According to court documents, a Florida teenager who was charged with hitting a school employee until she lost consciousness after taking his Nintendo Switch last year was given a five-year jail sentence on Tuesday.
Sentence paperwork from the Seventh Judicial Circuit Court in Flagler County state that Brendan Depa, 18, entered a plea of not guilty to one count of aggravated violence on an elected official or an employee of the educational system.
In addition, Depa, who was 17 at the time of the assault, received a 15-year probationary term.
Judge Terence Perkins stated that Depa had showed no regret for the assault that occurred on February 21, 2023, at Matanzas High School, which is located north of Daytona Beach, during Depa’s sentencing.
Depa can be seen charging the staffer and throwing her to the ground in the incident’s video. It depicts her body going limp after more than a dozen blows and kicks.
According to the arrest report, Joan Naydich, the worker, passed out. According to WESH of Orlando, Naydich stated in court that the assault is still the reason she struggles with anxiety and PTSD.
She reportedly declared, “My life will never be what it was before,” the station reported.
The station added that Depa’s mother stated in court that her son suffers from mental health disorders and that taking away his electronics set him off. According to an order finding him fit to stand trial, a court-ordered evaluation revealed that he suffers from autism as well as various other problems.
Following his punishment, Leanne Depa told the station, “I think he needs help, and I think he needs treatment. But I don’t think he needs to be put away in a prison where he’s going to be taken advantage of or harmed.”
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She claimed to the station that her son was not receiving the tailored education plan created to support his special needs, and that as a result, the school district had failed him.
According to a copy of the lawsuit, attorneys for her family filed a lawsuit against the district this year, charging that administrators had neglected to adequately support her son and had contributed to the assault.
According to the station, the school system declined to comment on the accusations. A request for comment on Wednesday night was not immediately answered by the district superintendent.
