By-Line: Joseph Bober, FCSO
On April 2, Flagler County Sheriff’s Office deputies arrested a 16-year-old Matanzas High School student after he struck a School Resource Deputy in the face during a fight with another student.
At approximately 2:50 p.m., as students were being dismissed from school, deputies observed two male students fighting at the bottom of a stairwell. Deputy John Landi, one of Matanzas’s two SRDs, was about 12 feet away when the fight started and ordered the students to stop, but they ignored orders and continued fighting. Deputy Landi then placed himself between the two students to break up the fight and one of the students, Noah Lassiter, punched him in the face.
“We have a zero-tolerance policy for violence in our schools, and I commend our School Resource Deputies for their swift action in getting this fight under control before it had a chance to escalate further. Thankfully, Deputy Landi did not sustain any injury from the strike to his face,” said Sheriff Rick Staly. “Parents, please be the Sheriff in your home. Teach your children how to handle disagreements without fighting and teach them that battering a Deputy Sheriff will get you arrested every time.”
Lassiter was arrested for Battery of a Law Enforcement Officer. He was treated on-scene by Flagler County Fire Rescue for an injury above his left eye sustained during the fight, before being taken to a local hospital for medical clearance. Once cleared, he was transported to the Sheriff Perry Hall Inmate Detention Facility. After being processed, he was turned over to the Florida Department of Juvenile Justice, who released him to his parents.
Noah Lassiter (Sheriff Perry Hall Inmate Detention Facility mugshot)
“We are glad Deputy Landi was not seriously injured. Our SRDs play an integral role in helping us maintain secure learning environments,” said Flagler Schools Superintendent LaShakia Moore. “We have a zero-tolerance policy and will not tolerate this kind of behavior on our campuses. We will continue to work fully with the Flagler County Sheriff’s Office in investigating this situation.”
Through a partnership with Flagler Schools, the FCSO School Resource Unit provides full-time SRDs in all Flagler County schools. There is one SRD assigned to each elementary and middle school and two assigned to each high school.
