Guard at Florida juvenile group home in critical condition after fight with a teen
A 52-year-old security guard working at a juvenile group home in Volusia County was hospitalized in critical condition Tuesday following a fight with a teen resident.
The 14-year-old boy, who the Miami Herald is not naming because of his age, is facing a charge of aggravated battery on a uniformed security officer, according to the Volusia County Sheriff’s Office.
The incident happened at the Florida United Methodist Children’s Home in Enterprise, Florida, the sheriff’s office said.
Deputies say the guard, who the sheriff’s office declined to name, brought the boy back to the home after he had left the campus
A spokesman for the home could not immediately be reached to answer whether the boy left the property without permission.
When they entered the boy’s room, the two got into an altercation, sheriff’s office spokesman Andrew Grant said.
Witnesses told deputies the boy punched the officer, but he was able to leave the room without any visible problems. However, while in an adjacent office, the man began “showing signs of medical distress about five minutes after the altercation and lost consciousness,” Grant said.
His colleagues called 911, and medics took him to an area hospital.
Investigators are trying to determine whether it was the punch that caused him to pass out, or if there were “other medical factors,” according to a statement from the sheriff’s office.
The boy is in custody of the Department of Juvenile Justice and is scheduled to make his first appearance before a judge Thursday morning, Grant said.
