Last year, a Florida teen brutally beat a teacher who had taken his Nintendo Switch away from him. Six-foot-six, 270-pound Brendan Depa, who has turned 18 since the incident, was recently handed a five-year sentence for the crime he committed in 2023. As Circuit Judge Terence Perkins delivered the punishment to the hulking teenager, he could be seen throwing his head back in dismay.
Depa was charged with felony aggravated battery after he violently assaulted the paraprofessional Joan Naydich in a hallway inside of Matanzas High School in Palm Coast. After Naydich had confiscated Depa’s gaming device, footage showed him running at her, shoving her to the ground. Depa proceeded to stomp Naydich unconscious and punch her 15 times.
“I counted 15 times that he punched her while she was completely unconscious,” Judge Clark said to the court during Depa’s trial. “But for those five people pulling him off, I don’t think she would be here today,” he continued, illustrating the sheer violence displayed by Depa. Photos from the aftermath of the assault show the intense bruising Naydich experienced.
However, Depa’s mother has claimed her son is being punished because he is a large black man with a disability. “They are punishing that he is Black, they are punishing that he is large, and they are punishing his disability,” she said. “I think he needs help, and I think he needs treatment. But I don’t think he needs to be put away in a prison where he’s going to be taken advantage of or harmed.”
“I had told the school that being hungry was a trigger, that noise was a trigger, that being told ‘no’ was a trigger, that being corrected in front of other people was a trigger, and electronics was a huge trigger,” Leann Depa claimed, defending Brendan.
Naydich highlighted the impact that the attack has had on her. “Brendan Depa’s actions that day has caused me to lose a job that I had for almost 19 years, lose my financial security, lose my health insurance,” she said during a May hearing. Recounting the assault she said, “The last thing I remember is having my hand on the door handle.”
She continued, “I don’t remember anything [else] until 3:30 p.m. when I came to. And at that point I was in the ER and my son and daughter were standing there.” Naydich said, “Like everything was taken away from me that morning. At 10 o’clock that morning. Everything was taken away. My life will never be what it was before.”
=
Depa’s attorney argued that he should be tried as a juvenile since the incident occurred when he was 17. However, Assistant State Attorney Melissa Clark countered this request with Depa’s history of violent behavior. Reportedly, Depa has faced numerous battery charges in the past indicating that the February 2023 attack was not isolated.
In the aftermath of the attack, Naydich claimed she is still fighting the school district over worker’s compensation as she has endured medical and psychological difficulties after she was beat by Depa. “I was angry,” she said regarding how the school has treated her. “It’s not like I faked my injury. It’s on video. They all know what happened to me. This is something of a magnitude, the viciousness, that has never happened in this county. I expected more from my employer, from my county, than to be treated like some person who faked a fall.”
Watch the violent attack below:
