In a horrifying moment, a 6’6″ schoolboy who weighs 270 pounds knocked a female teaching aide unconscious and severely beat her for taking away his handheld Nintendo Switch.
The 17-year-old Matanzas High School student from Palm Coast, who was not named due to his age, violently attacked the teaching aide after telling another student he was ‘going to kill her’ for taking his game away on Tuesday.
‘This could have been a homicide,’ Sheriff Rick Staly told WESH 2.
In surveillance footage, released by the Flagler County Sheriff’s Office, the hulking student can be seen rushing up to the teacher, who was also not identified, before launching her across the room, her body flying several feet.
She hits the ground head-first, rendering her unconscious. The special needs student immediately begins kicking her before kneeling down to punch her in the head and torso.
In surveillance footage, released by the Flagler County Sheriff’s Office, the hulking student, 17, of Palm Coast, can be seen rushing up to the teacher, who was also not identified, before launching her across the room
She hits the ground head-first, rendering her unconscious. The special needs student immediately begins kicking her before kneeling down to punch her in the head and torso
Another woman runs up to the student and grabs his arm, but is unable to pull him off the aide before several others rush to drag him off her. Even after they manage to push him to the ground, he still reaches his leg out to hit her a few more times.
It takes five staff members to restrain and drag him away from her body as he fought against them.
The Flagler County Sheriff’s Office found the woman with ‘severe injuries’ and she was transported to the hospital for treatment.
The teen claimed he would ‘beat her up every time she takes away his game,’ and spit on the teacher as deputies escorted him away, according to the arrest report.
The student was arrested and taken to the Sheriff Perry Hall Inmate Detention Facility, before being turned over to the Department of Juvenile Justice. He was charged with Felony Aggravated Battery with Bodily Harm, which is punishable up to five years in Florida.
Her body flew several feet before she was knocked unconscious. The student had said he would ‘beat her up every time she takes away his game.’ The aide, who began working at the school in 2021, was left with severe injuries and was transported to the hospital
It takes five staff members to restrain and drag him away from her body as he fought against them
The student was arrested and taken to the Sheriff Perry Hall Inmate Detention Facility, before being turned over to the Department of Juvenile Justice. He was charged with Felony Aggravated Battery with Bodily Harm, which is punishable up to five years in Florida
He also faces expulsion from the school.
In bodycam footage, the student can be seen asking officers if he is ‘going to jail,’ while they handcuff him in the school.
‘For how long?’ the students asked.
‘I don’t know,’ the officer replied.
Moments later he told officers: ‘F**k you, I don’t want to go to jail. I have more important things to do,’ before accusing them of manhandling him.
Staly called the ordeal ‘absolutely horrendous and completely uncalled for.’
The Matanzas High School student (pictured), who was not named due to his age, violently attacked the teaching aide after telling another student he was ‘going to kill her’ for taking his $200 handheld game away on Tuesday
He also told officers while being arrested: ‘F**k you, I don’t want to go to jail. I have more important things to do’
‘We hope the victim will be able to recover, both mentally and physically, from this incident,’ he said in a statement. ‘Our schools should be a safe place – for both employees and students.’
Flagler Schools Superintendent Cathy Mittelstadt agreed, saying: ‘Creating a safe learning and working environment on our campuses is critical. Violence is never an appropriate reaction.’
Matanzas High School said it had ‘no comment,’ when reached for comment.
The Flagler School Board did say at a meeting after the event that they have made it a ‘high priority’ to go over policy to ‘help with this.’
The teaching aide has worked within the school district since 2004 and started as an aide at Matanzas in 2021.