Teens suspended following vicious assault on student

Warning: Graphic video of assault in RDP Five teenagers assaulted a high school student on Tuesday Oct. 10, 2017

A teenager was taken to hospital Tuesday after being assaulted by five youths in Riviere des Prairies while dozens of people watched and did nothing.

The victim is a student at Lester B. Pearson High School, and the attackers are EMSB students from other schools. Police say they could be arrested and charged with assault.

A video of the assault shows several students talking and arguing with their hands in their pockets, while surrounded by a crowd of dozens of students.

When the victim looks to his right to talk to one of the teens, another youth suddenly punches him in the left side of the head.

The victim falls to the ground as one of the teens yells "surprise mother****er."

Five attackers then stomp on the victim and repeatedly kick him in the head as he curls up in a ball. One attacker holds the victim in place as a second kicks him in the face.

One person, possibly the victim, can be heard saying "stop, stop" but the attackers continue kicking the victim's head, punching him, and running up and jumping on him.

One of the attackers repeatedly yells out "don't even speak my f***ing name n****r" as he punches the victim and kicks him in the face.

After about 30 seconds and dozens of punches, kicks, and stomps, the attackers finally stop when one person cries out, "Okay guys, stop, it's enough."

During the attack, dozens of students stood or sat motionless while several recorded the assault on their phones.

None of the children watching called 9-1-1 to report the attack, and it was only on Tuesday morning when one parent that a parent contacted police.

“All I know is he got sucker punched,” said one student. “It was not fair. He had four guys on top of him. He couldn't do anything.”

“Honestly I was so speechless, I was freaked out,” said another.

EMSB spokesperson Mike Cohen confirmed the attack took place Tuesday in RDP and that some of the attackers attended other EMSB schools, not Lester B. Pearson high school.

"We were made aware of the video [Wednesday] morning and immediately called police. The victim is badly bruised but to my knowledge wasn't otherwise injured," said Cohen.

A principal identified four of the attackers, saying three went to alternative schools, while one was from another EMSB mainstream school.

"They have been suspended indefinitely," said Cohen.

The board was not yet aware of the identity of the fifth attacker, and Cohen said he did not know the motive for the assault.

“There are suspects who have already been identified in relation to the video. We have in our hands and some school directors have been advised that there will be arrests in this case,” said Dany Marin, commander of Station 45 of the Montreal police.

Marin said one of the more troubling aspects of the incident for him is that nobody - not the kids watching from the sidelines or the parents who may have heard the story Tuesday evening - called 911 on Tuesday to report the case.

“The principal has been in touch with the family of the victim. He's a secondary three student and it's a miracle that he survived such an attack and wasn't hospitalized,” said Cohen. “He was checked out and he has some significant bruises and obviously it was a traumatic experience. Why this happened we don't know. We hope to find out soon.”

The victim is expected back at school on Thursday.

With files from CTV Montreal's Cindy Sherwin