Student Who Beat Unconscious Teacher For Taking His Nintendo Switch Will Be Tried as Adult

A 17-year-old student who continued to viciously beat his high school teacher after he knocked her unconscious for taking his Nintendo Switch will be tried as an adult. 

Brendan Depa, 17, will be tried as an adult for the brutal beating of Joan Naydich, 57, at Palm Coast, Florida’s Mantanzas High School.

The vicious and deeply disturbing assault was captured on security camera footage, which shows a student pushing a teacher to the ground and knocking her unconscious before going on to punch and stomp on her as she lies motionless and defenseless. The mother of two was struck at least 15 times in the back of the head.

Depa, who faces a felony aggravated battery charge, had been arrested for battery on three separate occasions in 2019. Now, Florida’s Seventh District Court has ruled that the six-foot-six, 270 pound student will be held on a $1 million bond and face up to 30 years in prison.

Depa, who has been ordered by the court to refrain from contacting the teaching assistant, will appear for his arraignment on March 6.

“This student is just six months shy of age 18, and it was also a brutal attack on this teacher. Fortunately, this didn’t result in a fatality.” Flagler County Sheriff Rick Staly said, noting the severity of the savage attack. “This could be a homicide we are talking about,” he went on to add. 

Naydich, who has a son at the high school and a daughter who graduated in 2013, has since been released from the hospital and is recovering at home.

Spencer Lindquist is a reporter for Breitbart News. Follow him on Twitter @SpencerLndqst and reach out at slindquist@breitbart.com.