Philadelphia-15 children wanted over savage playground game 'Catch and Wreck'
15 children wanted over savage playground game 'Catch and Wreck'
GLENDA KWEK
March 22, 2010 - 11:38AM
US police have have arrested five children - four girls and a boy - after two people were attacked in a savage playground game called "Catch and Wreck", media reports say.
A 12-year-old girl has been charged and police are searching for up to 15 more children. The children, believed to range in age from nine to 15, gather at the playground in south-west Philadelphia, near the east coast of the United States, police said.
"What they do is they see somebody they believe is homeless, they go up to them, and they start punching and kicking them, knocking them to the ground and it's all for joy and for fun," Lieutenant John Walker of the Philadelphia police told ABC's WPVI-TV.
The two people the children allegedly assaulted last week - a 42-year-old woman and a 73-year-old man - were not homeless.
Vincent Poppa was bashed on March 14 and suffered a heart attack during or after the beating. He came off a ventilator on Friday. Mr Poppa, who lives in a senior citizens' home, remains in a serious condition in the intensive care unit of a Philadelphia hospital.
When he was admitted, he had footprints on his head and shoe marks on his body, Lieutenant Walker told The Philadelphia Inquirer.
"They were stomping him pretty hard," he said.
Belinda Moore was surrounded by youths and attacked on Friday night as she walked home from work through the playground.
"I'm glad to be alive; I really am. I'm able to walk. I'm a little bruised up, but I can still walk," she told WPVI-TV.
"They snatched my hat off, they snatched my bag. They hit me in my head with a stick. They hit me in my legs with a stick.
"They punched me on both sides of my face. And I'm begging these guys to please stop and let me go."
Ms Moore had an injured head and knee, police said.
Lieutenant Walker said police found out about the violent game after interviewing children after Ms Moore's attack. They believe the same group of youths carried out both beatings.
"They were all saying the same thing, laughing at us, like we didn't know what it meant," Lieutenant Walker told the Inquirer.
"They said: 'It's something stupid we do for fun.'
"It's a bizarre mindset these kids have developed. We're hoping we can nip it in the bud."
The 12-year-old girl was charged with aggravated assault, criminal conspiracy, attempted robbery, theft by unlawful taking, receiving stolen property and possession of an instrument of crime, WPVI-TV reported.
