An 18-year-old Okeechobee Florida resident has been arrested and charged with child abuse “without bodily harm” after police identified him in a disturbing video posted on his Facebook page.
Andrew Wheeler can be seen repeatedly punching, kneeing, and dragging an unnamed 16-year-old boy in the midst of what appears to be a house party. According to police, the video was tagged with Wheeler’s name and when they watched it, they were able to identify him as the attacker. The victim in the video is reported to have autism.
Be warned, the video is hard to watch.
WPTV in West Palm beach has some more details about what happened that night.
The victim told detectives he was invited to a party on SW 9th Street in Okeechobee last Friday where he drank alcohol and was then told to go outside and fight someone.
The teen said when he refused 18-year-old Andrew Wheeler was called.
After Wheeler arrived, the victim says Andrew began beating the teen. In the incident report he claims Wheeler followed him outside, choked him until he lost consciousness and struck him in the face.
The boy was found in the middle of the road and taken to a local hospital. He apparently suffered a concussion, multiple contusions, and a sprained neck.
Though admitting to police that he “lost control of his temper,” Wheeler maintains that he was called to the house to make a drunk guy leave. He claims that he was told the boy was assaulting others, and that he even tried to take a swipe at Wheeler when he was told to leave.
Kids – don’t beat the shit out of helpless people. Don’t record each other beating the shit out of people. And for the love of all that is sane, don’t post videos of you beating the shit out of people on Facebook.
You know what, let’s just stick with don’t beat the shit out of helpless people. Police might want to reconsider the “without bodily harm” designation after they watch the video a few more times.
Image via YouTube screenshot
