Four Florida teens were arrested last week for the “sickening” beating of a man on May 5.
Juan Carlos Ramos’s beating was captured by a cell phone video, Polk County Sheriff Grady Judd said, which helped deputies identify the four suspects.
Eathan Ryne Simmons, 18; Westlee Austin Davis II, 18; Dalton Ivory Creach, 19; and Robert Frerichs, 17, were arrested, the sheriff said.
Ramos’s wife, Rachel Ramos, reported the beating late Monday night after Ramos came home. He did not initially report the attack because he’s on probation and wasn’t supposed to be drinking alcohol. He was intoxicated, he told WFLA, and thought he would get in trouble.
Ramos told deputies that he was talking to a man at a Mulberry car wash when the four teens attacked him.
“The video of the beating is hard to watch,” Judd said. “The victim was knocked down with the first punch and rendered defenseless. The suspects continued to attack the man—they pummeled him repeatedly with a sickening rage.”
Ramos suffered serious injuries to his eyes, nose, jaw, and teeth.
The four teens were arrested on Thursday, with the 18-year-olds and the 17-year-old charged with attempted murder, aggravated battery with bodily harm, and rioting. The two 18-year-olds and the 19-year-old were also charged with contributing to the delinquency of a minor, and the 19-year-old was charged with rioting.
The attackers claimed that Ramos said he was a member of the MS-13 gang and that they attacked him because he was “bothering an autistic friend,” Judd said.
Rachel Ramos, the victim’s wife, emphatically said her husband is not a gang member.
“They beat him without mercy,” said Judd. “Jumped on him like a bunch of pack animals.”
“We don’t treat people like that,” the sheriff said. “That conduct’s not acceptable in Polk County.”
Judd added that deputies were trying to identify the supposed “autistic friend” and another male he was supposedly with but have been unable to do so thus far.
