A video of two young girls being forced to fight each other in a New York City park has surfaced, catching the attention of authorities, Gothamist reports.
As of Thursday morning, the location and the identities of the girls and those exhorting them to brawl remain unknown. Police were analyzing the clip for clues, the New York Daily News reports.
NBC 4 New York notes that a double-long bus in the background indicates the park is somewhere in Manhattan or the Bronx because only those boroughs have that type of vehicle.
Footage from the video is disturbing, to the say the least. As the two girls face each other, viewers can hear the voices of older people laughing and urging the children to slap, punch and rock one another. One observer is heard questioning one of the girl's punching power. At one juncture, one of the combatants cries that she doesn't want to play because she likes whom they're making her fight.
Gothamist initially flagged the video and alerted the Administration for Children's Services. YouTube then yanked the clip from its site.
"Just when you think our voyeuristic culture of glorified violence couldn't sink much lower, YouTube is there to reveal new depths," Gothamist wrote in reference to the clip.
An official from the Administration for Children's Services called the video "troubling" but conceded to the New York Observer that it had nothing to go on to investigate.
In similar circumstances, those responsible for egging on fights have been caught and arrested.
In December, a Georgia mother and father were arrested for encouraging their seventh-grade daughter to fight at a bus stop. In 2010, a mother from Palmetto, Fla., was charged with child abuse after a videotape caught her cheering on her daughter in a fight witnessed by several teens.