Teen on Vacation Attacked, Throat Slashed as He Walked by the Beach on Valentine’s Day

A Florida man has been accused of carrying out an apparently random attack on a teenager who was vacationing with his family over the weekend.

Sullivan Clarke, 13, was attacked while walking on the boardwalk with his parents in Daytona Beach, Florida, on Saturday, Feb. 14, the family told FOX 35.

Authorities arrested 44-year-old Jermaine Long in connection with the incident, according to court records and police accounts cited by The Daytona Beach News-Journal, Click Orlando and WESH.

The family said the attack happened around 10 p.m. as they were heading back to their hotel. Sullivan was walking a few feet ahead of his parents when his mother, Lori Clarke, noticed a man approaching with what she described as a “strange look in his eyes.” She told WESH the man suddenly slashed Sullivan’s throat.

Sullivan received 13 stitches, according to WESH. He said he may have survived because he looked up at the right moment.

“The crazy thing is, I turned at the perfect time, because I was on the phone and I looked up at the slingshot, and that’s how he got the side of my neck and not right here,” he told FOX 35.

Sullivan’s father, Jerod Clarke, told WESH he saw his son’s neck “totally gashed open,” adding that the injury narrowly missed being more severe. He said the cut was only a millimeter away from being deeper, and that a slightly different outcome could have been fatal.

Long has been charged with a felony count of second-degree aggravated battery with a deadly weapon, according to online court records.

He appeared in court on Tuesday, Feb. 17, though court records did not list a plea or attorney information.