A judge said the student, now 18, showed no remorse for the beating. His mother said he has mental health conditions and needs help.
A Florida student accused of beating a school employee unconscious after she confiscated his Nintendo Switch last year was sentenced to five years in prison Tuesday, court records show.
Brendan Depa, 18, pleaded no contest to one count of aggravated battery on an elected official or education employee, according to sentencing documents from the Seventh Judicial Circuit Court in Flagler County.
Depa, who was 17 at the time of the assault, was also sentenced to 15 years of probation.
His parents failed him. His mom is trying to get him into a hospital or rehabilitation setting. Why now? This can’t be the first sign of aggression. Prison is gonna ruin this kid.
Did you read the article?
He was already a special needs student with an apparently individualized education program. This doesn’t sound like a “Why now?” Situation. It sounds a bit like there may be more going on, especially since the school district declined to answer when questioned about it.
You may be right that it’s probably not the first sign of aggression but he’s also autistic with other issues. Do you know how expensive it is to get help, how our healthcare/insurance system preys on people to take their money rather than help them, and the likelihood of this family maybe not being able to help more than they already were?
I feel sorry for the person that he hurt, but this is a mentally ill black kid getting tossed in prison because of a mental illness. Which is going to ruin him just like you said.
The judge saying he showed no remorse is bs used to paint this kid in the worst light. Well no fucking shit he showed no remorse, if he’s got a bunch of mental problems that would make sense. I knew a kid growing up that was similar, he was extremely strong and even the slightest thing could set him on a rampage. His parents drained everything they had into helping him, but it wasn’t enough. When the insurance stops paying what are you going to do?
I’m not saying that nothing should be done but there’s more to this than “parents failed the kid with mental disabilities”.
On top of that, an autism diagnosis rarely gets you any support that isn’t Applied Behavioral Analysis therapy. That’s essentially dog training for your autist (designed by the same B. F. Skinner of “Skinner box” fame using the same principals), and people who have been through it have described it as torture. The ADA doesn’t make many accommodations for folks with non-physical disabilities, and cops have no idea how to interact with folks with communication barriers and an inability to control their bodily movements. It’s tough being autistic in public. It’s tough trying to navigate our society as a parent of autistic people. With or without insurance, it’s hard. The problems are not purely financial.
I recommend some books on the subject, particularly Neurotribes by Steve Silberman and Unmasking Autism by Dr. Devon Price.
I’m guessing cost and availability of care is a significant barrier. If you’re a working class family, you might struggle to find qualified care that is actually capable of working with your special needs child’s needs. Where maybe a retired family member can care for a more nuerotypical child, they may not be capable of adjusting to a special needs child’s needs. Or if they’re attending a commercial daycare, the daycare may simply be ill equiped and one bad day from saying “nope not worth it, we won’t watch your kid anymore”
Many developmental disorders see significant improvement with early intervention with good care, but getting intervention this early can be prohibitively expensive (in my personal recent experience, $60 per appointment twice or more a week with decent insurance), especially before a diagnosis is achieved
Once the kids get older, especially if they’re at a point where they continue to need individualized care they can simply be violent and unaware of the consequences for themselves and others. Unfortunately this is where the only support structures that exist in many cases are charities and prisons.
In my own experiences, I’m looking at moving closer to good care for my special needs child. Fortunately there are strong state programs and variants of Medicaid that I can lean on for financial assistance with everything a special needs child throws at us, being near good care could be lifechanging for him. But also, I’m lucky to be in the financial position where moving is actually an option. I have good enough insurance that we could persue diagnosis. I have good enough income and insurance to weather the very expensive care until Medicaid could kick in, and I have the flexibility to take off of work when needed to take him to care, and I just barely make enough that my wife doesn’t have to work, so she can provide individualized care until he’s old enough to attend school, as well as ferry him to his twice weekly appointments
I’m normally not one to champion extreme prison sentences, but 5 years really doesn’t seem like enough in this case. I remember seeing the video, and it’s clear that the kid has some major issues that aren’t going to be solved by a few years of prison time. He kept attacking her after it was clear she was already unconscious; whether it’s over a video game or not, that is not healthy behavior. Most people know, even in high-stress self defense situations, that once somebody is unconscious, you don’t keep attacking them. He had no issue attacking somebody he knew was completely defenseless. That’s sociopathic behavior.
Most people don’t come out as better people because prison does nothing to actually rehabilitate people, but I can’t imagine this doesn’t make him even worse. He needs to be hospitalized, otherwise in 5 years we’ll probably see his name in the news again.
it’s clear that the kid has some major issues that aren’t going to be solved by a few years of prison time
Correct. Imprisonment of a 17yo with mental health issues is guaranteed to make things worse. He needs psychiatric treatment and behavioral therapy, not caging, to become able to properly function in civilized society.
Prison life will only reinforce his violent impulses, making SURE that he’s fucked up for life.
I can’t imagine this doesn’t make him even worse. He needs to be hospitalized, otherwise in 5 years we’ll probably see his name in the news again.
Agreed.
I’d say prison and thearpy would be better. Those hospitals they send people to are in a lot of cases worse than prison because the people there have even less rights and there is even less oversight.
Graduated to crime school
At least there will be a switch 2 when they get out
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