RICHMOND, Calif. -- Police believe as many as a dozen people watched a 15-year-old girl get beaten and gang-raped outside her high school homecoming dance without reporting it.
The San Jose Mercury News reports that onlookers laughed, took pictures and even joined in the crime.
Two suspects were in custody Monday, but police said as many as five other men attacked the girl over a two-hour period Friday night outside Richmond High School.
"She was raped, beaten, robbed and dehumanized by several suspects who were obviously OK enough with it to behave that way in each other's presence," Lt. Mark Gagan said. "What makes it even more disturbing is the presence of others. People came by, saw what was happening and failed to report it."
The victim remained hospitalized with non-life-threatening injuries.
Manuel Ortega, 19, was arrested at the scene and was being held on $800,000 bail for investigation of rape and robbery. He is not a student at the school.
Richmond police Sgt. David Harris said he did not know if Ortega had retained an attorney.
A 15-year-old student also was booked late Monday on one count of sexual assault, Gagan said.
Police said the girl left the dance and was walking to meet her father for a ride home when a classmate invited her to join a group drinking in the courtyard. The victim had drank a large amount of alcohol by the time the assault began, police said. The girl's father was looking for her during the attack, according to the
LA Times:
Police were finally called after a female student overhead people talking about the rape. She called 911 and told dispatchers what she had heard, Gagan said. When officers arrived on the scene, the assault was still going on. Several suspects fled as officers found the girl naked from the waist up, Gagan said.
The victim was semi-conscious near a picnic table, police said.
Marin Trujillo, a spokesman for the West Contra Costa Unified School District, said there were four police officers and three school administrators monitoring the dance, but the assault happened away from the gym.
WATCH:
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http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/10/27/police-people-watched-gan_n_334975.html I could not stop shaking my head while reading this horrible story. Yet again, should we be suprised by not only the actions of the ones physically assaulting the girl, but by the onlookers who made no attempt to stop the attack. These young Men will be facing criminal chares as an adult because they failed to stand alone and go against the crowd. Easier said than done. Who amongst us likes to stand up for what is right, even if it means rebuking or turning our back on our peers, family and society. We're all reluctant to isolate ourselves from these groups. Nowadays, it looks as if the majority of young people have tatoos and those without one look odd, if that makes any sense. In school, kids choose to be on the side of the bully and not with the child being bullied. The peer pressure doesn't stop at adolescence it continues as an adult. Following our friends in order to be cool or "in" will get us in trouble. Lives were ruined and for what? Trying to fit in, trying to be cool, trying to be with those on the "in". This is a harsh reality lesson for us all. Standing alone is sometimes the only way to stand. 
Girl raped while people watched. 
