A Miami Palmetto Senior High School student was arrested after police said he threw an airhorn at another student during baseball practice, leaving him with a large gash that required multiple stitches to repair.
The 16-year-old student was arrested last week on an aggravated battery charge. Cellphone footage from the school showed police taking him into custody.
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On Tuesday, the grandmother of the student who was allegedly attacked spoke.
“The ear was sliced on the top. Like a number 7. It goes across and down. They had to put the top of the ear together and the back,” said Candida Chesman, the grandmother of the victim.
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Chesman said her grandson, 15-year-old David Diaz, received six stitches in his ear.
Police records show the high school team was practicing at the Coral Reef Park. According to an arrest warrant, the team was ordered to do extra laps by their head coach because Diaz brought food to the field.
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After practice, the defendant, who NBC6 is not naming because he’s a minor, became upset and began telling the victim that he was going to “whoop” him.
The defendant later told police he threw an air horn at the victim in an attempt to scare him. He said he meant to hit the ground near his teammate's feet but accidentally hit him in the head, the report said.
“He’s destroyed. He’s very traumatized by all of this. To the point where he doesn’t want to return to the school,” said Chesman.
The suspect's mother did not want to speak to NBC6 on camera but sent the following statement:
"He’s a good kid. Never been in a fight. He’s respectful. He’s a good teammate. He usually breaks up fights. Clearly, he made a bad decision."
The victim's family said the school did not communicate properly and hopes the defendant gets prosecuted.
A spokesman for Miami-Dade Public Schools told NBC6 the incident happened after practice and they contacted the victim's family as soon as they became aware of the incident. The spokesman also said they helped identify the suspect and they will wait for the police investigation to be concluded in order to take any further disciplinary actions.
