Panama City Beach Residents Worry About Safety After Alleged Gang Rape
PANAMA CITY BEACH, Fla. The disturbing allegation that a woman was gang-raped by college students on a packed beach last month now has residents questioning just how out of control this tourism mecca has become.
It also has officials asking: Is spring break broken and what can be done to fix it?
"We have gone to an era now of total violence and animalistic conduct," said Wes Pittman, a Panama City Beach resident for almost 40 years.
Bay County Sheriff Frank McKeithen was so distressed by the alleged assault, which was caught on cellphone video during broad daylight, that he called it one of the most "sickening things" he had ever seen.
"Within 10 feet of where this is happening, there is hundreds, hundreds of people standing there watching, looking, seeing, hearing what's going on," McKeithen said at a news conference last week.
http://www.nbcnews.com/news/crime-courts/panama-city-beach-residents-worry-about-safety-after-alleged-gang-n342651