Left: Jermaine Lynn Long (Volusia County Jail). Right: Sullivan "Sully" Clarke (WOFL). Background: Daytona Beach Boardwalk in Florida, where Long stabbed Sullivan (City of Daytona Beach).
A 44-year-old Florida man who slashed a 13-year-old boy's throat — nearly killing him — at a popular Sunshine State tourist destination is going to prison for decades.
Jermaine Lynn Long pleaded no contest to attempted second-degree murder and aggravated battery along with six other charges in three unrelated cases, the Volusia County State Attorney's Office said in a press release. Long was sentenced to 45 years behind bars.
According to a probable cause arrest affidavit, cops responded around 10 p.m. Feb. 14 to the Daytona Beach Boardwalk for a stabbing. When they arrived, they found the victim suffering from a "severe laceration" to his neck.
Paramedics rushed him to the hospital, where the boy received 13 stitches. Witnesses gave cops a suspect description, and officers found a man near Joe's Crab Shack. Long allegedly had a box cutter and a silver knife on him.
The victim, Sullivan "Sully" Clarke, said during sentencing that he still has a scar on his neck. He's still recovering from his injuries, although the emotional toll will last longer.
"It hurt to get stabbed and to get stitches, but it hurt a lot more watching my mom cry every day," he said, according to a courtroom report from local ABC affiliate WFTV.
His mother, Lori Clarke, told the court that Sullivan wasn't her only son who was affected.
"My youngest son, who is just 11, had to witness his brother's neck severed as Sullivan clenched his neck, asking us if he was going to bleed out, asking us if he was going to die," she said.
Sullivan told cops after the stabbing that he did not see his attacker.
"He did not realize he had been cut until other people on scene in a car nearby informed him that he had a cut on his neck," cops wrote.
Witnesses also said they saw Long "lingering" in the area before the attack. Long allegedly slashed the boy across the neck with an edged weapon. Long admitted to putting his hands on the victim but denied cutting his throat. He then requested a lawyer, and cops stopped the interview.
Sullivan, in an interview with local Fox affiliate WOFL, said he was walking with his family and looking at his phone after a day at the Daytona 500 races. Suddenly, he was attacked.
"The crazy thing is I turned at the perfect time because I was on the phone and I looked up at the slingshot and that's how he got the side of my neck and not right here," he said, pointing to his Adam's apple.
Sullivan's mother first thought it was an attempted robbery until the suspect allegedly pulled out a knife.
In an interview with local CBS affiliate WKMG, she described how close the attack came to ending in tragedy.
"One more millimeter and he probably wouldn't have made it," Lori Clarke said.
The boy's father said he was stunned.
"As soon as we realized what happened, I could see his neck gashed right open," Jerod Clarke told WOFL. "I could see all the way down to the meat."
The attack was senseless, the boy's father said.
"Who would ever expect someone would attack a 13-year-old boy?" his father said.
Long reportedly attacked someone with a sledgehammer earlier in the day, but cops declined to arrest him.
"An extremely dangerous individual is now off the streets for 45 years," State Attorney R.J. Larizza said in a statement. "Hopefully, he will not survive his incarceration."
Long apologized for his actions and said he was under the influence of drugs at the time of the incident.
"I'm sorry for putting the family and the young men through that, but me, I didn't know what I was doing," Long reportedly said.