A 13-year-old boy from Tennessee stabbed his 15-year-old brother in Florida, telling deputies he would rather go to jail than spend eight hours in the car with his sibling, investigators said.
Lt. Todd Watkins with the Okaloosa County Sheriff’s Office told reporters on Sunday that he responded to the scene the day before and said deputies arrested the 13-year-old after he said he stabbed his brother in the arm three times with a “multi-tool.”
Watkins said the teen told deputies he did it because he was “tired of his brother picking on him.”
The incident happened inside a car parked in a driveway in Crestview, which is about a 45-minute drive from Pensacola, Watkins said.
The stabbed brother then walked to the door of the home and called 911, he added.
Watkins said as his brother was being questioned about the incident, he said he understood his rights and that he did not regret stabbing his sibling who was teasing him.
“I stabbed him and I don’t care about going back to jail. I’d rather be in jail than eight hours in the car with him,” according to the arrest report.
The 13-year-old was charged with aggravated battery with a deadly weapon and was brought to juvenile detention.
“We’ve had incidents with siblings but not this young,” Watkins told reporters. “I have never dealt with them this young with this violent of a crime.”
Watkins said the older brother did not say much to deputies at the time he was stabbed. Watkins said the 15-year-old was heard calling some of his friends to retaliate against his brother while he was in the back of the ambulance, apparently to no avail.
Doctors treated the 15-year-old for three “deep puncture wounds” before releasing him from the hospital, Watkins said, adding that his treatment did not include surgery.
The brothers live in Clarksville, Tennessee, about an hour’s drive from Nashville.
