An 18-year-old Medina County man has been arrested after a video on social media depicted a gruesome scene of him allegedly attacking a trespasser with a machete.
Scott Carrabine, of Brunswick Hills Township, was charged with felonious assault and evidence tampering after the incident. He was arrested Sept. 21 and taken into police custody at Medina County Jail. He is free on bond.
Josh Patron, the 21-year-old man who was struck by the machete, was cited with misdemeanor assault and criminal trespassing. Bret Cumbee, the 19-year-old man who recorded the video, also was charged with criminal trespassing.
The 2 ½-minute video, which has since been deleted and re-posted by other Facebook users, appeared on Sept. 21. It was posted using the social media network’s Facebook Live feature, which allows video to stream from a user’s phone for friends to view in real time.
Cumbee’s video depicts a standoff between Carrabine and Patron in what seems to be Carrabine’s driveway on West 130th Street. Two women who appear to be Carrabine’s friends also are present in the video.
Several of the onlookers try to talk the men out of fighting and urge Carrabine to drop the machete. But after a moment, Patron appears to rush at Carrabine, who swings the weapon and strikes Patron in the arm. The two then struggle over the weapon, grabbing it by the blade while they fight.
The video shows Patron pushing Carrabine to the ground and retreating with Cumbee. While they hurry to a car parked nearby, Patron’s wounds are clearly visible and blood soaks his arm.
“We need to get you to the hospital right now,” Cumbee says in the video. “Dude, oh my goodness, my mom’s … watching this s***.”
Brunswick Hills Police Chief Tim Sopkovich said the department received calls about the incident almost immediately.
“We had some concerned residents call whose children viewed it live,” Sopkovich said. “Those parents had the good sense to record it before it was deleted.”
He said Patron is in good condition now, but he required surgery.
Sopkovich said police aren’t sure what the fight was about, but social media posts show the men had been feuding for some time.
The chief thanked parents for recording the video.
“If they hadn’t, we might not have been able to act as swiftly as we did,” he said.
He said parents with good relationships with their children were responsible for helping to apprehend those involved.
“In this age of social media, you’ve got to have a good relationship with your kids,” Sopkovich said. “In this case, kids trusted their parents enough to call them over and look at this video before it went away forever.”
Nick Glunt can be reached at 330-996-3565 or nglunt@thebeaconjournal.com. Follow him on Twitter @NickGluntABJ and on Facebook at www.facebook.com/ngfalcon.
