NORTH LAUDERDALE, FLA. (WHDH) – The Broward Sheriff’s Office has arrested a 16-year-old male, two days after, they said, a woman was violently slammed on the ground, then thrown into a community pool in North Lauderdale.
Leon Balfour surrendered to police on Monday and has been charged with battery on a person 65 years or older in connection to the incident that was recorded on video posted to Twitter.
The victim, identified as 68-year-old Nancy James, reportedly went to try and quiet down a rowdy pool party, Saturday evening. James is on the board for the apartment complex where the party was taking place.
When she arrived, the crowd appeared not to take her seriously. The video shows a man, identified by police as Balfour, picking James up, slipping on the ground and knocking them both down before picking her up again and walking towards the pool to throw her in.
The partygoers fled after James was thrown in the water.
“We’re just asking them — just lower the volume,” James said. “I didn’t care what they were doing. That’s not my job to police the place.”
Witnesses said the partygoers appeared to be high school-aged.
BSO deputies were called and responded at around 7 p.m. James was then examined by North Lauderdale paramedics. However, she declined to be taken to the hospital. James reportedly now has a large bruise on her arm.
“Black and blue, but you know what? He’s not gonna ever do this to anyone else,” James said.
7News spoke to a resident of the apartment complex who said that she could have been the victim because she was about to go confront the partygoers.
“Typical day, have some fun. If it got too late, I probably would have gone over there and tell them to turn it down,” said Stacey Gaudrau. “It could have been me. It could have been me. I could have gone over there, and it could have been me.”
Another video shows other people being thrown into the pool. Partygoers said it was all in fun.
“I didn’t really think that he meant to hurt her,” one partygoer said. “I think he just meant to like spook her or something.”
But neighbors said there’s nothing fun about what happened, and the teen who did it should be held responsible.
“I mean, they shouldn’t have touched her. They shouldn’t have touched her,” the unidentified neighbor said.
“For you to drop her and put her in the pool with her dogs, like she loves those dogs like those are her kids,” another resident said.
Her two small dogs barely got away.
“Thank God, nice kids that live here, they helped me,” James said. “They went and they found my dog for me. The kids that live here are wonderful kids.”
Balfour is now facing a battery charge. He is set to appear in court sometime Tuesday.
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