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On Valentine’s Day, a 13-year-old boy visiting Daytona Beach had his throat slashed in a random, brutal attack on the boardwalk — a scene that should make every parent’s blood run cold. The boy survived by a miracle and received 13 stitches, but the images of that gash and the family’s terror are burned into the public record.
Authorities say the suspect, 44-year-old Jermaine Lynn Long, was arrested and faces aggravated battery charges after surveillance and witness accounts tied him to the assault, and reports link him to another violent incident earlier that same day involving a sledgehammer. These aren’t the isolated scraps of rumor; multiple local reports show a pattern of violence before the boardwalk attack that should have set off alarm bells.
Even more disturbing, the man accused is a registered sex offender with a documented criminal history outside Florida, and reports claim he had been released from custody days before this near-fatal assault. That detail is not just a bureaucratic footnote — it is the smoking gun that exposes a justice system more interested in process than protecting American families.
The victim’s family is rightly demanding answers, and law enforcement has opened an internal review after admitting officers had multiple contacts with the suspect earlier that day without detaining him. We should all be demanding more than an “internal review” when a child’s life was almost taken on a public sidewalk; parents deserve clear accountability, not cautious press statements.
This episode is a stark illustration of what happens when jurisdictions let dangerous people slip through the cracks — call it soft-on-crime, call it bureaucracy, call it cowardice in the face of inconvenient consequences. Whatever the label, the result is the same: innocent Americans pay with their safety and their peace of mind while the system debates technicalities. Opinionated? Yes. Wrong? The facts back it up.
We should back our police when they act decisively, but we should also demand prosecutors and judges stop prioritizing technicalities over public safety. If prosecutors won’t press charges when evidence exists, and if judges routinely release violent offenders without adequate safeguards, then voters must use the ballot and the law to restore common-sense protections for our children.
Finally, stand with the Clarke family and every parent who expects their children to walk a beach boardwalk without fear. This is a moment for action: tighten releases for violent offenders, fund law enforcement properly, and elect leaders who will put the safety of hardworking Americans above bureaucratic convenience. American families deserve nothing less.
