Newark Man Forced To Strip & Whipped With Belt Says He Was Held At Gunpoint

The Newark man who was forced to strip and whipped with a belt on camera over a $20 debt says that he couldn't refuse his three assailants because one of them threatened him with a firearm. "I was kinda scared. Just did what they asked me to do so they wouldn’t turn a page," the 21-year-old victim told the Star-Ledger. "They had a gun." When asked how the attack made him feel, the man said, "It made me feel hurt, mad. All types of feelings. They’re cowards. We all know that."

Police identified 22-year-old Ahmad Holt as the suspect who whipped the man, and said 31-year-old Raheem Clark provided the belt to whip the victim with, while 23-year-old Jamar Gray filmed the incident. According to Newark's Police Director, all three men have gang connections, and Gray and Clark have lengthy criminal records. The Police Director said the victim did not mention the gun initially, and that additional charges may be filed as a result of the new information. Other witnesses to the incident said that the group may have been armed.

The victim said he didn't personally know any of his attackers, and nor did his father, who they claimed owed them $20. He told the Star-Ledger that he didn't report the incident to the police because he feared for his family's safety.

The victim's aunt, who raised the man after his mother died nearly 10 years ago, said, "For somebody to do such a horrible thing to my child, it took me back over a hundred years to what we call slavery. I cry for days every time I think about it."

At a news conference yesterday, Newark Mayor Cory Booker angrily denounced those who allowed the crime to happen. "There were others who saw this crime happen, who witnessed this type of vicious brutality and said nothing. In the face of evil, those who remain quiet are participants in that evil."

A New Jersey prosecutor told the Times that the suspects could face 10 to 20 years in prison if convicted of armed robbery, and 5 to 10 years if convicted of aggravated assault. Charges against the party who uploaded the video to YouTube, where it got over 40,000 hits before it was taken down, are still being weighed. A reporter spoke with people around the area where the assault happened:

Of more than a dozen people interviewed on Wednesday afternoon near the spot where the victim was whipped, none would give their names. A young man who said he had seen the assault described it as “not a big deal,” adding, “The mayor just made it a problem because it made him look bad.”