13-year-old boy accused of choking another student over acorn fight, deputies say

Victim suffered skull fracture, minor brain bleed, doctors say

ORANGE COUNTY, Fla. – A Piedmont Lakes Middle School student is accused of fracturing another smaller student's skull after an acorn fight, according to the Orange County Sheriff's Office.

Deputies wrote in the arrest report for the eighth-grader that the 13-year-old boy, the victim and other students were throwing acorns at each other on Monday when the victim hit the suspect in the face with an acorn. The 13-year-old became angry and said to the victim, "If you hit me in the face, I will beat yo ass," witnesses told deputies.

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The victim threw another acorn, again hitting the suspect. He started chasing the victim, but the boy was able to get away. According to the report, the suspect weighs about 200 pounds and is 5 foot 8 inches; the victim weighs about 80 pounds and is more than a foot shorter.

News 6 is not naming the student suspect due to his age.

Other students who witnessed the incident said that a short while after the acorn throwing, the  13-year-old snuck up behind the victim while he was on a tennis court, grabbing him by the neck and choking him, then slamming him to the ground. The victim said he blacked out when the student grabbed him, according to the report.

The boy told deputies when he woke up his head hurt, his vision was blurry and he had trouble walking. A teacher sent him to the nurse's offices, which then called his parents, according to the report.

That night the boy's parents took him to the Florida Hospital emergency room in Apopka after he began throwing up. His parents told deputies the victim was really sleepy after the incident before he became ill.

Doctors determined the boy had a skull fracture and minor brain bleed and he was transported to another Florida Hospital location for further treatment.

After the school resource officer learned of the incident Tuesday, the student was arrested and charged with felony battery.

The victim's mother posted about her son's injuries on Facebook. The post was shared more than 10,000 times and received just as many comments.

The family declined to comment for this story through their attorney Melvin Wright.

An Orange County Public School spokesperson said any type of physical contact between two or more students is against the Code of Student Conduct and "appropriate discipline is applied.

Any discipline information is recorded in the student's file, which is exempt from Florida public record laws.