iStock/vmargineanu(TARMAC, Fla.) — Three Florida deputies were charged on Wednesday after video showed a teenager being punched and slammed to the ground during a brutal arrest outside of a McDonald’s.
Officers Gregory LaCerra, 51, and Christopher Krickovich, 29, with the Broward County Sheriff’s Office were charged for allegedly beating and pepper spraying a 15-year-old boy during an arrest in April and falsifying documents in the aftermath, according to a charging affidavit.
Both officers were charged with battery, falsifying records and conspiracy to falsify records when describing the circumstances of the teen’s arrest, the affidavit said.
A third officer, 49-year-old Ralph Mackey, was also charged with falsifying records and conspiracy, according to the affidavit. They were each suspended without pay in the wake of the incident.
Video from the scene obtained by ABC affiliate WPLG showed two of the officers slamming the 15-year-old boy’s face onto the pavement and striking him in the head near Tamarac, Florida, on April 18. Onlookers were heard screaming and begging the officers to stop as the they appeared to tackle him, according to cell phone video.
“What are you doing,” one person yelled. “He’s bleeding and he ain’t even do nothing,” another added.
Ft. Lauderdale NAACP president Marsha Ellison demanded accountability from the Broward State Attorney’s Office and the sheriff’s office in the wake of what she called a grave act of injustice.
The teen’s family has hired civil rights attorneys Benjamin Crump and Sue-Ann Robinson to represent them.
“Wearing a badge is not a license to hurt children and then lie about it — with these charges, the world can now see clearly that is what happened,” the attorneys told WPLG in statement after the charges were announced. “The fact that the officers were charged with falsifying records and conspiracy to falsify records is rare, and it may represent a new trend in accountability for law enforcement officials.”
The deputies will be issued summons to appear in court, but no dates have been scheduled for their initial appearances.
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