Free Republic

The monster special needs student who pummeled his teacher after she took his Nintendo Switch has been sentenced to five years in a Florida state prison. Brendan Depa, who was 17 at the time of the beating, tackled teacher's aide Joan Naydich, 59, in February 2023 and unleashed dozens of punches to her body and head, leaving her seriously bruised and unconscious. Depa, who is 6'6' and 270 pounds, has become a legal adult since the brutal attack he perpetrated at Matanzas High School in Palm Coast, Florida, a moderately sized town near Daytona Beach. He pleaded no contest to...

A teenage boy accused of punching and kicking his teaching assistant in a row over a Nintendo Switch has appeared in court and charged as an adult - after being arrested for battery three times in 2019. Brendan Depa, now 18 but who was 17 at the time of the alleged beating was led shackled into court in Florida wearing an orange jumpsuit on Monday to face charges of aggravated battery - a felony. He allegedly attacked teaching assistant Joan Naydich, 57, at Matanzas High School on February 21. The savage assault was caught on school surveillance cameras. The 6'6"...

A Florida teacher who was beaten senseless by a 270 pound student has refused to support a lighter sentence for the teen. High school teacher Joan Naydich was violently attacked by Brendan Depa, then 17, in February after she told him to stop playing on his Nintendo Switch. The autistic teen was seen on video punching and kicking the educator in the back and head until she lay on the ground unconscious. Eventually the 6-foot-6 teen, now 18, was pulled away and restrained by other staff. Naydich, was taken to a local hospital and treated after the assault. Depa, reportedly...