The 16-year-old boy who was filmed dropping a 68-year-old woman to the ground before tossing her into the pool at an unruly party in Broward County, Florida, surrendered to police on Monday.
“I messed up and I have to own up to it,” the teen, whose name NBC News is withholding because he is a minor, told the Broward County Sheriff’s office, according to an arrest report obtained by NBC News.
In a viral video filmed by an onlooker at a pool party of close to 200 teenagers that had prompted multiple nuisance calls to police, the teen can be seen picking up Nancy James around the thighs before falling to the ground with James in tow. He then gets up and throws himself and James into the pool, dragging along one of James’s two dogs.
"I feel for him, but there’s nothing I can do," James told NBC affiliate WTVJ. "He did something wrong. At least he’s facing up to it, and hopefully, something will help him so he can go back to having a good life as a teenager."
According to an incident report obtained by NBC News, the action left James with two bruises — one on her leg and another on her shoulder — and feeling "very frightened and upset." She was “drenched in water from her shoulders down.”
“It was scary, it was definitely scary, because I’m not used to that,” James, who was attempting to break up the party, told WTVJ.
James’s health is "delicate." She told WTVJ that she has survived three strokes and had recently undergone hip surgery. She had had a stent procedure last week.
The teen was sentenced to three weeks house arrest for a charge of battery on a person 65 years of age or older, WTVJ reports. He was tried as a minor.
