A 17-year-old student who was caught on video brutally assaulting a female paraprofessional, knocking her unconscious and then pummeling her until teachers could pull him off, will be charged as an adult. He faces up to thirty years in prison if convicted on felony aggravated battery.
The hulking, black student, identified as Brandon Depa, can be seen in a horrific video shoving a 57-year-old woman forcefully to the ground and then hitting and kicking her in the back of the head at least 15 times. He reportedly reacted with such animal violence after a video game console had been taken away from him.
The video is admittedly hard to watch. Take a look below if you have the stomach for it.
High School Student eliminates his female teacher and Ground and Pounds her unconscious body after she took away his Nintendo Switch… pic.twitter.com/QbjpxZS3xP
— Fight Haven (@FightHaven) February 24, 2023
Explaining the justification for the adult charges – as if any should really be needed here – Flagler County Sheriff Rick Staley said that the nature of the attack warranted a more aggressive charge, as well as identifying the fact that the student was just months away from legal adulthood anyways.
“This student is just six months shy of age 18, and it was also a brutal attack on this teacher. Fortunately, this didn’t result in a fatality.” Stagler said.
. “This could be a homicide we are talking about.”
Depa is being held on $1 million bond and is scheduled to make his first court appearance on March 6th.
Separate reports also indicate that the thug student had previously threatened severe violence against the petite elderly woman if she ever attempted to enforce school rules. He allegedly s aid
The same post provided a lengthy description of the February 21st incident, which has gone viral for its heinous and unconscionable violence. The Flagler County Sheriff’s Department wrote about the incident and shared its response to it on its Facebook page, saying:
On February 21, 2023, the FCSO School Resource Deputies assigned to Matanzas High School were alerted to a paraprofessional employee being physically attacked on campus. Upon arrival, deputies located the female paraprofessional on the ground with severe injuries after an unprovoked attack by a male student.
The student was escorted from the area and later placed in custody. The 17-year-old student was transported to the Sheriff Perry Hall Inmate Detention Facility and later turned over to the Department of Juvenile Justice. The student has been charged with Felony Aggravated Battery with Bodily Harm.
The student stated that he was upset because the victim took his Nintendo Switch away from him during class. On surveillance footage from within the school, the student who is approximately 6’6” and 270 pounds, is shown walking fast toward the victim and pushing the victim several feet, knocking her to the school floor, which knocked her unconscious.
The student is then shown kicking and punching the unconscious victim several times in the back and head. Others rushed in to help the victim who was unconscious during the entire assault and unable to protect herself. The victim was transported to a local hospital for treatment of her injuries.
‘The actions of this student are absolutely horrendous and completely uncalled for,” said Sheriff Rick Staly.
We hope the victim will be able to recover, both mentally and physically, from this incident. Thankfully, students and staff members came to the victim’s aid before the SRDs could arrive. Our schools should be a safe place – for both employees and students.’
‘“Creating a safe learning and working environment on our campuses is critical. Violence is never an appropriate reaction,’ said Flagler Schools Superintendent Cathy Mittelstadt.
Featured image: Screen shot from embedded Twitter video, Flagler County Sheriff’s Department
