Mc BRUTES
As pols shame crowd, victim boasts of ‘fame’
POLICE BOOKED repeat offender Aniah Ferguson (top center) for her role in Monday’s brutal gang attack at a Brooklyn McDonald’s – while beaten teen Ariana Taylor (far left) seemed to revel in the attention she received on social media.
ONE DOWN. Five to go.
The female brute who led a mob of teens beating a 15-year-old girl in a Brooklyn McDonald’s — a savage attack caught on video and shared across the globe — was arrested Thursday, police said.
Aniah Ferguson, 16, was identified as the hoodie-wearing assailant seen throwing haymakers at the outnumbered victim — and then stomping on her head after the teen went limp, police said.
Ferguson — whose shirt was pulled off in the fight and who kept up her attack wearing only a purple bra — was charged with gang assault and robbery.
In addition to pounding on the victim, Ferguson stole her purse and cell phone, cops said.
The teen hell-raiser has a troubled past, a long rap sheet and now one very angry mother.
“I’m her mother and I’m not defending her,” the Brooklyn woman told the Daily News, declining to give her name.
“I didn’t raise her like this. I don’t know why she did it.”
The troubled teen emerged from the 70th Precinct stationhouse just after 8 p.m. sporting a blue Rolling Stones T-shirt and a colorful silk scarf wrapped on her head. Ferguson didn’t speak to reporters as she entered Brooklyn Criminal Court, where she’ll be arraigned Friday.
Ferguson has been arrested six times since she turned 16 last July.
The latest came Feb. 3 when she was charged with stabbing her brother in the arm with a knife inside their Prospect-Lefferts Gardens home.
Six days later, Ferguson pleaded guilty to disorderly conduct and was sprung from jail.
Neighbors said she has a year-old daughter and severe behavioral problems.
One former neighbor said she witnessed the teen’s grandmother running out of the house two months ago screaming, “She’s going to burn the house down!”
“This is a sick child — and she really really needs help,” said the neighbor, who has known the family for years. “She’s been in jail, they release her. She’s been in jail, they release her. She’s been in jail, they release her. Why are you releasing her?”
A day after The News featured the vicious beatdown on its cover, a parade of city pols and police officials stepped forward to denounce the attack and the bystanders who did nothing to stop it.
“The young ladies should be prosecuted and I believe the video evidence may be sufficient for that,” Mayor de Blasio said. “It’s horrendous that a young girl would be attacked in such a fashion.”
The Monday mob-style attack inside the Flatbush Ave. joint also drew the ire of Police Commissioner Bill Bratton.
“That type of behavior is not acceptable in any society and certainly is not . . . acceptable here in New York,” Bratton said.
Schools Chancellor Carmen Fariña called it “unconscionable and sickening.” Former schools boss Dennis Walcott said: “The challenge is not just the school system, it’s the larger climate the allowed this to exist. The adults who allowed that fight to happen should hang their heads in shame. We all have a responsibility to nurture and guide our young, and that did not take place at McDonald’s that day.”
A high-ranking police source said cops have identified the other attackers — mostly through their own Facebook posts.
“Most of these kids identify themselves,” the source said. “They either post the video, tag themselves in pictures or boast about being there.”
Some of the attackers are believed to have links to a violent gang called the Young Savages, sources said.
Victim Ariana Taylor, who was rushed back to the hospital after collapsing in her home Wednesday, was released Thursday morning, her grandmother said.
A police source said the Erasmus High School freshman appeared as if she had been beaten up by a pro boxer.
“Her face looked like a punching bag,” the source said. “Her nose was broken and she didn’t even know it.”
The wounded girl, despite her injuries, had initially refused to talk to cops. But she was slightly more cooperative Thursday, a source said.
“She’s more cooperative, but she’s not the stellar star witness,” the source added.
Hours before Ferguson was charged, Brooklyn Borough President Eric Adams announced a $1,000 reward for information leading to the arrest of the other attackers. A three-minute video captured the mob of girls punching, kicking, pulling and stomping on the pint-sized victim in front of dozens of onlookers. Not a single person tried to break up the fight.
It wasn’t until Taylor was lying motionless on the floor, with Ferguson repeatedly stomping her head, that customers moved in.
“What struck me here is that nobody
I’m her mother and I’m not defending her. I didn’t raise her like this. The adults who allowed that fight to happen should hang their heads in shame.
EX-SCHOOLS CHANCELLOR DENNIS WALCOTT
What struck me here is that nobody did anything.
CITY COUNCILMAN JUMAANE WILLIAMS
did anything,” said City Councilman Jumaane Williams (D-Brooklyn).
“It’s horrific to sit there and watch that and see people do nothing.”
Cops said the McDonald’s is a hive of youth violence. Since January 2013, cops have been called to the fast-food joint 10 times.
True to form, just minutes after the Monday pummeling, a second fight broke out outside between two female teens.
Zaira Ingran, 16, threw a barrage of punches at an 18-year-old woman, authorities said.
She was charged with assault and menacing — and released on her own recognizance after her Tuesday arraignment.
On Thursday afternoon, four cops were stationed outside the McDonald’s.
Cops said they were still trying to determine what sparked the brawl. One possible motive might be linked to a shooting in Brooklyn a few weeks ago, two sources said.
The victim might have helped set the shooting up, and that could have caused the bad blood with her attackers, the sources said.
Students at Erasmus High said the feud between the victim and her foe was well known.
“They had a beef. They had some stuff between them from before,” said Geraldine Williams, 17.
That type of behavior is not acceptable in any society and certainly is not going
to be acceptable here in New York.
NYPD COMMISSIONER BILL BRATTON