Prosecutors later upgraded the case against a 44-year-old defendant to attempted first-degree murder after the boy’s family said the wound came within a millimeter of killing him.

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. — A 13-year-old boy on vacation with his family survived a near-fatal throat-slashing on the Daytona Beach Boardwalk on Feb. 14 after police said a stranger walked up and cut his neck near the Slingshot ride around 10 p.m.

The attack drew intense attention in Volusia County because it happened in a crowded, well-lit tourist area during Daytona 500 weekend and because investigators quickly identified the suspect as a 44-year-old man with other recent criminal allegations. Jermaine Lynn Long was first jailed on an aggravated battery charge with a deadly weapon, then later charged with attempted first-degree murder as prosecutors and police described the wound as narrowly missing a deadly strike. The boy, Sullivan “Sully” Clarke, was treated at a hospital and has since spoken publicly about how a slight turn of his head may have saved his life.

The Clarke family said they were walking back toward their hotel after spending the day at Daytona International Speedway when the attack happened on Valentine’s Day night. Sullivan was on his phone and walking only a few feet from his parents when his mother, Lori Clarke, noticed a man moving toward him. “I thought he was stealing Sully’s phone,” Lori Clarke said as she later described the first seconds of the encounter. Instead, she said, the man reached out and slashed her son’s neck before running off. Police were dispatched at about 10:08 p.m. and found the teenager with what court records described as a severe laceration. Paramedics rushed him to a hospital. Sullivan later said he did not immediately realize he had been cut until people nearby pointed out the wound. His father, Jerod Clarke, said the family then saw how deep it was and understood how close they had come to losing him.

Investigators said witnesses gave officers a description of the suspect, and police found Long nearby close to Joe’s Crab Shack and the overpass area by the pier. Officers reported recovering a box cutter and a silver knife from him. According to the arrest affidavit, several witnesses said Long had been lingering in the area before the attack and then used an edged weapon to slash the boy across the neck. Police said Long later admitted putting his hands on the victim but denied cutting his throat before asking for a lawyer, ending the interview. Sullivan told reporters he never saw the attacker’s face and only understood what happened after the man had run. His mother said the family had felt safe because the boardwalk was crowded and bright, with many people gathered around the Slingshot ride. Doctors told the family the blade missed a fatal wound by about one millimeter, and Lori Clarke said her son received 13 stitches. A motive has not been publicly established, and police have described the attack as random and unprovoked.

The case has also drawn scrutiny because of what records and later reporting showed about Long’s recent history with law enforcement. Long, identified in local coverage as a Daytona Beach man, was already accused in another violent incident the same day. Police said that earlier on Feb. 14, officers responded to a complaint that a man had been hit in the face with a sledgehammer and chased around a convenience store. A store employee told police that Long ran in carrying the tool over his shoulder while the victim screamed for someone to call 911. Officers later said Long was carrying the sledgehammer when they found him. Local reports also said Long had been arrested in January in a separate case involving allegations that he tried to attack two men with a knife and a large pole. Prosecutors did not pursue that earlier case, and he was released from jail four days before the boardwalk assault, according to local television reports. Those details sharpened the family’s anger and widened public questions about how someone accused in earlier violent episodes was back on the street during one of the city’s busiest tourist weekends.

What began as a serious battery case soon moved into more severe legal territory. Long was initially booked on aggravated battery with a deadly weapon, and a judge ordered that he be held without bond. His early court schedule included a March 10 appearance, but the prosecution changed the posture of the case on Feb. 24, when local outlets reported that authorities upgraded the boardwalk charge to attempted first-degree murder. By then, Long was also facing another aggravated battery count tied to the reported sledgehammer attack. Court and police accounts released through local media have not shown any public explanation for why Sullivan was targeted. That remains one of the largest unanswered questions in the case. Another is whether prosecutors will seek additional counts after reviewing medical records, witness statements and any surveillance video from the crowded boardwalk area. For now, the procedural next steps center on pretrial hearings, discovery and the state’s effort to prove intent in a case where investigators say the wound was aimed at the neck and nearly turned fatal.

For the Clarke family, the public story has stayed grounded in the shock of an ordinary vacation turning violent in seconds. Sullivan said he believes he survived because he happened to glance up at the Slingshot ride just as the blade came toward him. “The crazy thing is I turned at the perfect time,” Sullivan said, explaining that the movement shifted the wound from the center of his throat to the side of his neck. His father recalled seeing the injury open across his son’s neck and understanding immediately that it was not a minor cut. Lori Clarke said the family had gone to Daytona Beach for an annual race weekend and had tried, even after the attack, to keep some sense of normalcy for Sullivan by letting him decide whether to attend the Daytona 500 the next day. He did go, despite pain and bandaging. The family has since said they have little interest in returning to Daytona Beach soon. Their comments have added a human frame to a case otherwise told through affidavits, booking records and court hearings: a child walking with his parents in a tourist district, a stranger closing the distance without warning, and a wound so narrow in its margin that the family measures survival in millimeters.

The case stood with Long in jail without bond, Sullivan recovering from the neck wound and prosecutors pressing ahead on the attempted murder charge. The next major milestone is the continuation of the criminal case in Volusia County, where future hearings will determine how quickly it moves toward trial.