Cody Stripling

Introduction

Cody Stripling is an 18-year-old from Port Orange, Florida, charged in the beating of a disabled 19-year-old man that lasted roughly 30 to 40 minutes at a bonfire party in Tiger Bay State Forest near Daytona Beach on the night of October 22–23, 2026. He and 19-year-old Sebastian Bowers — reported as Sabastian Bowers in the Daytona Beach News-Journal’s account — were arrested on Halloween, October 31, and are accused of starting the assault. Two more Port Orange men, Logan Levesque, 18, and Casey Knight, 19, were arrested on November 4; Knight is accused of filming the attack and posting it to Snapchat. All four are held without bond on enhanced felony charges, including aggravated battery and battery by strangulation .

Background Information

The attack happened at a late-night bonfire gathering in Tiger Bay State Forest, a roughly 27,000-acre Florida Forest Service tract about seven miles west of Daytona Beach, stretching from the night of October 22 into the early morning hours of October 23, 2026. The 19-year-old victim — described by Sheriff Mike Chitwood as having physical disabilities, including limited use of one arm — attended the party with a friend, who left partway through the night to drive other partygoers home and bring more people back, leaving the shy teenager waiting by himself on the tailgate of a pickup truck .

The Controversy or Incident That Led to Their Cancellation

Allegations. The account below is drawn from arrest affidavits, arrest-report summaries, and sheriff’s-office press-conference remarks reported by the New York Post, Fox 35, WKMG and the Daytona Beach News-Journal. The charges described here are criminal charges filed against adults who are presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty in court; no trial has occurred and no plea has been reported.

According to the arrest report, Bowers and Stripling approached the victim as he sat on the truck tailgate and began mocking him, then pulled him to the ground. Cellphone video cited by investigators shows the pair — joined by other men in the video — spitting, slapping, punching, and kicking him repeatedly as he sat unable to defend himself, laughing as the assault continued . Deputies wrote that the confrontation escalated without provocation: the two allegedly struck the victim in the face, knocked him to the ground, and placed him in a chokehold. The victim told investigators the beating lasted roughly 30 to 40 minutes before his friend returned, found him being choked, and pulled the attackers off him .

The video — recorded on a phone and circulated on Snapchat — also captures the crowd around the beating: one bystander asks the victim to smile for the camera and not touch the phone, others in the crowd can be heard making comments, and the suspects appear to celebrate afterward by hugging one another, according to the footage described by deputies . The victim was left with a concussion and multiple bruises on his arms, back, and face .

The suspects reportedly told investigators they were “defending the woman’s honor,” claiming the victim had made an inappropriate comment about a woman at the party and touched her leg; the arrest report records that he had “insulted and brushed up against an unidentified party-goer.” Sheriff Chitwood dismissed the justification, saying of the footage, “He couldn’t even throw a punch… He just walks up and gets sucker-punched and they’re piling on him, kicking him, stomping him, putting him in a chokehold” . Knight, the fourth arrestee, is accused not of punching anyone but of standing in as the cameraman: filming the beating, posting the video on social media, and failing to report it to law enforcement .

Stripling and Bowers were identified first and taken into custody on October 31, followed by Levesque and Knight on November 4. All four men are charged with aggravated abuse of an elderly person or disabled adult, aggravated battery, and battery by strangulation .

Public Reaction and Consequences

The case drew wide attention after the Volusia County Sheriff’s Office released the video itself as it announced the arrests. At a press conference announcing the second pair of arrests, Chitwood said of the footage, “When I first saw it, the first reaction was I want to throw up,” and branded the group “Scumbags of the Week”: “These morons… decide it’s a good idea to beat somebody down who can’t defend themselves” . He directed a blunt message at the man who filmed it — “If you’re gonna stand there, and you’re gonna film this stuff, and you’re gonna post it, your a– is getting locked up” and “You have a duty to intervene” — and questioned the bystanders’ passivity: “How did you raise your kid that this is a good thing and no one trying to stop it?” . He added, “They’re all looking at felonies, and they’re looking at something that’s going to follow them for the rest of their lives” , and said he was confident everyone involved had been identified and arrested .

Current Status

As of November 5, 2026, all four men are being held without bond at the Volusia County Branch Jail. Their cases now move to the State Attorney’s Office for the Seventh Judicial Circuit, which reviews the sheriff’s case and decides what formal charges to file — counts can be added, reduced, or dropped from those listed at arrest. Court dates had not been reported, no attorney for any of the four had been publicly identified, and no plea has been entered; under Florida rules of criminal procedure, each arrested person goes before a judge for a first appearance within 24 hours, where probable cause and bond are reviewed. The investigation formally remains open, with detectives asking anyone with information to contact them — though Chitwood has said he believes everyone involved is now in custody .

Impact on Their Career/Life

Stripling faces second-degree-felony exposure — aggravated battery alone carries up to 15 years in prison and a $10,000 fine under Florida law — and the booking photos of all four men, retrieved from the Volusia County Corrections inmate search, circulated nationally alongside headlines branding the group “morons” . Whatever the courts decide, all four names are now permanently tied to video of a disabled teenager being beaten while the crowd laughed and filmed. The case echoes an earlier Volusia County bonfire attack — a January 2025 mob beating in DeLeon Springs that put ten people between 16 and 20 under charges — and, like that case, it was video recorded by the participants’ own circle that carried the investigation .

Sources

New York Post, “Four Florida teen ‘morons’ beat disabled man in sickening 40-minute attack at bonfire party,” November 7, 2026 — source
Fox 35 Orlando, “2 more teens arrested in beating of special needs man at forest bonfire party, sheriff says,” November 6, 2026 — source
Fox 35 Orlando, “Volusia Sheriff says two teens face charges in beating of handicapped man,” November 1, 2026 — source
WKMG ClickOrlando, “Video leads to 4 arrests in Tiger Bay State Forest bonfire beating,” November 5, 2026 — source
Daytona Beach News-Journal via AOL, “Volusia deputies arrest two more in beating of disabled man,” November 6, 2026 — source
WFLA via AOL, “4 arrested after bonfire ‘beat down’ of 19-year-old with disabilities: Florida sheriff,” November 6, 2026 — source
The Florida Press, “Two Men Charged With Aggravated Battery After Video Shows Beating at Tiger Bay State Forest Bonfire,” November 2, 2026 — source