Five teens arrested in student’s beating near Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School
Coral Springs police on Friday arrested five teens accused of beating another teen in a park near Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School on Tuesday.
The melee at North Community Park on Coral Springs Drive was filmed by another teen on a cellphone. The video showed one of the teens picking up another boy and slamming him head-first onto the pavement. In the video, which spread on social media, the 18-year-old was seen lying face down and motionless before other teens came to his aid.
Coral Springs-Parkland Fire Department paramedics took the injured teen, who has not been named, to Broward Health North in serious condition.
The five teens arrested Friday face a charge each of felony battery.
‘Disturbing’ brawl between students at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School injures 1
Since they range in age from 15 to 17 years old, the Miami Herald is not publishing their names. Four of the boys attend Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, the same school that the victim attends, and one, a 15-year-old, attends Coral Glades High School, according to documents released by police.
“Our detectives have worked tirelessly around the clock, along with our law enforcement partners to include the Broward Sheriff’s Office and the Broward County State Attorney’s Office, to swiftly identify and apprehend the individuals involved,” Coral Springs police said in a statement.
Four of the teens are in custody at the Broward Juvenile Intake Facility in Fort Lauderdale, according to the records released by Coral Springs police. Detectives on Friday made contact with the guardians of the fifth teen and arranged for him to turn himself in, said Detective Ernesto Bruna, a Coral Springs police spokesman.
Information about the boys’ legal representation was not immediately available.
According to the probable-cause affidavit detailing the attack, the 18-year-old was walking in the park when one of the other teens walked up to him and punched him in the face. Other teens joined in beating him before one of them picked him up and threw him to the ground, police said.
Detectives interviewed the victim at his home when he was released from the hospital. He told them he had gotten into an argument with some of the teens this month at the Wyndham West Villas apartments in Coral Springs.
The victim told police he was in a fight with three teens, including two of the boys arrested this week, at the park last Friday.
After the fight, rumors spread in school that he was going to get “jumped” again, police said in the report. Because of this, the victim asked his friends to walk with him when he went to the park on Tuesday, according to the report.
Detectives say they identified the boys after they and staff from Marjory Stoneman Douglas, as well as a school resources police officer from Coral Glades High School, matched them to the teens shown on the video.
Lori Alhadeff, chair of the Broward County School Board, said in a statement that the arrests “serve as a crucial lesson about the severe consequences that can come of one’s actions.”
“This incident is deeply upsetting, and we’re thankful that the injured student is recovering. Our thoughts are with him, his family and all of the families that have been impacted,” Alhadeff said. “We’re thankful to the Coral Springs Police Department and the school administration for quickly collaborating to identify the five students.”
