A Florida teenager who body slammed an elderly woman before tossing her into swimming pool at her apartment complex has been arrested.
The unidentified 16-year-old turned himself in to the Broward County Sheriff’s Office in North Lauderdale, at about 5 p.m. on Monday.
Social media users erupted in outrage after video of the disturbing incident went viral on the Internet over the weekend.
The teen faces a single battery charge on an elderly person over 65. Many complain that he got off easy because of his race.
“How isn’t this felonious assault?” asked a visibly upset Greg Gutfeld on Monday’s episode of Fox News talk show The Five.
The incident occurred around 7 p.m. on Saturday when 68-year-old Nancy James and a friend, 45-year-old Mitchelle Lozano, went down to the pool area at the Player’s Place Townhomes to ask a group of rowdy teens to turn the music down. James was walking her 2 pet poodles on leashes at the time of the incident.
One of the incorrigible youths — a female — can be heard telling others to “throw her in”.
A teenager wearing a red shirt picked up the fragile woman, and either slipped and fell with her or he body slammed her on the concrete deck.
The thug then grabbed James by her shirt and one leg and dragged her across the deck as they both fell into the pool. One of James’ terrified poodles also fell into the water while the other dog fled the pool area.
James and Lozano told police there were 200 youths at the pool party, according to a police report. The report added that James suffered minor bruises on her leg and shoulder.
Most of the teens and young adults fled the scene laughing by the time police arrived.
In an interview with WPLG, James stopped just short of calling the teen an animal.
“No one should ever, ever, ever, ever, have to go through that, you know?” James said. “It just shouldn’t happen. The kid has not evolved yet into what you’re supposed to be as a human being.”
She told police she sits on the association board of the complex and she was responding to residents’ complaints about the noise.
“I didn’t even really get to walk in and this kid comes from behind, picks me up, drops me and drags me into the pool,” James said.
“These young people are a little bit out of control,” resident Anne Simmonds told Local 10 News. She said James was the first resident she met when she moved into the Player’s Place Townhomes.
“She’s an elder. You need to show respect for your elders. That’s crazy. That’s a horrible, horrible thing that happened to her,” said Simmonds.
James initially refused to go the emergency room, but a neighbor told WPLG that she did eventually go to the ER and was released Monday.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IwhSvs51UAA
