"A" Train Beat Down Video

DECEMBER 5--A group of teenage girls menaced a male subway rider before attacking him as their train pulled into a Brooklyn station, a violent assault videotaped last month by a high school student who, of course, immediately uploaded the clip to YouTube.

The 4:18 video, which you'll find above, was shot on the A train as it traveled in Bedford-Stuyvesant (subway ads and the train's stops indicate that the footage was shot late at night several weeks ago).

The video was uploaded to YouTube on November 7 by Kadejra Holmes, a high school student and aspiring Harlem filmmaker. In a brief online chat, Holmes denied being part of the girl gang that attacked the male rider, who appeared to be about 30. Minutes after being asked by TSG about the train video, Holmes, 17, deleted the footage (and her entire page) from YouTube.

As seen in the clip, the group of girls taunted and threatened the seated male rider as the train moved from the Ralph Avenue station to the Rockaway Avenue stop. As members of the group inched closer--and threatened to strike him--the man remained calm, asking the girls, 'Why are you arguing? Please stop, stop.' As the train pulled into Broadway Junction, a girl off-camera could be heard predicting, 'They gonna hit him, I know it.'

Within moments, the man, who had stood up, was shoved down and pummeled by members of the gang. As the tape ends, the victim--who was also struck in the face with a plastic soda bottle during the assault--is continuing to be struck by two of the girls.

When she posted the video, Holmes titled it, 'jump up to get beat down,' an apparent reference to 'Punks Jump Up To Get Beat Down,' an old single by Brand Nubian. The 1992 cut's video featured members of the rap group throttling various unfortunate opponents, two of whom get their bloody comeuppance in a subway car.