Female Temple University student, 19, is hit in the face with a BRICK by gang of children
- The girl and her boyfriend, 20, were accosted early Friday evening by a group of about 10 children ages eight to 14-years old, he told local media
- They were followed for about a block before the girl was punched and then twice smashed in the head with a large brick
- She had to have emergency surgery to save her teeth but vows to return to class this semester
A female Temple University student is vowing to return to class despite being unable to chew even the softest of foods after a gang of children smashed her in the face with a brick Friday night.
The 19-year-old woman, who has declined to be identified, was walking with her boyfriend just off campus when a group of about 10 children began taunting them – they were followed for a block until the vicious assault that left her with dislocated teeth and a fractured jaw.
‘I’m definitely going to go back to class,’ she told WCAU despite her parents expressing reservations about returning to the North Philadelphia campus. Her boyfriend is also a Temple student.
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Savage: The pair says they were attacked with a brick similar to the one being held by the reporter in this NBC Philadelphia report
Her 20-year-old boyfriend, who has also declined to be identified, told the station the destructive delinquents likely ranged in age from eight and 14-years-old.
‘I’m walking by and one of the people from the group screamed at me, really loud and really close to my face,’ she recalled. ‘I kept walking because I don’t want to engage them.’
The group at first only taunted the pair, but things escalated within a matter of minutes.
One girl then punched her in the face, she continued, but that was only the beginning.
‘A couple of them started to grab at her earrings and her hair,’ he said. ‘My instinct was to stop them from hurting us and leave and get away.’
He told the violent juveniles to back off, but they had other ideas – a girl believed to be the oldest of the clique grabbed a large brick and brutally bashed his girlfriend in the face before running away.
Where it started: The couple was accosted on this street by the unruly mob, Temple's athletic fields are behind the green fencing
‘My boyfriend pushed the girl away from me that hit me in the face and then the girl’s sister came at me with a brick,’ said the victim.
The girl said she was hit twice with the brick, first in the face and then in the side of the head.
‘Her teeth were out of place,’ he said. ‘It was terrible, it was terrifying.’
‘I tried to get away as fast as I could,’ she added. ‘My teeth were halfway out of my mouth. I wasn’t thinking about anything besides getting to safety.’
The girl was rushed to the hospital and underwent hours of emergency surgery to both save and align them.
‘All of her teeth were pushed into the back of her mouth,’ said her father. ‘Her five top, front teeth were bent all the way back from the gum.’
She has since been released from care and is expected to recover, but has a long way to go.
‘I’ve been eating my food through a straw,’ she lamented.
Despite these difficulties, she insists on returning to school, something her father didn’t sound too thrilled about.
‘I’m afraid for her to go back there,’ he said. ‘But I’m going to leave that up to her.’
Horror corner: The gang became violent, grabbing and punching the teen girl before twice smashing her in the head with a large brick
Neither the Philadelphia nor the Temple University Police Departments have any solid leads towards tracking down the hooligans – and the school surprisingly did not alert students to the attack.
Colleges and universities have emergency protocols in place that involve alerting students via text or email to any danger present on or near campus, but no alerts went out after the beating, students told Fox 29.
‘If there's dangerous things happening on campus it would be nice to know about them, even if it's not directly on campus but in the area,’ said junior Jon Forstater.
‘I would like to be informed of where not to go, a little bit of disappointment,’ Alex Cai added.
The victim’s boyfriend said the danger wasn’t in the size of the attackers, but rather the number of them – something that could have easily been sent out to students since the incident occurred only one block from the school.
‘What scared me most,’ he said, ‘was that there were a lot more of them than us. So even though they were small kids, if they all had bricks, I might not be here talking to you right now.’
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