19-year-old charged with child abuse after school fight
Staff report
GAINESVILLE, Fla. – Dramaine Phenomenal Johnson, 19, was arrested yesterday and charged with felony child abuse after he allegedly got into a fight with a 15-year-old after school.
At about 4:40 p.m. yesterday, the 15-year-old victim was at a charter school at 1000 NE 16th Avenue when Johnson reportedly stopped by the school to drop off some school work. Johnson reportedly approached the victim and asked if he had wanted him to come to the school, and the victim said, “No.” The victim told a Gainesville Police Department officer that Johnson told him to come outside, which he was about to do anyway because school was over. The victim said he was outside with friends when Johnson went to his car, changed his shoes, then ran toward the victim and started to hit him.
One witness reportedly told an officer he saw Johnson go to his car to change shoes. He said he asked Johnson what was going on, and Johnson said nothing was going on. He said Johnson then ran past him toward the victim and started hitting the victim.
Another witness reportedly told the officer she saw the victim standing near the front of the school and then saw Johnson running toward the victim. She said she tried to push the victim out of the way, but Johnson started punching the victim.
Post Miranda, Johnson reportedly said he went to the school to talk to a teacher, and when he saw the victim in a hallway, the victim told him to go outside so they could fight. He said he went to his car and then ran toward the victim, and they started to fight. He reportedly said he didn’t know the victim was 15 years old.
Johnson’s criminal history and bail are unavailable because the victim is a juvenile. He has been released from the jail.
Articles about arrests are based on reports from law enforcement agencies. The charges listed are taken from the arrest report and/or court records and are only accusations. All suspects are innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.Â
Nice ensemble…he should get used to it. Somehow I think it will become a staple in his closet, I mean cell.
Won’t have to worry about what color shoes to wear either.
Short of serious injury, kids fighting each other without weapons shouldn’t result in a felony. If the law allows for adult-age kids to attend school with legal children, it should allow for mitigation of charges when disputes like this arise. Kids are immature, and they fight. Add to that an equally immature public quick to call any immature behavior a lost cause, and you have a recipe for lifelong bad behavior. I hope this young man gets some help that isn’t strictly punitive.
When weapons get involved, it’s a different story. That leaves society to address the question of how easily accessible it wants its weapons to remain. Thank God that’s not the case this time.
Well….below 100 pounds is different… A 14-15 year old can kill with a punch
That’s why I added the caveat about serious injury. Weight doesn’t necessarily mean much. At 15, at 5’7″ and between 110-120 pounds, I was tossing around kids and adults twice my weight because I was naturally apt at Judo. At 17 and the same size, I defended myself against two much larger football players in high school, tossing one of them into a table full of computer chassis. That altercation settled itself by way of the aggressors’ embarrassment. But I agree with you in principle, and I wouldn’t object to a felony charge against a large kid (legal adult or not) doing serious injury to a much smaller kid.
The reasoning for the felony is one is a juvenile and the other is an adult hence child abuse. A 19 year goes to a charter school using the excuse of dropping homework off and then attacks another student who is 15. A poor decision on the part of the 19 year old. That is the problem with both juveniles and adults today no one wants to admit responsibility for their actions. And when faced with consequences they immediately make up excuses or reasons why they are not responsible.
You’re assuming it was an excuse. I think if Johnson had lied about having a legitimate reason to be there, that would be easy to find out and would be in the report. I understand what a felony child abuse charge is otherwise. Absent any evidence that Johnson had no legitimate business at the school, I commented about a scenario that involves a technically legal adult in a dispute with a technically legal child, both of whom are effectively immature kids in a setting for such. There are plenty of kids 18 and older, who are technically adults, in school with kids who are technically children, and I think fistfights between kids like that shouldn’t rise to the level of a felony charge.
In most other Counties this would be assault and battery , but not in Wokesville where law and order does not apply to certain people.
Same old group, same old thing….violence.
This kid had many opportunities to make a different decision than the one he did.
Went back and changed his shoes. Someone else got between him and the victim. He still wouldn’t be deterred from what he went to do. If he would have gone back to the car and gotten a knife or a gun how many would find that okay?
If the parent of the 15 year old went to the attacker’s home and decided to wail on him how many would think that was reasonable?
There’s more to this story than what’s being told and don’t be surprised if within a week or so there isn’t another violent act committed by some of the “friends” of these two.