Nine Florida high school students, including one who is just 14, have been arrested after a disturbing video allegedly showed them violently beating a classmate who had intervened when a girl was bullied in the cafeteria, police said.
The students from Harmony High School were seen being led away in handcuffs after the 17-year-old victim suffered injuries that required 11 stitches to his head.
“This was a serious attack,” Captain Kimberly Montes of the Osceola County Sheriff’s Office told Fox 35, describing the accused students as “cowards” and saying they should be tried as adults.
“This was not one-on-one or two-on-one — this was nine students against one, and we’re just lucky he didn’t receive more serious injuries than what he got,” Montes said.
“We tell kids all the time, ‘Stand up for somebody else!’ It takes a lot of courage to do that. He did this, and these nine students who beat him up are the ones that are cowards.”
The victim reportedly stepped in after seeing bullies throw carrots at a girl. He confronted two of them before leaving the cafeteria with the girl, officials told the outlet.
After the final bell, one of the students allegedly attacked him as he walked toward his car. Eight others then joined the assault, according to police.
Chaotic cellphone video obtained by Fox 35 appears to show several students repeatedly striking the victim, while others can be heard screaming and encouraging the attack.
The victim’s girlfriend helped stop the fight. His mother then took him to a hospital, where he received 11 stitches in his face, police said.
Investigators identified all nine suspects using the cellphone footage.
Two of the suspects, 18-year-olds Quianelle Antonio Reyes-Cintron and Bryan Alexander Ramirez, were booked into the Osceola County Jail.
The other seven suspects — a 17-year-old, five 16-year-olds and a 14-year-old — were taken to the Juvenile Assessment Center. The sheriff, however, called for all nine to be tried as adults.
Authorities charged all nine with felony aggravated battery and felony inciting a riot.
Osceola County School District Superintendent Mark Shanoff condemned the alleged attack, saying violence would not be tolerated either on campus or off school grounds.
