Two Mesa Vista High School students were videotaped beating up a third student as part of a gang initiation ritual, according to the Rio Arriba Sheriff’s Department.
Dominic Lopez, 15, and Neto Abeyta, 15, were filmed by another student beating up Carlos Hurtado, 13, according to dispatch logs and Det. Adam Archuleta. The Department has not released the name of the student who filmed the incident.
“(Hurtado) stands there and tells them he’s ready and they beat him up,” Archuleta said of the video, which he said appeared to have been filmed in a bathroom at the high school in Ojo Caliente.
Archuleta said the beating occurred about two weeks ago, but Principal Ruben Lucero Jr. didn’t bring the incident to the Department’s attention until May 20. Archuleta said he wasn’t sure how the video got into the principal’s hands, but the victim’s mother said she gave it to the principal.
Lopez, Abeyta and the student who filmed the incident are believed to be members of the Norteño gang, Archuleta said.
Archuleta said in the 15-second video, Hurtado was punched and kneed by the suspects, but did not fall down or appear to be bleeding. He said to the best of his knowledge, Hurtado did not receive medical treatment afterward.
The Department will pursue charges against the three suspects through the Juvenile Probation Office and disciplinary repercussions through the school, Archuleta said.
“I didn’t like the video,” Archuleta said. “I was actually pretty bothered by it.”