Police investigate after video shows youths attacking man in Glace Bay
Victim, 42, was treated on the scene by paramedics
Cape Breton Regional Police are investigating after a video circulated online showing what appears to be a group of high school students swarming and beating a man in Glace Bay.
Desiree Magnus, a spokesperson for the police service, said security staff at the Atlantic Superstore on Reserve Street reported the incident Tuesday around 1 p.m.
The video shows a number of youths surrounding the man near the grocery store, kicking him, landing punches and throwing rocks.
At one point, the 42-year-old victim can be seen crouching down on the ground with his hands covering his head. Paramedics treated him at the scene.
The grocery store is around the corner from Glace Bay High School, which can be seen in the background of the video.
Kiara Headley, a Grade 11 student at Glace Bay High, said incidents like this reflect poorly on the school.
"I think it's really embarrassing that a group of boys from our school had so much anger in them to do something like that," she said. "It shames me."
Student says incidents becoming a pattern
The school made headlines two years ago after a group of students were caught on video bullying a Grade 9 student with cerebral palsy. The victim, Brett McEachern, was bullied into lying in a brook near the school while other students walked over him, using his body as a bridge. The video also showed the students swearing at the boy and calling him names.
A human rights settlement was reached last year between the boy, the high school and the local school division.
Gracie Brewer, who is also a Grade 11 student at Glace Bay High, said it appears bullying has become a pattern.
"Everyone coming back to school this year, we're saying, 'What's going to happen this year?'" she said. "This would seem to just be the thing that happens yearly."
More videos made the rounds on social media following Tuesday's swarming, showing the man being chased by the group of youths.
Brewer said it's scary to hear about an incident like this involving her school.
"I used to be friends with some of those boys that were involved in that, and to see that they are capable of that was very shocking to me," she said.
Students in video suspended: classmates
Headley and Brewer said the teens involved in the incident have been suspended, but they believe suspension alone is not enough punishment.
Michelle MacLeod, a spokesperson for the Cape Breton-Victoria Regional Centre for Education, said in an email the incident was unacceptable and would not be tolerated.
However, she declined to comment on the investigation or the individuals involved.