Maryland Transit Administration police cannot review a video of the beating on a Baltimore City bus because it appears to be blank, a source close to the investigation told The Examiner on Sunday.
“Everybody thought it was videotaped,” said a law enforcement source who spoke on the condition of anonymity. “But the video camera wasn?t working correctly. There is no video of the attack.”
MTA police are sending the video to specialists, hoping some portion of the incident can be extracted.
“There doesn?t appear to be anything to recover,” the source said.
Prosecutors were hoping the videotape could provide evidence to corroborate the version of the attack told to them by Sarah Kreager, 26, who said she was twice denied an open seat Tuesday by nine Robert Poole Middle School students; Kreager was “immediately attacked” when she finally sat down, police said.
The middle schoolers have said Kreager instigated the attack.
The six boys and three girls are charged with punching and kicking her on the bus at the intersection of 33rd Street and Chestnut Avenue, said MTA police, who are investigating whether the incident was a “possible hate crime.”
Kreager is white; the middle schoolers, ages 14 and 15, are black.
Kreager has been placed in a witness protection program, after a cousin of one of the accused sent her a threatening message at the homeless shelter where Kreager is known to stay, the source said.
An MTA police spokeswoman did not return phone calls throughout the weekend.
Margaret Burns, spokeswoman for the Baltimore City State?s Attorney?s Office, said she could not say whether Kreager is in witness protection.
Prosecutors are considering charging the 15-year-olds as adults, she said. Under Maryland law, the 14-year-old students must be tried as juveniles.
