Prosecutors later added an attempted first-degree murder charge in the Daytona Beach attack.
DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. — A 13-year-old boy visiting for the Daytona 500 was seriously injured after authorities said a man he did not know slashed his neck on the Daytona Beach Boardwalk late on Feb. 14, and prosecutors later upgraded the case to attempted first-degree murder.
The case drew intense attention in Volusia County because the boy, Sullivan “Sully” Clarke, was walking with his family during a vacation when police say he was attacked without warning in a crowded tourist area. Jermaine Lynn Long, 44, was first jailed on an aggravated battery charge, then later charged with attempted first-degree murder as investigators and prosecutors reviewed the attack and its aftermath. Long remained held without bond as the case moved forward.
The attack happened at about 10 p.m. on Valentine’s Day near the Daytona Beach Boardwalk after the Clarke family had spent the day at the Daytona International Speedway. Sullivan was walking back toward the family’s hotel, talking on his phone and only a few feet from his parents, when a man approached him, according to police accounts and interviews his family gave to local television stations. Sullivan later said he did not see the attack coming. “The crazy thing is I turned at the perfect time,” the boy said in an interview, explaining that he had looked up toward the Slingshot ride just as the man reached him. That split-second movement, he said, meant the blade cut the side of his neck instead of striking the center of his throat. Officers were dispatched after a report that someone had slashed a person’s throat with an edged weapon.
When officers arrived, they found Sullivan with what police described as a severe laceration to his neck. He was taken to Halifax Health Medical Center for treatment. The injury was grave enough that his family later said doctors told them the wound had missed a fatal outcome by a tiny margin. His father, Jerod Clarke, said the family did not grasp the extent of the injury at first, then saw a deep gash in the boy’s neck. His mother, Lori Clarke, said she initially thought someone was trying to steal Sullivan’s phone, but quickly realized the man had used a blade. Police said witnesses described the suspect and told officers they had seen him lingering nearby before the attack. Officers found Long near an overpass on the pier next to Joe’s Crab Shack, according to arrest records. Police said he had a box cutter and a silver knife. After being advised of his rights, Long admitted putting his hands on the victim but denied cutting the boy’s throat before asking for a lawyer, according to the arrest affidavit.
The attack also raised broader questions because police and local news outlets reported that officers had encountered Long twice earlier that same day. Daytona Beach police first came across him at about 8 a.m. during a trespass call, when he was warned not to return to a property after the owner asked that he be removed. Later, at about 11:30 a.m., officers responded to a disturbance at a 7-Eleven on South Atlantic Avenue, where Long was accused of attacking another man with a sledgehammer. In that case, police said the alleged victim did not fully cooperate and officers concluded there was not enough evidence at that time for an immediate arrest. Local reporting also showed Long had prior criminal cases in Volusia County, including a case involving failure to properly register as a sex offender and an aggravated assault case that prosecutors later dropped. Those earlier cases did not determine the new charges, but they became part of the public discussion after the boardwalk attack because of the questions about how he had been handled before Sullivan was injured.
Long was initially booked on a charge of aggravated battery with a deadly weapon in the boardwalk case. Within days, a judge ordered that he remain in jail on pretrial detention. Prosecutors later added an attempted first-degree murder charge, alleging he acted with a premeditated design to kill. He also faced a second aggravated battery charge tied to the sledgehammer case from earlier on Feb. 14. Court coverage from Volusia County showed Long had entered not guilty pleas in the violent cases then pending against him. As the criminal case advanced, the immediate next steps centered on scheduled court appearances, pretrial hearings and the exchange of evidence, including witness statements and police records. At the same time, Daytona Beach police said they were reviewing how officers handled their earlier contacts with Long that day. That administrative review was separate from the prosecution, but it added another track to a case already under sharp public scrutiny.
For the Clarke family, the case has been defined not only by the criminal charges but by how close they say Sullivan came to dying during what had been a holiday trip centered on one of Florida’s biggest race weekends. The family said they had gone from a day at the speedway to a nighttime walk on the boardwalk when the violence erupted with almost no warning. Sullivan appeared later with a large bandage wrapped around his neck, speaking in steady terms about the moment that may have saved his life. His parents, still shaken, described an attack that felt random and impossible to predict. Jerod Clarke said the family kept returning to the same question after the stabbing: how a child on vacation could be targeted in such a sudden way. In public remarks, the family also pressed for answers about why Long had been free after earlier police encounters. Their comments gave the case a second layer beyond the criminal counts, turning it into a broader debate about public safety in one of Daytona Beach’s most visible tourist corridors.
As of the latest court updates, Long remained jailed without bond while the attempted murder and aggravated battery cases moved ahead in Volusia County. The next milestone was a scheduled court appearance in early April, when the case was expected to return to court as prosecutors continued to pursue the upgraded charge.