[starttext]
By Paul Thompson
Security guards in yellow vests are shown standing and watching as a fight begins between two 15-year-old girls in a Seattle bus tunnel A teenager whose brutal beating was captured on CCTV as security guards stood by and watched has provoked outrage across America.
The victim was repeatedly punched and kicked in the face during the horrific unprovoked assault.
Three uniformed security guards watched while the beating took place and failed to help the young girl.
Even as the 15-year-old victim laid motionless on the floor they did not bend down to see if she was badly hurt.
A teenager whose brutal beating was captured on CCTV as security guards stood by and watched has provoked outrage across America.
The victim was repeatedly punched and kicked in the face during the horrific unprovoked assault.
Three uniformed security guards watched while the beating took place and failed to help the young girl.
Even as the 15-year-old victim laid motionless on the floor they did not bend down to see if she was badly hurt.
The savage attack - which was captured on CCTV cameras - has shocked America after it was played on news reports.
Bosses for the security guards said it was company policy for their employees to 'observe and report' and not get involved.
But TV stations and other media have been bombarded with outraged complaints about the guards' lack of action.
One outraged parent said:'Those security guards are just as guilty (if not more guilty) than the thug who did the beating.
'Those security guards should be tried. It looked like the girl went to them for support and protection, only to find that they had no spine.'
The victim, who has not been named, said she believed the security guards at a bus station in Seattle, Washington, would protect her.
'I went to the security and told them that these kids were trying to jump me,' the girl said in court papers.
The security guards are shown standing and watching as a 15-year-old girl is kicked by another teenage girl'I know that I am about to get jumped and I am hanging around the guards to try and get protection. ... I thought the security guards would defend me.'
The girl said she had sought out the guards after an earlier altercation inside a department store with a gang of eight youths and two girls.
The 15-year-old, who is black, said the gang had said he was 'acting white' and had 'nice things'.
Police noticed the confrontation and kicked the gang out of the store while the victim and her friend went to the bus station.
CCTV cameras pick up the girl as she stands next to a uniformed security guard in the hope they will offer her some protection.
But after being attacked by another girl she is knocked to the floor where her attacker pummels her head with a flurry of blows.
When the victim loses consciousness the attacker continues to kick her in the head.
As the assault continues a security guard standing over the victim does not even try to intervene other than calling police.
girl takes another swing at her victim as one of the security guards looks onAnother guard turns away while a third further down the platform looks on.
The attacker walks away, but runs back to land one last kick on her victim's head while another member of the gang runs off with her bag containing a mobile phone and iPod.
Amazingly, the victim did not need hospital treatment.
She said in court papers that she suffers from a heart condition and was trying to protect her chest during the assault.
A woman who witnessed the assault from a bus said:'You've got three male security guards and there's a young girl getting kicked in the head, lying on the ground, motionless? And they couldn't do anything? Doesn't seem like security.'
A spokesman for Olympic Security said their guards have instructions not to get involved
But the owners of the bus station Metro Transit said they are reviewing their contract in light of the lack of action by their staff.
Seattle city officials have also demanded an inquiry.
'We are very disappointed in what people see in that video,' said Kevin Desmond, general manager of Metro Transit.
'It was absolutely unacceptable. I know the Olympic Security folks were also disappointed in the response, but again, the employees were following the letter of the agreement.'
Police used Facebook and MySpace pages to track down the gang and arrested four of those involved, including the alleged attacker.
Dominique Whittaker,18, has been charged with assault and faces up to two years in jail.
Two other youths have also been charged in connection with the assault
[endtext]
