae, plural feminine), not an alumni (plural for male or mixed gender), or an alumnus (male, singular). — Joanna1
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- It will be a joke when, for their punishment, the football thing does the same thing to the wolves. I'd like to see that posted on U-tube.— ivyrose321
- hope and change you can believe in!— pb2824
- Lock them up Mike. Drag their parents in and tell them they are next if these thugs don't straighten up. Good job. Wish you were back in the city.
- Future US infantry. Or Philly PD.— CiceroSpuriousDeodatus
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- Your implication that the perpetrators did this because of their race is disgusting. And pointless, since every race has its lowlifes. For instance, we Caucasians are stuck with you.
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- I love how people with limited education pull up statistics out of the deepest recesses of their abused rectum, and expect them to be believed. Get a life. — Eaglesman_in_DC
- I don't think he meant they did it BECAUSE of their race but that he knew what race they were. Come on, man! — PattyJo
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- They're a wolf pack; dog pack, whatever! Six losers out of a bad gene pool. — Anne Arkey
- LOL, it is called 'telling it like it is'. Something that no longer exists in a pathetic, wussified PC society. — flyers87
- Good job, parents. You raised some real winners.— emoser
- i bet some of those kids are parents themselves! — Howie FelterSnatch
West Philly is on the come up. Upper Darby is the new inner city— TwinkleToes- Upper Darby = the New West Philadelphia.— USAFirst1
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