Editorial: Fight video shows mob mentality

Thankfully a fight caught on tape at a local theatre Sunday night between a 15-year-old girl and an 11-year-old girl amounted to little more than a few bruises and a black eye.

Given the mob mentality of some of the participants, it could have been much worse.
With one boy shouting, “Stomp her head,”?and others encouraging the beating to continue, it’s not much of a stretch to think Thunder Bay could have had another Reena Virk situation on its hands.

Virk, as many may recall, was a 14-year-old Saanich, B.C. resident, who in November 1997 was bullied and then murdered after being swarmed by a group of eight teenagers.

In this case the 11-year-old victim tried to get away, but was chased down, kicked and then punched into submission after being thrown to the pavement.

While some may say teens will be teens – and the alleged perpertrator has since apologized to her victim, an apology accepted by mother and daughter – this is a situation that could easily get out of hand.|

Police have allowed the parents and the kids involved to settle it without charges being laid, which is probably the right course of action.

But let this serve as a lesson to all just how easily things can get out of hand, and how serious it really is.