FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. – A video of the interrogation of one of the suspects in the burning of a 15-year-old boy has just been released by the Broward State Attorney's Office.
The release of the video came weeks after Jesus Mendez was sentenced to 11 years in prison for his alleged part in the attack on Michael Brewer.
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Three hours of tape showed an apologetic Mendez while speaking with investigators, a confident Mendez while speaking with a friend and, when all alone, a young man who appears to be praying for comfort.
"All of us followed him. And then Zeke poured the stuff on him, and we lit it and then, that's basically it," Mendez said.
Mendez admitted to being there when Brewer was doused with rubbing alcohol and lit on fire in Deerfield Beach in October 2009.
"Did you know what it was?" the investigator asked.
"At first, yeah, because we opened it and smelled it and stuff, and he's like, 'Let's go find Michael and pour it on him,'" Mendez said.
Days after the incident, Mendez told investigators what role he played.
"Who had the lighter?" the investigator asked.
"Me," Mendez said.
"And what did you do with the lighter?" the investigator asked.
"I just went like that," Mendez said, mimicking the action of flicking a lighter. "I was, like, barely close to him, and it just lit."
"He ran. When he was caught up in flames, he ran towards the pool," Mendez said. "He was maybe, like, right there. Then, the spark there, and that's when he caught fire and ran straight to the pool."
"I was, like, the last one to run because everybody ran before me, and I was, like, trying to think, 'Should I help, or should I just run?" Mendez said.
Mendez decided to run.
In all, Mendez and two other teens were charged with second-degree attempted murder in the crime, which left Brewer with burns over more than two-thirds of his body.
The silent moments in the interrogation room video showed Mendez praying, then putting his head down and starting to shake. Next, a friend came in and said how he was feeling.
"I'm scared, bro. I want to go home," the friend said.
The friend was originally a suspect in the case but was never charged.
Mendez, now 18, pleaded no contest last month and was sentenced to 11 years in state prison.