Caleb Warlick was walking between classes at Mountain Ridge High School when he heard something was about to happen.
“My friend said there were some guys waiting in the hallway to (jump me),” Caleb Warlick said.
It was between second and third period last Wednesday, Warlick was walking down the hall when another student pushed him. That shove and the ensuing assault was captured on video by a friend of the suspects.
“They wanted a trophy, they just wanted a trophy to look at to say they beat me up,” Caleb said.
The two boys along with another student apparently planned it all out. The video starts with Caleb being pushed twice before a teacher tries to intervene.
“It makes me sick to know there was premeditation involved, my son was set up,” said Tamara Warlick, Caleb's mother.
The 30-second video shows the student shove Caleb once in the back and then again, that’s when the teacher jumps between the other student and Caleb, only to have the student go around the teacher and punch Caleb in the face multiple times.
"They had a plan and it was to hurt my son,” Tamara said.
In the video you can see the teacher rush to stop the attack, trying to tackle or grab the boy and you see Warlick fall to the ground.
“Seeing him go down, getting hit and go down, you feel it yourself it was heartbreaking,” Tamara said.
The video also shows what appears to be one boy go over and spit on Caleb when he was down on the ground.
12 News will not identify the three students involved in the assault because they are juveniles.
The video is laced with profanities and you can hear the boys yelling something about a girl. Caleb said he doesn’t know why he was assaulted but says the kid who punched him has been trying for weeks to fight him.
“He always wanted to fight me, always antagonize me to fight,” Caleb said.
After being seen by a school nurse Caleb was taken to the hospital for his injuries. The high school junior would have to undergo emergency surgery on his eye. His mother said the bone behind his eye was shattered and that a plate had to be put behind it.
“It was a life threatening situation,” Tamara said.
Caleb is back home now and his eye is able to open and shut but his vision is still blurred. His mother told 12 News they are seeing a specialist next week.
Officials with the Deer Valley Unified School District would not talk in detail about the suspect but did confirm that he is no longer a student within the district. 12 News has also learned he was arrested and booked into the Durango Juvenile Facility for aggravated assault.
12 News was also told that the other boys involved in the incident are back at school. The district would not confirm that but several students told us both were on campus this week.
The district released a statement following the incident, saying they are saddened by the incident.
"We are saddened that this incident took place and that our student was injured, especially because we have a safe school. Among various resources, we have a trained peer mediation program, in which students who are experiencing conflict learn how to peacefully co-exist at school.Since this incident occurred, the victim's family has shared information about a prior verbal incident that occurred on campus weeks ago. Unfortunately, this incident was not reported to the school and would have led to peer mediation and other preventative measures.
While we are not legally allowed to disclose the discipline record of any students, the student accused of the assault is no longer enrolled in the district."