This is the terrifying moment a group of men allegedly assault young teens in a residential street after the confrontation was caught on camera.
Footage captured on a video doorbell and shared online shows the moment the trio allegedly set about the youngsters at the weekend.
The incident took place in Armadale, West Lothian, on Saturday evening, with the footage being shared on Facebook. And one of the men allegedly involved spoke about the incident online.
Edinburgh Live reports the man in question said: “We did not realise they were underage”. The incident took place at 8pm on February 1, 2025, in the West Lothian town’s Bathville Cross.
According to the man he was looking to get justice after he was ‘attacked by a group of around four to six people’ outside the local train station earlier that evening.
He claims after calling police, he went out with the other men to ‘find his phone’ before bumping into a group he believed were responsible.
Police Scotland confirmed to Edinburgh Live they were contacted, but no official report had been filed. The youths involved are understood to be around 14.
During footage showing the alleged attack, two youths can be seen walking down the street with another close behind. Two men run across the road towards them, before a third man becomes visible in the shot.
An altercation then breaks out between the two youths in black and the three grown men before another youth cycles up on a bike and approaches the scene.
A minor scuffle then appears to break out and a youth looks as though they have been pinned to a fence by a bald male. After about half a minute the older men appear to become aggressive towards the youths.
With a bald male seemingly grappling with a teenager before throwing him to the ground and pinning him there. The bald male then gets up and aggressively points to the youth on the ground.
Out of focus another minor scuffle looks to be unfolding between another adult and youth. An adult in a yellow hat then comes up to the group as the youths are backed into a fence.
After a short period the bald male then grabs the youth he had previously pinned to the ground by his clothing beneath his chin and rag dolls him slightly.
The adult in the yellow hat looks to try to break up this latest confrontation but the bald man can be seen unleashing a violent barrage of hooks aimed at the youth’s face and body for several seconds.
The footage becomes difficult to make out and it is not clear if any of the youths traded blows back. The person in the yellow hat tries to stop the alleged attack but is taken away by the other adults who ran up to the youths previously in the clip.
A post circulating online tried to justify the actions of the adults with one of the men involved claiming he was assaulted with his phone taken off of him by a group of young males after he was followed from Station Road.
“Later on, we went out to look for my phone, however as we were going past Bathville Cross, we came across the same individuals”, one of the men claimed in a social media post. “We approached them to ask where the phone was.
“Arguments ensured and after heated exchanges, one of them attacked my friend which is the footage you can see from the ring recording.
“During the attack or the later exchange, both of which were in the dark, and given the height and stature of some of the individuals we did not realise they were underage. Given they’d attacked me before, it didn’t seem plausible they were underage.”
However a parent of one of the attacked youths has defended their child and argued they had nothing to do with the alleged previous mugging of the man.
A Police Scotland spokesperson said: “Officers are aware of a video circulating online which appears to show three youths being assaulted by men in the Armadale area around 8pm on Saturday February 1 2025. Enquiries are ongoing.”
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