Jordan Thompson, Sylvester Hicks, Chinua Leefatt, and Caleb Hensley. {BSO}
By Kevin Deutsch
Four teenagers were arrested and charged with felony battery for participating in a brutal attack on a Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School student, Coral Springs Police said Friday.
A fifth student facing the same battery charge in the case was not yet in custody as of Friday morning, police said.
Video footage recorded during Tuesday’s attack showed the student being slammed to the ground around 3 p.m. in the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School junior student parking lot at North Community Park in Coral Springs, according to police. The victim was hospitalized with non-life-threatening injuries, police said.
On Thursday, police obtained five “pickup orders,” or arrest affidavits, “for individuals linked to the physical altercation,” according to a press release issued by Coral Springs Police Friday morning. Four of the accused attackers attend Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, and a fifth attends Coral Glades High School in Coral Springs, police said.
“Our detectives have worked tirelessly around the clock, along with our law enforcement partners, including the Broward Sheriff’s Office and the Broward County State Attorney’s Office, to swiftly identify and apprehend the individuals involved,” police wrote. “Each [person involved] was charged with one count of felony battery, reflecting the serious nature of their actions.”
The students named by police as participants in the attack are:
– Sylvester Hicks Jr., a 16-year-old student at Marjory Stoneman Douglas.
– Jahmeer Beauziel, a 17-year-old student at Marjory Stoneman Douglas, who was not yet in custody Friday morning.
– Caleb Hensley, a 17-year-old student at Marjory Stoneman Douglas.
– Jordan Thompson, a 16-year-old student at Marjory Stoneman Douglas.
– Chinua Leefatt, a 15-year-old student at Coral Glades High School.
In Friday’s press release, Coral Springs Police said, “We did have two patrol officers around North Community Park during dismissal time.”
“On a daily basis, we have approximately 50 officers from multiple specialized units who are assigned to patrol areas around schools during dismissal … We want to assure the public that such behavior will not be tolerated in the City of Coral Springs.”
The investigation into the incident is ongoing and “additional arrests may be forthcoming,” police wrote.
Video of the incident posted on Twitter showed an unidentified attacker slamming the victim onto the pavement. Other footage posted online showed kids striking the victim before he was picked up and slammed to the ground. The victim struck the ground head-first and appeared to lose consciousness. Several students tended to the motionless boy as other kids scurried around the scene, the footage showed.
According to charging documents released by Coral Springs Police Friday, witnesses told police an unknown suspect had walked up to the victim and punched him in the face. The attacker then “incited several other males who then joined in the attack [of the victim] who was picked up into the air and slammed back to the ground causing his head to smack the concrete pavement.”
The accused attackers were later identified by investigators who worked closely with school administrators, records show.
The victim suffered “several injuries throughout his body,” a list of which were redacted from the police documents. Records indicate he had been concerned he would be “jumped” the afternoon of the attack after being involved in a brawl at North Community Park the previous week.
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