The Florida teacher’s aide who was brutally attacked by a 270-pound student denied her teenage assailant’s claims that she sparked the classroom beatdown when she confiscated his Nintendo Switch.
Joan Naydich, a paraprofessional at Matanzas High School in Palm Coast, made the revelation Monday as she continues to recover from being slammed to the floor and stomped on 15 times.
“I just want to set the record straight. I never took the Nintendo Switch from him. From anyone that’s read or heard differently, I’ve been told this was unfortunately misinformation,” Naydich said, according to a fundraiser launched for her recovery.
Brendan Depa, 17, told cops he launched his tirade on Naydich after she took his handheld game console during class.
Disturbing video shows the hulking 6-foot-6 teenager exacting his revenge on the mother of two in the school hallway.
Depa can be seen sprinting toward Naydich and shoving her to the ground, knocking her unconscious immediately.
The teenager continues to beat Naydich’s limp body as stunned students and teachers try to break up the violence.
It took four adults to pry the massive student off Naydich, the footage shows.
Naydich was rushed to a nearby hospital and has since been released but said she is “overwhelmed with the idea of the long fight ahead.”
“I’m hopeful that the awareness of this incident being spread far and wide will prevent anyone else from ever dealing with the trauma, physical healing and disruption of everyday life that this has caused,” Naydich said on GoFundMe, where more than $66,000 has been raised for her.
Depa — who allegedly told cops he was “going to kill her” when he is released from custody — will be tried as an adult with aggravated battery on a school board employee, an offense punishable by up to 30 years behind bars.
The troubled teen has a violent past and was arrested three times for simple battery in 2019.
Depa is considered behaviorally disabled and requires specially designed instruction and related services as a member of so-called “exceptional students.”
“Exceptional”, huh? Exceptionally brutal maybe?
After reading the comments here, I feel I need to add something. Oftentimes, people find it necessary (for whatever reason) to condemn “the God of the Old Testament ” because of certain laws stated in the books of the Torah. One of these includes taking incorrigible children to the city gates, where the entire community would stone that “child” to death. I do not know at what age the community considered a child no longer redemptive, but 13 is the age of accountability. Either way, it’s a gimme this baby Huey would have been one of those who probably wouldn’t have made it to his present age had he lived in those times.
These days, minors are in a protected class until the age of 18…unless they commit a horrible crime, when they can be tried as an adult. Seems to me if one can tried as an adult, their behavior BEFORE they actually commit murder, rape, or mayhem should be considered as well, and perhaps the system needs to be less wimpy when dealing with obviously very dangerous juveniles. BEFORE they kill someone.