Brendan Depa: Florida high school student, 17, accused of attacking teacher Joan Naydich over Nintendo Switch to be charged as adult
PALM COAST, FLORIDA: Following three violent arrests for battery in 2019, a Florida high school teenager accused of striking and kicking his teaching assistant Joan Naydich during a dispute over a Nintendo Switch on Tuesday, February 21, will now be charged as an adult. According to court records, Brendan Depa, 17, will now be identified for the first time after the Seventh Judicial Court of Florida decided that he would be moved to adult court and that he would be jailed on a $1 million bond.
He is being charged with aggravated battery and a felony for allegedly assaulting Joan Naydich, 57, at Matanzas High School on February 21. In the assault caught on surveillance camera, Depa can be seen throwing punches at Joan, 57, a 'humble' woman who had fallen unconscious moments after getting knocked on the floor, head first.
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Assault 'could have been a homicide'
The court affidavit indicated that the 6'6' and 270lb student roughly struck Joan Naydich 15 times in the back and on also on the back of her head. The assault, as per Flagler County Sheriff Rick Staly, "could have been a homicide".
In Florida, the maximum sentence for aggravated battery against a member of the school board is 30 years in prison. Depa, as per a report, will show up for his arraignment on March 6 and has also been told by the court not to speak with the teaching assistant.
Depa was charged with battery 3 times in 2019
As per Daily Mail, Brendan Depa was charged with battery three times in 2019 before the attack this month. He had previously finished a juvenile justice department program. It was Sheriff Staly who agreed that it was appropriate to charge him as an adult in the most recent incident, the outlet reported.
The police report further claims that as medical personnel treated the teaching assistant, the teenager who was being led away in handcuffs began to spit at Joan. The charge document and body camera video show him yelling that he will kill her after that, USA Today reported.
Depa "did actually and intentionally touch or strike (the victim) against (her) will and in doing so used a deadly weapon, and/or intentionally or knowingly caused great bodily harm, permanent disability, or permanent disfigurement," according to the state attorney's office as reported by the Daily Mail.
Depa is 6 months shy of 18 years
As Sheriff Staly said, "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." Naydich is said to have since been released from the hospital and is recovering at home.