Brendan Depa knocks paraprofessional Joan Naydich unconscious over a Nintendo Switch, deputies said. (Screenshot: Flagler County Sheriff’s Office)
An 18-year-old Florida high school student with autism facing potential decades of prison time after beating a paraprofessional unconscious for threatening to take away his Nintendo Switch filed a lawsuit Wednesday against the district for failing to meet his individual educational and behavioral needs.
Brendan Depa’s filing, styled as a request for due process hearing under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, asks for a finding that Flagler County Public Schools’ “actions and omissions” in the years before and the months after the Feb. 21, 2023, attack on Joan Naydich, led to the “violent incident” at Matanzas High School that was caught on video and, in turn, led to Depa’s arrest and prosecution as an adult.
Depa, 17 at the time, was charged with aggravated assault and pleaded no contest to the first-degree felony charge of aggravated battery on a school employee, punishable under Florida law by up to 30 years. His mother, Leanne Depa, would , has said that incarceration would amount to a “death sentence.”
When news of the case first emerged, the Flagler County Sheriff’s Office said Depa attacked Naydich because he was “upset that [she] took his Nintendo Switch game away from him.”
“Depa made statements that he will beat her up every time she takes away his game,” the sheriff’s report detailed.
In the aftermath, Naydich said that she “never took the Nintendo Switch from him,” and that any such claim was “misinformation.”
Authorities, citing video of the attack, said that Depa could been seen “kicking” an “unconscious” Naydich and punching her “body and back of the head approximately 15 times” while she was on the floor. The sheriff’s office further said that Depa tried spitting at Naydich once EMS arrived.
According to Depa’s lawsuit, consistent with what his mother has said publicly, school employees were well aware of his “disabilities, triggers and problem behaviors,” as well as other incidents where he was disciplined for threats, spitting, pushing an aide, “harassing and intimidating the school staff,” and for yelling at one of his teachers.
“It should be noted that the school and staff working with him and the district knew that the electronics, specifically the Nintendo and its use on a school campus was a trigger for escalating behaviors,” the filing said, describing Depa as “a ticking time bomb” whose needs, despite “concerns and warnings,” were “completed disregarded” by the district.
Even so, the threat to confiscate his Nintendo Switch was repeatedly made and directly led to the attack on Naydich, the suit continued, claiming the district’s “failure to address his needs or have staff around him with the proper training” were to blame.
“This incident started with a paraprofessional and the student exchanging words and the student being reprimanded in front of his peers. He was punished by being denied his electronic device, even though other students were allowed theirs. The paraprofessional and the teacher began discussing his ability to bring electronics to school, in front of him and in front of his classmates. Brendan attempted to defend himself. The teacher and the paraprofessional ignored him and continued to talk about him in front of him and his classmates,” as the documents recounted the series of events. “The paraprofessional threatened to take his electronic device and Brendan got even more upset. The matter continued to escalate. Brendan eventually spit on the paraprofessional. The paraprofessional got mad and accused him of assaulting her and stormed out of the classroom presumably to report him for assault. The video shows the paraprofessional leaving the classroom and this student following her out.”
Calling this an “avoidable situation,” Depa’s attorneys Stephanie Langer and Maria Cammarata assigned fault to Naydich’s non-evidence based “strategy” in responding to Depa’s “behavior.”
“The paraprofessional should not have interacted with the student in this manner. Her and the teachers actions caused a predictable outcome. While her anger at B.D. for being spit on is understandable, her response is not an evidence based intervention to address the spitting or defiance by B.D,” the suit said. “The IEP and behavior set out the evidence interventions that should be utilized when a student misbehaves. The paraprofessional did not follow the plans and did not utilize an evidence based strategy putting herself in a dangerous situation. An avoidable situation.”
The filing is asking for “compensatory education for academic, communication, independent functioning and social emotional supports and services, placement in a behavioral therapeutic school with wrap around services designed for students with severe behavior disorders paid for by the district, reimbursement for any out of pocket expenses included but not limited to tutoring expenses and mental health supports and services; reimbursement of costs, including fees, and any other relief this court deems just and equitable.”
The district has not yet commented.
As of Friday afternoon, the court docket in Depa’s case reviewed by Law&Crime shows that sentencing is set for the afternoon of May 1.
Read the lawsuit here.
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