FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. _ A lawyer for the 15-year-old student whose head was slammed into the pavement said she expects charges to be dropped against the teen.
DeLucca "Lucca" Rolle, a student at J.P. Taravella High, met with his lawyer and prosecutors Tuesday just days after the forceful off-campus arrest that has drawn a public outcry.
Fort Lauderdale attorney Sue-Ann Robinson said Rolle is traumatized by the incident in which his nose was fractured.
"I am 99.99 percent certain that the charges will be dropped because legally they make no sense and based on my client's definitive statement what we can all see from the video. I'm very confident they are going to be dropped," she said.
The Broward sheriff's deputies were recorded pepper-spraying, tackling and punching teens outside a Tamarac McDonald's near the school. Cellphone video of last week's incident, which has gone viral, shows deputies take Rolle down, bang his forehead into the pavement and repeatedly punch him in the head, while another handcuffed him. Rolle was one of two teens who were arrested.
Benjamin Crump, a prominent civil rights attorney hired by Rolle's family, asked Tuesday that prosecutors dismiss Rolle's charges and instead pursue charges against the deputies involved. Crump wrote on Instagram that Rolle was a black teen who was beaten by deputies after he "picked up a cellphone that fell out of the pocket of a black boy who was being arrested." In response, the deputies "pepper-sprayed, brutally beat, and arrested him," Crump said.
Crump's comments pertaining to the arrest focused on race. The two teens are black; all three deputies shown in the video are white.
Crump is best known for representing the family of Michael Brown, a 17-year-old African American, who was shot and killed by police in Ferguson, Mo. He also represented the family of black teen Trayvon Martin, who in 2012 was killed by George Zimmerman, a white neighborhood watch volunteer in Sanford.
"If the Marjory Stoneman Douglas suspect (a white former student who killed 17 people last year) can be brought in gently, unscathed, then there is another way obviously that's being employed when they're not arresting black and brown kids that are doing nothing," Robinson said.
Broward Deputy Christopher Krickovich reported that he and two fellow deputies felt surrounded, outnumbered and threatened by about 200 students on Thursday afternoon in Tamarac. He's been informed by letter that he and a second deputy are under investigation by the Broward State Attorney's Office for possible criminal charges, according to the deputies' union president.
Deputies' forceful arrest of teen leads to criminal investigation
Prosecutors confirmed Monday they opened an investigation into last week's confrontation but didn't say whether criminal charges against the deputies were being explored.
The encounter between Rolle and the deputies happened outside McDonald's, a frequent after-school hangout spot.
Rolle was arrested on a charge of aggravated assault against a law enforcement officer. But a judge last week reduced it to simple battery after defense attorney Richard Della Fera, who represented the boy in court last week, argued the child did nothing wrong, based on what was seen in the video.
The South Florida Sun Sentinel is naming Rolle because Crump is using his name publicly to draw attention to his case. "Starting now, we will seek justice through every avenue possible for Lucca and his family," Crump said in a prepared statement.
The Broward Sheriff's Office said Krickovich has been placed on restricted assignment pending an investigation. The agency confirmed Tuesday that Sgt. Greg LaCerra, who was the second deputy involved, is also on restricted assignment.
Broward Sheriff Gregory Tony has vowed accountability in the case. "It may take some time, but we will be transparent," the sheriff said last week. "And if folks need to be held accountable, it shall be done."
Tony, who was appointed in January as Broward's first black sheriff, spoke about how the issue of race can surround use-of-force cases against black teens.
"That's the most electrifying and dangerous situation for a law enforcement administrator to handle," Tony said. "Any time a white deputy is involved in contact with using force on a black youth, this thing blows up."
The hashtag #JusticeForLucca has been trending on Twitter. A peaceful rally is planned for Saturday afternoon at Hampton Pines Park in North Lauderdale, with attendees encouraged to wear red. Rolle was wearing a red shirt on the day of his arrest. On Monday, the first day back to school after the incident, protesting students also wore red to school.
Robinson, who is Crump's partner, said her firm will "absolutely" pursue a civil lawsuit against the Sheriff's Office.
"If we can't appeal to their humanity to be held accountable, then there's other ways," she said.
She said Rolle goes to the McDonald's every day after school with his friends. After the other student was arrested, his phone fell. Robinson said a deputy kicked it. Then Rolle reached in to retrieve it.
"They are millennials, the phone is an appendage," she said. That's when he wound up pepper-sprayed, taken to the ground, and his head pound into the pavement.
"He is traumatized because that's a lot to go through and ... you don't expect someone to unleash that level of violence on you for no reason. And he's a kid. He's a ninth-grader. He's 15. I think he's still going through the shock of it and dealing with his injuries."
She said police called his mother to get permission to treat him for the pepper spray, but didn't attend to his nose. He went to hospital on his own.
"The level of force based on the circumstances is unjustifiable. His head is being slammed into the concrete. It's very tough to watch. The officers have to be held accountable."
