Charge Dismissed Against Teen Who Stood His Ground in Gas Station Fight
A 17-year-old skateboarder who was attacked at a Hollywood gas station and then fought back was able to get the charge against him dismissed because of Florida?s "Stand Your Ground" law, authorities said. "The first swing is by the alleged victim. That's the first physical aggression," said Melinda Blostein, the public defender who represented the skateboarder. On Tuesday Judge Elijah Williams watched the video and granted Blostein's motion to dismiss the case based on the "Stand Your Ground" law.
Authorities arrested four students after their after-school fight with a classmate at a Broward County charter school was posted on YouTube and Facebook, the South Florida Sun Sentinel reported.
Celina Bennett, 18, a student at the Life Skills Center, told investigators she was jumped by classmates a few blocks away from their school at 2360 W. Oakland Park Blvd. on Wednesday, the newspaper reported. She was given a bruised eye and was briefly hospitalized.
The video shows a group of girls attacking Bennett and pushing her to the ground.
Bennett told NBC 6 Friday that she was hit with a closed fist by a number of girls and even suckerpunched.
She said like many high schoolers she's had to deal with bullying and taunting at school, but nothing like this.
"Being jumped for no reason is completely ridiculous," she said.
Bennett said she doesn’t know her assailants.
"I don't know their names, I don't know none of them, I just know their faces," she said.
She said the incident began in the bathroom at the Life Skills Center, an an alternative charter school. She was approached by a girl who accused her of gossiping about her, and after school that girl along with three others waited for her at a gas station nearby. Bennett said she tried to turn the corner and the girls followed her in a car.
Thanks to the video, the school's principal and authorities were able to easily identify the people they say were behind the beating.
Kennyque Lawrence, 20, of Sunrise, Keisha Fradin, 20, of Sunrise, Wayneisha Jones, 18 of Lauderdale Lakes and a female minor were arrested and charged with one count of battery, according to the Sun Sentinel.
Jones was still in the Paul Rein Detention Facility on $1,000 bond Friday afternoon, according to Broward Sheriff's Office records.
Bennett’s father, former BSO deputy Ben Bennett, said that after watching the video the first time, "it took 48 hours for me to process that was my child in the bottom of that pile."
He said the school should return to hiring school resource officers, but said he is satisfied with the way the school and authorities dealt with the attack on his daughter.
"They're behind bars and a message, a strong message, has been sent to that school," he said.
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