A man involved in the assault on a street performer has turned himself in to police
A Birmingham man has received a caution and been bailed by police after I Am Birmingham’s video of him assaulting a street performer went viral earlier this week.
In the video, the 20-year-old from Small Heath is seen deliberately targeting a street entertainer dressed in an alien costume from the Predator film series. After being encouraged by his friend – who filmed the incident on a smartphone – the attacker forcefully pushes the performer, causing him to fall in the direction of a child who was watching from the street.
The incident took place in New Street, outside the city’s busy Bullring shopping centre. The unknown street artist, who has been entertaining crowds from his plinth since earlier this year, is believed to have escaped serious injury. It is not known if the affected young child, who appears in the video, was hurt.
The video was originally posted to a Facebook profile, which was widely believed to be that of the assailant. It was removed a few hours later after it transpired that it had become public. The video was subsequently posted to YouTube where it went viral, amassing nearly a million views and clearly displaying the face of the attacker.
The video of the malicious assault allegedly first appeared on this Facebook profile
However, not long after our video of the incident went viral, a local man handed himself in to police authorities. He has since been bailed pending further investigation.
Police Inspector Stuart Bill explained how the incident could have been far worse:
“The street performer was shoved from behind and lunged forward on top of a young child who’d be staring up at him. Thankfully both the man and the little girl appear to have been unhurt.”
The West Midlands Police have not received any formal complaint about the unprovoked attack from either the street artist or the family of the affected child but have requested they get in touch.
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MISTAKEN IDENTITY
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MISTAKEN IDENTITY: Jumaane Meggoe
A student from Southampton became the target of an angry mob after jokingly suggesting he was involved in the Birmingham ‘Predator attack’ incident.
19-year-old Jumaane Meggoe – who uses the Twitter name ‘Christian Black’ – contacted I Am Birmingham in the hope of clearing his name after it began circulating across internet forums as that of the attacker who appears in the viral video, which shows a street performer being assaulted.
“A friend I have from Birmingham tagged me in the video when he saw it because the person was black like me,” said Meggoe.
“I found the funny side of it and shared it onto my Facebook with the caption ‘Ha ha ha, it is me’. That was my mistake.
“I had no clue that other people who aren’t my friends could see it. So, after about 20 minutes I saw my post was getting a load of hate from people I didn’t know. I received racist remarks, death threats and other insults. From then, I was like ‘this is serious’ so I had to explain myself.
“This resulted in more hate as the word spread that it was me. But my friends on Facebook and other people who knew me helped defend me by telling them that it wasn’t me.”
Despite Jumaane’s pleas, his name caught the attention of West Midlands Police who then tried to locate him in Birmingham. Although the city was one of his former stomping grounds, Jumaane was actually 143 miles away in Southampton.
Omg everyone go onto my Facebook and look at the hate I’m getting for something that happened in Birmingham. LOOOOL
— Christian Black (@JamTricking) October 21, 2013
Hahaha some black kid pushed an entertainer who acts like a statue in Birmingham city centre. And everyone thinks it’s me ahahahaha — Christian Black (@JamTricking) October 21, 2013
“Apparently I had so many complaints to West Midlands Police that they went to a place I used to train to look for me,” he explained.
The police went to my gym in birmingham to look for me lol.
— Christian Black (@JamTricking) October 21, 2013
People are telling me I should hang myself
— Christian Black (@JamTricking) October 21, 2013
THUG: The real attacker
Jumaane, who is also a regular street performer himself, attracted a barrage of hate messages from members of the public and quickly retracted him comments, apologising for the confusion.
“It was still my fault as well, for being stupid, but I had no intention for anyone other than my friends of seeing the post.”
Although he has distanced himself from the incident, many viewers of the video still believe he is connected to the attack.
“I’d just like you guys to tell everyone that I had no involvement in the situation, as for the past year I’ve been living in Southampton which is evidently on the other side of the country.”
The actual individual responsible for the assault on the street performer has since handed himself in to police. He is a 20-year-old from Small Heath who has been released on bail. His name has not yet been disclosed. His accomplice, who filmed the incident, is not believed to have come forward.
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