Local & State Headlines

Videographer faces charges

• The teenager who filmed a baby being launched through the air by another teenage boy will be charged in the incident, authorities say.

Joshua Brown

LEESBURG — Lee County authorities said Monday they will charge the teenager who filmed another teen launching an 8-month-old across a room using an inflatable pillow.

The boy, whose name is not being released because Georgia law, will be charged with party to a crime of cruelty to a child in the first degree, Lee Sheriff’s Col. Duane Sapp said Monday.

A search of the boy’s computer will be executed because the sheriff had received information that there may be at least one other similar video in his possession, Sheriff Harold Breeden said.

The incident has captured national attention after it was reported by several national media outlets. Breeden said he has received e-mails from people across the nation expressing outrage over the video and the boy who taped it.

“I was pleased that the district attorney, Cecilia Cooper, and myself worked well together on behalf of the 8- month-old baby,” he said.

The baby was not injured in the incident, but the broadcast of the video over the Internet has caused outrage from many of its viewers.

To charge the videographer of the incident, the sheriff’s office will have to file a juvenile complaint against the boy, which will then be forwarded to Cooper’s office, who will bring the case before a juvenile court judge.

“(Then) it will go to juvenile court where (the judge) will hear the evidence and decide beyond a reasonable doubt if the juvenile committed the crime,” Cooper said.

By charging the boy who taped the incident, it sends the message to other who would follow in their footsteps that filming similar incidents are not encouraged by law enforcement, she said.

Cooper has said that it is difficult to charge the boy who filmed the incident because it cannot be proven he knew the incident would unfold as it did when he began filming.

The video shows a teenage boy placing the infant on the edge of an inflatable pillow, then jumping on the other side of the pillow, launching the child several feet before landing on a noncushioned floor.

At the end of the video, which was edited by the boys to show the baby being launched several times in a row, the teenager who jumped onto the pillow states that it is OK to laugh because no babies were harmed in the filming of the video.

The video was brought to light by a teacher of the student who saw the video posted on a MySpace Web page.

The boys could face imprisonment until they reach age 21 for the incident, Cooper said.

More Headlines>>