Deputies arrested an 18-year-old Newberry High School student on Saturday who was accused of beating an underage classmate.
On Friday, the classmate was invited to hang out after school at Lois Forte Park, at 255 NW 260th St., according to an Alachua County Sheriff’s Office arrest report. When she got there, she saw Janijah Lataya-Aveyonna Turner, 18, of Newberry, and a group of other classmates.
Turner told her she wanted to fight, but the classmate refused, the report said. Turner then went up to her open car door and began to punch her. She pulled her hair extensions and then pulled her out of the car.
Turner continued hitting and began to kick her while she was on the ground, the report said. The classmate tried to pull herself back in the car and couldn’t defend herself.
The fight was recorded and witnesses were heard inciting the fight, the report said.
Turner and the witnesses left her lying on the ground and not moving, the report said. The classmate told police she was conscious.
She suffered a sprained neck, a knot on the left side and scratches on the right side of her head, the report said.
An anonymous source told police that Turner planned the fight during the school day, the report said.
Turner was charged with battery and child abuse without great bodily harm. She could not be reached for comment.
She was released from the Alachua County Jail on Sunday on her own recognizance.
Contact Katherine Wallace-Fernandez at kwallace-fernandez@alligator.org and follow her on Twitter @katwf98.
Turner
