Oct 27, 2009 6:01 pm US/Eastern
Teens That Taunted Homeless Man Held Without Bail
**Please Note That The Videos Have Objectionable Language
POMPANO BEACH (CBS4) ―
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The YouTube video shows the man dressed in green being taunted and beaten.
YouTube
Two teens caught on video tormenting a homeless man in Pompano Beach in 2008 are in jail, and a third person in the video is expected to turn himself in on Tuesday night. Nineteen-year-old William Sleight, 19-year-old Brandon Edwards are behind bars and detectives are looking for 19-year-old Nicholas Bakum for their part in the crime.
After viewing the video on Tuesday, a Broward County judge ruled Sleight and Edwards would be held without bail while they await trial for tormenting the homeless man. During a press conference on Tuesday, Broward Sheriff Al Lamberti said he wants to see Florida add the homeless as a protected group under the state's hate crime law.
"We have seen this before. Teenagers beating up homeless people for no reason," Lamberti said.
The video was posted to YouTube and detectives uncovered it during an investigation into the fatal beating of Craig Cohen in Ft. Lauderdale last April. In the video, three teens are seen pushing over the victim, cornering him, smacking him in the head and face and carrying him down a street before dropping him.
The teens are heard laughing at the man as he asks them to leave him alone. The incident occurred at 501 S. Ocean Drive. Broward Sheriff's Office Spokesperson Dani Moschella explained that the teens will be charged with kidnapping because the victim could not get away. The teens will also be charged with misdemeanor battery.
"This just made my stomach turn and it'd make anyone's stomach turn," Moschella told CBS4's Carey Codd. "You see these kids go on and on assaulting this guy. Taunting him, tormenting him, laughing at him the entire time."
In one section of the video, one of the teens asks the man with the camera phone, "You got this?" referring to the video. The man with the cell phone replies, "I got everything, bro."
The victim was not hurt in the attack and did not report it to police. It came to light, detectives say, because one of the men in the video -- Brandon Edwards -- was a suspect in the Cohen beating. Edwards was not charged in the Cohen attack.
A Sheriff's Office spokesperson confirmed that Edwards turned himself in to authorities on Monday night on the Pompano Beach charges.. Detectives also have an arrest warrant for 19-year-old Nicholas Bakum. They are still trying to determine the identity of the 4th person in the video.
If you have any information on the identity of the 4th person, call Broward County Crimestoppers at 954-493-TIPS.
(© MMIX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
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