Marion County Sheriff’s Office
A teenage boy in Florida is facing a felony charge over a video that law enforcement says shows him intentionally setting his friend on fire on a beach.
The Marion County Sheriff’s office says a 17-year-old kid in a viral video is seen creating a trail of gasoline from a campfire on the sand … and splashing gas on another boy sitting nearby, causing him to light up. That kid ran into the lake to extinguish the flames.
The victim told his mom he got burned when he tried to throw a water bottle filled with gas into a fire … but his dad found the video and called the sheriff. Cops later found the gas container in nearby shrubbery … along with some “empty alcoholic beverage cans.”
The flare-up went down the night of Jan. 10 on Kauffmans Island at Lake Kerr, about 80 miles north of Orlando. The sheriff’s arrest affidavit says the teens rode a Jet Ski back to one of their houses before the victim decided to go to a hospital hours later … from there, he was then flown to a children’s hospital and treated in the pediatric intensive care unit for second-degree burns.
But … cops didn’t start an investigation until 15 days later, when the victim’s parents called police after finding Snapchat video of the incident that didn’t match up with what their kid told them.
The affidavit describes the poor kid’s “significant burn injuries,” including a “deep full thickness” burn on both legs — and a burn on his buttock … and his hand was covered with blisters. His legs were bloodied and had skin discoloration, cops said.
The victim told cops he lied to his parents because the suspect didn’t want him to say anything about the whole thing.
Marion County Sheriff’s Office
Check out video of the arrest of the 17-year-old with the gas container last week … he’s now facing a felony aggravated battery charge … cops said the video was allegedly still on his phone’s camera roll.
Deputies allege the suspect brought Smirnoff-brand alcoholic beverages, and the group had Michelob cans as well.
A witness told cops no one was arguing and it didn’t seem like the suspect maliciously burned the other boy … in the video it sounds like someone asks, “You want to be on fire?”
Florida, man.
