Ohio prosecutors are demanding that a Cincinnati teenager be charged as an adult for beating a 60-year-old teacher unconscious last month, as police released disturbing new body camera footage of the incident this week.
Authorities said the 15-year-old attacker repeatedly punched the special education teacher in the head after taking a hit from a vaporizer in a school bathroom and ingesting an unknown drug.
New body camera footage shows police interviewing the attacker inside the school after the Jan. 4 incident.
“I think I’m in a dream,” the student repeatedly states. “Am I in a dream?”
At another point, he tells a teacher trying to restrain him that he “needs a hug” and insists that “he’s not crazy.”
Despite his age, prosecutors hope a Cincinnati judge will try the teen’s case as an adult due to the severity of the injuries suffered in the attack.
Ohio police interview a teenage student who punched a teacher in a drug-induced frenzy last month. Colerain Police Department
That ruling is expected to be issued Monday.
The veteran educator’s head trauma was so severe from the repeated blows that surgeons removed her skull cap to relieve pressure on her brain.
He remained unconscious for several days after the operation and continues to recover, his family said.
According to an incident report, the teen suddenly attacked another classmate who was working on a computer, prompting the teacher to tell him she would have to call security.
“She said she was going to call the police and I started hitting,” he can be heard telling an officer while holding the hand of an unknown staff member.
The victim in the case had to have part of his skull removed during emergency surgery. Colerain High School
The teen said he was “failing” during the incident and then began hitting himself in the head in an attempt to “wake up” from the drug-induced episode.
Other students told investigators that he told them he had taken “edibles” the day of the assault.
Body camera footage shows officers arguing over a “juicy strawberry” vaping device that was taken from the student.
His lawyer, Clyde Bennett, told reporters after the attack that his client was unaware of his actions at the time.
“This young man is not like the young men who are causing problems in the community,” Bennett told WLWT.
“This young man from a large family has no criminal record and basically used vape and did not know it contained drugs and that precipitated or facilitated his subsequent conduct. Therefore, he should not be treated like the other individuals you see on the news wreaking havoc on the community.”
The teen told detectives he thought he was in the middle of a dream during the attack. Colerain Police Department
But the Hamilton County prosecutor wants the student to be tried as an adult on felony assault, a charge that would carry a much higher maximum sentence.
“No teacher should be afraid to get to work interacting with their students,” the agency said in a statement last month. “Currently, there is no evidence to suggest that this was anything other than a cruel attack by the minor. It is fortunate that the victim is alive today. “This is an incredibly serious matter and we intend to treat it as such.”
Horrific attacks on teachers by students have been on the rise across the country, with the beating of paraprofessional Joan Naydich in Florida being the most prominent recent example.
Then, 17-year-old Brendan Depa beat Naydich unconscious at Matanza High School in Flagler County last February after his Nintendo Switch was confiscated.
Prosecutors managed to have the autistic teenager tried as an adult and a judge is expected to sentence him in the coming months. He faces a minimum sentence of probation and a maximum sentence of 30 years in prison.
Naydich has publicly stated that she wants him to face the end of his term.
Prosecutors have been dealing with assault and murder cases stemming from drug-induced psychosis, and defense attorneys say their clients are unable to understand their actions.
A California woman who fatally stabbed her boyfriend 108 times after taking a hit of potent marijuana from a hookah was sentenced to probation last month.
Bryn Spejcher’s attorneys argued that she was technically “unconscious” at the time of the Ventura County murder and therefore could not have intended to kill.
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Source: vtt.edu.vn