Videotaped Beating Prompts Investigation into 'Non-Interference' Policy

Feb. 11, 2010 — -- The 15-year-old girl whose brutal beating in a public bus terminal was caught on tape told Seattle investigators that she thought the three security guards who stood by and watched would protect her.

"I went to the security and told them that these kids were trying to jump me," the girl said in her statement to investigators that was obtained today by ABCNews.com. "I know that I am about to get jumped and I am hanging around the guards to try and get protection."

"I thought the security guards would defend me," said the victim, whose name is being withheld by ABCNews.com because she is a minor.

The security guards, who are contracted out by Seattle's Metro Transit, are civilians who are ordered only to "observe and report" and not to interfere in violent altercations.

As so many saw in a widely viewed videotape, the security guards in neon yellow vests did not intervene, although they did call 911.

In the chilling surveillance video that caught the assault on tape, the victim is seen being jumped from behind by another girl in front of the trio of burly uniformed guards.

As the victim falls to the curb of the Westlake Center transit terminal, she is straddled by one of her assailants and then surrounded by other teens who start robbing her of her belongings.

One security guard can be seen standing directly over the victim as she is stomped and then kicked in the head by a teenage girl.

With the three guards standing there, the teenager who kicked the victim in the head, walked casually away.

Despite the viciousness of the attack, the victim suffered only scrapes and bruises, as well as the loss of hair from it being pulled out.

The King County Sheriff's Office and Metro Transit said they are "horrified" by the assault, and have begun an investigation of the robbery and beating as well as the contractual obligation the officers have to not become involved in altercations.

"I am appalled by the sight of uniformed guards standing by while a person was kicked and beaten," said King County Executive Dow Constantine, who ordered the review.