Teen Crime Spree Inspired By Grand Theft Auto Video Game
The game "Manhunt" depicts horror, cruelty, crime and violence in such a manner that its availability was likely to hurt the public good.
GARDEN CITY, Long Island — A gang of teens in love with the blood-drenched digital killfest "Grand Theft Auto IV" - in which players slaughter hundreds during endless crime sprees - copied the video game's violent hero with a two-hour campaign of real-life robbery and brutality on Long Island, cops said Thursday.
The wild rampage featured such staples of the mega-popular game as a mugging, several break-ins and attempted carjackings at an intersection in tony Garden City, police said. They even allegedly knocked one man's teeth out.
"They decided they were going to go out to commit robberies and emulate the [lead] character Nico Belic in the particularly violent video game 'Grand Theft Auto,' " said Nassau County Police Detective Lt. Raymond Cote. "These teens have difficulty separating fact from fiction, fantasy from reality . . . It was quite alarming."
