Rep.: Probe assaults on homeless in Cleveland

STAFF/WIRE REPORTS
CLEVELAND -- Rep. Dennis Kucinich asked the federal government Monday to investigate violence against homeless people after six vagrants were attacked last weekend with a stun gun.
Four teenagers from the Youngstown area were charged Saturday in the attacks. Police said the teenagers videotaped attacks on at least six homeless people while they slept on park benches or in doorways.
"As cruel and outrageous as these attacks are, we know these are not isolated incidents," Kucinich, a Democrat from Cleveland, wrote in a letter to U.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft.
The Justice Department did not immediately return a phone call requesting comment.
According to the National Coalition for the Homeless, there have been 212 attacks on homeless people, including 122 murders, from 1999 to 2002 nationwide, Kucinich said.
The teens were arrested after their car broke down on a downtown street at 3:30 a.m. and they ran away when another motorist stopped to help. After the youths fled, the motorist talked to a homeless man who told him about the attacks.
Joshuah Langenheim, 19, of Austintown, was charged with assault. Three other teenagers, all juveniles, were released to their parents and will face delinquency assault charges. Authorities refused to release the names of the juveniles.