YouTube video fighters ruled guilty
Published 9:30 pm Thursday, March 25, 2010
Five adults who were involved in a fight in Lake Kennedy and were identified from a video of the fight posted on YouTube were convicted Thursday.
Tywann Eley, Vontray Jennings, Ray Johnson, Darold Lewis and Nathaniel Shaw each pleaded no contest to a charge of disorderly conduct. Each was sentenced to 30 days, with all the time suspended if they maintain good behavior for one year.
Two juveniles involved in the case were referred to juvenile services.
The case got widespread attention after police were able to use a video of the fight, posted on YouTube, to identify most of the participants. Police initially encountered an uncooperative crowd when they responded to a call about a large street fight in the 1400 block of Sierra Drive on Dec. 14. By the time they arrived at the scene, the fight had ended, and both participants and witnesses refused to share information about what happened.
However, investigators got a break when they learned a video of the fight had been posted on the Internet. Members of the police department’s Neighborhood Enforcement Team worked with school officials to identify the participants from the video.