A 14-year-old girl has been charged with assault by beating a young boy after video went viral

Wearing her school uniform and with her blonde hair in pigtails, this teenage girl looks the picture of innocence.

But she was shown shouting foul abuse and punching a boy in the face in mobile phone footage which went viral online.

The two-minute video has been viewed 2.7million times on Facebook since it was uploaded early on May 14.

But it was not until that evening when it had been widely circulated that police were alerted. A 14-year-old girl was arrested and later charged.

The footage shows a girl grabbing the sweatshirt of a teenage boy, who is several inches taller than her, and speaking to him threateningly.

She drags him around by his clothing while attempting to hit him and at one point appears to land a punch on the side of his head, causing an onlooker to remark: ‘Oh, that’s a connection’.

She repeatedly asks the boy: ‘Are you gonna go get your cousin?’, adding: ‘Your cousin can’t do dirt on me – you understand? Do you think you are a bad yute (a Jamaican slang term for ‘youth’)?’

Attempting to punch him in the face, she says: ‘I don't want to have to bang you, you're lucky’.

Later she repeats a racial slur and asks the boy ‘Are you trying to p*** me off?’ before adding: ‘I'm going to smack this yute.’

She mocks him saying: ‘Are you going to cry? Are you going to cry?’

The girl refers to alleged drug dealing, asking the boy ‘Where’s your weed?’ and appears to warn him off selling drugs on the local estate, saying: ‘Don't p*** me off or I will have you on the floor, you understand? Don't even p*** me off.

‘You best fix up, sort yourself out, and when my bredren [sic] or anyone on this estate comes for a draw you're not giving them dust, you understand?’

One of a group of youths recording the video warns the girl that she could get in trouble. A girl’s voice says: ‘You’re going to have this on your phone, you’ re stupid if you do it.’

Later an onlooker is heard to say: ‘I’m not watching it, I’m not watching it, because I tried to tell (her) but she ain’t listening, she’s gonna get herself put in jail or something.’

The video was posted on the Facebook page ‘Young Rich Britain’ where hundreds of viewers left comments praising the boy for not retaliating during the ‘humiliating’ attack.

They also condemned the girl’s actions and she was widely mocked for using street language, particularly Jamaican slang terms.

One Facebook user said: ‘So much respect for that young man, what a star, certainly been brought up the right way. As for her, she is disgusting, (her) parents must be so proud she has turned into a vile little trollop.’

Another said: ‘Disgraceful... I would be ashamed if she was my child… she's a bully.

‘I really respect that lad for keeping his cool however it's so frustrating that she thinks that she can walk all over him like that, and then she'd probably complain if he defended himself and hit her back.’

Viewers identified the area where the attack took place as Selsdon, Croydon.

Source indicates that police were alerted to the video at around 6pm on May 14, around 15 hours after it was posted online.

They arrested a 14-year-old girl from Croydon that evening and she was charged the following day with assault by beating.

The girl, who cannot be named for legal reasons, will appear at South LondoMagistrates Court tomorrow.