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Thursday, March 28, 2024

Sheriff’s deputy called into action after Ocala high schooler stomps on laptop

An Ocala school resource officer was called for help Monday morning after an 11th-grader threw a school-owned Dell laptop on the floor and stomped on it.

The Forest High School resource officer, who is a Marion County sheriff’s deputy, was told by a culinary arts instructor that the junior became upset when he saw her cell phone on her lap and told her to put it away. He said the 17-year-old “has gotten in trouble in the past” for having her phone out in class. And he added that she quickly became argumentative and he sent her out of the classroom for discipline, a sheriff’s office report states.

At that point, the teacher told the deputy, the girl began using profanity toward him, slammed the laptop shut and threw it on the floor. Prior to leaving the room, he added, “she stomped on the laptop twice,” causing the screen to crack, the report says.

The deputy spoke with another culinary arts instructor and two students, all of whom told the same story about the incident. One student said that the girl asked the instructor, “What, are you going to send me to discipline?” The student said the girl then became enraged and threw the laptop on the floor, the report says.

The deputy and the facility’s dean of students met with the girl at the school, located at 5000 SE Maricamp Rd. After being read her rights, the girl refused to speak with the deputy. And since she had invoked her Miranda rights, he left the office, the report says.

A short time later, the deputy attempted to speak with the girl’s mother as they were leaving the school. But as he attempted to explain what had happened and what the mother could expect, the girl began talking over both of them. She even advised them that she stomped on the laptop because the instructor was trying to pick it up off the floor, the report says, adding that the girl was “very disrespectful” to the deputy and her mother.

The deputy sent a juvenile referral to the state attorney to review. He also noted that he checked the damaged laptop and confirmed it had “external cracking” and internal damage to the screen, the report says.