12-year-old thug caught on video sucker-punching mentally challenged man in the face, cops say

Philadelphia Police said a 12-year-old boy sucker-punched a mentally disabled man in the face last week, Philly.com reported — an incident that was caught on video and viewed millions of times.

Four males, ranging in age from 12 to 15, were involved in the attack on Mark Smith, 38, and were in custody Tuesday afternoon, Capt. Malachi Jones of Northwest Detectives told the paper, adding that none had yet been charged.

The video begins with Smith smiling and looking away. Then a 12-year-old boy throws the initial punch, Jones told Philly.com.

Image source: YouTube screenshot

The victim “was there minding his business … and he just gets blindsided,” Jones told the paper.

Jones told Philly.com that the incident occurred May 29 but that police didn't know about it until the video hit social media Monday. The paper said that by late Tuesday afternoon the clip received 4.6 million views on Facebook.

After the initial punch, Smith is knocked backward on a city sidewalk and clearly startled and in pain as the group laughs.

Image source: YouTube screenshot

Then another kid comes after Smith and punches him in the head as the victim tries to get away.

Image source: YouTube screenshot

Jones told the paper that two of the youths are brothers.

Smith works at a ShopRite supermarket cleaning, bagging groceries and — one day a week — as a customer service attendant, store owner Jeffrey Brown told the paper.

“He’s a beloved member of our team,” Brown told Philly.com. “We’re very distraught.” He told the paper that Smith has "a very nice personality and disposition. He’s a very sweet man.”

Brown told the paper a department manager at the store alerted him about the video Tuesday morning and that the staff members are rallying behind Smith.

“The staff is very upset because when you work in our environment with all different people, you sort of look after a young person like this,” Brown told Philly.com. “He’s like part of your family, so to see something happen to such a nice person is very upsetting.”

Brown told the paper nobody on his staff recognized the attackers.

“They’re very young boys, but obviously, they have issues that have to be dealt with as a society, because who knows what will happen next if that’s how they treat people,” he told Philly.com. “Mark is not confrontational. He’s just nice. So why do that to him?”

Detectives told the paper they believe two of the youths in the video also participated in a brick-throwing attack last Wednesday against a school principal.

Just days after Smith’s beating — and only three blocks away — Anthious Boone, principal of Fitler Academics Plus School, was hit in the face with a brick outside his school, police told Philly.com. Boone was trying to stop a fight between his students and those from nearby school, police told the paper.

Jones told Philly.com that detectives think one of the boys who watched the attack on Smith threw the brick at the principal — and that the kid who threw the second punch against Smith also was involved in the brick attack.

Jones called both incidents “senseless,” Philly.com reported, and said that those who threw punches or bricks could face charges, including aggravated assault, simple assault, and reckless endangerment.