Left inset: Brian Alexander-Ramirez. Center inset: Quianelle Antonio Reyes Cintron. Right inset: Cellphone footage showing the attack on the teen victim (Osceola County Sheriff's Office). Background: The Florida high school where cops say a group of teens were told to stop harassing a girl by a schoolmate who they later attacked (WESH/YouTube).
Nine high school students in Florida jumped a teen who stood up to them after they pelted a girl with carrots at lunch, according to police officials. The victim needed 11 stitches after the alleged attack.
"This victim did the right thing by standing up for a fellow student who was being bullied," said Osceola County Sheriff Cheris Blackmon in a statement about the Oct. 16 attack and what allegedly led up to it.
"He is the brave one," Blackmon said. "The nine teens who chose to gang up and use violence against him are cowards."
Police say the victim was eating lunch with his girlfriend inside the cafeteria at Harmony High School on Oct. 16 when the pair witnessed another girl being bullied. "Carrots were being thrown at her," according to an OCSO press release.
"The male victim told the suspects to stop throwing food at the female," the release says. "Two males had a verbal exchange with the victim and his girlfriend. He then attempted to de-escalate the situation by leaving the area with his girlfriend."
The victim was "walking to his car" later in the day when the nine suspects, ages 14 to 18, allegedly set upon him in a parking area just off campus.
One of the suspects, a 16-year-old, struck the teen first before eight other male students joined in, repeatedly punching the victim in the face and head, "leaving him bloodied and injured," according to police.
The victim was taken to the hospital by his mom and received 11 stitches "to close the wounds in his face," the sheriff's office says. A cellphone video of the incident was provided to deputies and was used to identify all nine suspects. It shows the victim walking to his car as the suspects allegedly curse at him and attack the teen.
All nine were arrested at Harmony High School and charged with felony aggravated battery and felony inciting a riot. The 18-year-olds, Brian Alexander-Ramirez and Quianelle Antonio Reyes Cintron, were booked into the Osceola County Jail; the seven minor suspects were transported to a juvenile detention center.
"Let me be completely clear to every student attending school in Osceola County: if you put your hands on another student, on or off campus, my deputies will arrest you," Sheriff Blackmon said. "If you choose to engage in mob violence, you will face felony charges and immediate accountability."
Osceola School District Superintendent Mark Shanoff said "such behavior is fundamentally inconsistent with the values of our school district and the standards of conduct we expect from every student" in a statement last week.
"We take these matters seriously, and there must be accountability when those expectations are violated," Shanoff added.
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