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Summary: Sullivan "Sully" Clarke, 13, suffered a severe neck wound from an unexpected knife assault while vacationing with family on the Daytona Beach Boardwalk in Florida. The attack happened February 14, 2026, when suspect Jermaine Lynn Long, 44, allegedly slashed the boy's throat without provocation. Clarke required immediate medical care but survived the ordeal. Long faces aggravated battery charges and remains jailed without bond, reports say.
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DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. — A 13-year-old boy narrowly escaped death after a stranger slashed his throat in an unprovoked attack while he strolled with his family on the Daytona Beach Boardwalk, authorities said.
Sullivan "Sully" Clarke was walking just ahead of his parents around 10 p.m. Saturday when the assailant approached without warning and cut his neck with a blade, according to police reports. The family had spent the day enjoying the Daytona 500 races at the nearby international speedway and was heading back to their hotel when the incident occurred.
Clarke's mother, Lori Clarke, said she first assumed the man was attempting to grab her son's cellphone and shouted at him as he struck. The boy, who was looking at his phone, had glanced up at a towering Slingshot ride moments before, turning his head slightly and causing the blade to slice the side of his neck rather than a more vulnerable area.
"I turned at the perfect time," Sullivan Clarke told investigators, explaining that the minor shift likely spared his windpipe or a major artery. His father, Jerod Clarke, described seeing the deep wound immediately after, noting it exposed layers of muscle. Doctors later informed the family that the injury came within a millimeter of being fatal.
Bystanders in a parked car nearby alerted the teen to the bleeding, prompting his parents to rush him to a hospital where he received treatment and stabilized. Police arrived quickly, gathering descriptions from onlookers who reported seeing the suspect lingering in the area beforehand.
Officers located Jermaine Lynn Long, 44, near a seafood restaurant on the pier shortly after. A search revealed a box cutter and a silver knife in his possession, authorities said. Long acknowledged making contact with the victim but denied using a weapon to inflict the cut, then invoked his right to an attorney, halting further questioning. No motive has emerged for the apparently random act.
Long faces a charge of aggravated battery with a deadly weapon, a felony. He remains in custody at Volusia County Jail without bond and is set to appear in court March 10.
A local boardwalk employee, Andrew Walker, expressed disbelief after recognizing Long as someone he had casually spoken with minutes earlier. "You have to watch your kids," Walker said, adding that the event highlighted the need for vigilance in public spaces.
The Clarke family, visiting from out of state, returned home as Sullivan recovers. Community members voiced shock over the violence in a popular tourist spot, with some calling for enhanced security along the bustling waterfront.
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