JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — A vicious fight broke out in a Jacksonville neighborhood already plagued with problems. One factor contributing to it is all the people standing around recording as fists fly.
The fight happened Tuesday evening in Eureka Gardens. It's one of many fights around town that have ended up online. Action News Jax spoke to experts who said social media sites are both helping and hurting efforts to stop this type of violence.
Kicks and punches flew everywhere in the video. At one point, you can see the victim, Arlisha Jenkins, is kicked in the face and knocked out.
"I got knocked out, I passed out," Jenkins said.
The bruises on Jenkins and her sister Natalee Jenkins are just as clear as the video. The sisters told Action News Jax they were on their back porch as several men and women rushed them and began throwing blows to their backs, heads and arms.
"My lips are busted because I got kicked in it," Natalee Jenkins said.
Someone filmed the brawl Tuesday after the sisters said the fight went on for more than 30 minutes. They said within 15 minutes of the fight ending, the video had already surfaced on social media.
Action News Jax found it on Facebook.
"That's 20,000 views. Everybody around the world, people that don't live in Jacksonville not even in the U.S. have seen this video," Natalee Jenkins said.
"They are glorifying violence," said Dale Carson, Action News Jax's law and safety expert, who added the posting of fight videos is becoming a somewhat dangerous trend.
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Action News Jax found several fight videos on Facebook from all across the city -- including the Southside, Westside and Northside-- with many of them shot at local schools and in apartment complexes without a police officer in sight.
"You memorialize anything like this by using the video and it's evidence that can be used against you in the court," Carson said.
Carson said the people fighting in the video could earn some jail time.
"This can lead right down the path to a long prison sentence. There are certain proof standards that have to be met before it can be introduced in court but that's not a big thing for law enforcement to accomplish," Carson said.
Carson provided a legal breakdown of what could happen if changes are made to laws.
"Misdemeanors have to occur in the officer's presence," he said. "Before that law was created, there wasn't social media like there is today and I can see there's an effort to change the law so that when you demonstrate a video and audio capability from a cell phone showing someone engaging in criminal activity. The state attorneys office and law enforcement uses that to prosecute you."
It's a punishment the sisters said they hope the people responsible for shooting the video and attacking them will receive.
"I want them to be prosecuted. I want them to go to jail," Arlisha Jenkins said.
Carson said lawmakers should look into putting age restrictions on what can be viewed on the Web.
"I'm pretty sure them girls are sitting in their apartment are giggling and laughing at his the video is getting shared and liked," Natalee Jenkins said.
Action News Jax spoke with a social media expert from the University of North Florida, Dr. Alloway, who said three reasons people share the fight videos are for the sense of pleasure, emotion and lack of punishment for recording them.
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