Brooklyn, N.Y. – Congresswoman Yvette D. Clarke released the following statement on the attack on a fifteen-year-old young woman by four other young women at a McDonald’s Restaurant on Flatbush Avenue, videos of which were recorded and distributed around the world.

“On behalf of the people of the Ninth Congressional District of New York, I want to express my concern and outrage about the young woman who was brutalized in a violent attack in a McDonald’s Restaurant in our community this past week. I am outraged at the climate of callous disregard and revelry at the brutality of this altercation and among these young girls, a  climate that included a crowded restaurant of onlookers young and old. Why didn’t anyone in this restaurant see fit to intervene? This attack and the lack of compassion among the spectators in McDonald’s was unacceptable. Every young woman and young man should have the ability to attend school or walk home or visit a restaurant without fear of violence or any form of harassment. These actions had serious consequences – for the young woman who was severely injured and required medical attention and for those individuals who were responsible for this gang violence and are now under arrest and investigation. We must all be alarmed by reports that other students in the crowd – as well as several adults – did not even bother to call 911 when the attack started. Our civil society depends on concern for each other as individuals who are entitled to respect for their human life and dignity. I encourage any of the individuals, students, and adult patrons with information about all of those who might have been responsible for this horrendous attack to contact an adult you trust. We share a responsibility to protect every person in our community from the threat of violence.”

U.S. Representative Yvette D. Clarke is a member of the House Committee on Small Business, Ethics, and Homeland Security, where she is the Ranking Member of the Subcommittee on Cybersecurity, Infrastructure Protection, and Security Technologies. She represents many neighborhoods in central and southern Brooklyn, NY which include Brownsville, Crown Heights, East Flatbush, Flatbush, Gerritsen Beach, Madison, Midwood, parts of Park Slope and Flatlands, Prospect Heights, Prospect-Lefferts Gardens, Sheepshead Bay, and Windsor Terrace.