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Video showing Florida police officers hitting the head of a 15-year-old black boy against the sidewalk during an arrest for violating the law, turned viral this weekend, sparking outrage celebrities like Lebron James – but an involved policeman claims that the teenager was "aggressive" and he in the head was nothing more than a "distraction technique".
Shared social media sharing images with the #JusticeForLucca hashtag seem to show the teenager, who has been dubbed "Lucca" and "Delucca" online, looking for something on the floor in front of a McDonald's in Tamarac, Florida, while Broward County Sheriff's deputies handcuff another teenager to the ground.
An officer returned and confronted Lucca, then the pepper sprayed him in the face. As Lucca turned and tried to move away, the officer seized him by the shoulders and pinned him to the ground.
Video footage taken at a different angle shows another policeman jumping on the teenager after throwing him to the ground. The officer repeatedly hit the boy's head against the sidewalk, before hitting him once in the head. The teenager was then motionless, one arm raised, while passers-by shouted "What are you doing?" And "He is bleeding!
The photos taken after the meeting show the lower right part of the teenager's face soaked with blood.
Mark Bogan, Mayor of Broward County tweeted on Friday that the officer's conduct was "scandalous and unacceptable", adding: "The officer who jumped at the student, punched him and hit his head should be fired."
The Broward County Sheriff's Office did not immediately respond to the Daily Beast's request for comment.
The video of the meeting went viral this weekend, after celebrities such as LeBron James and David Hogg had sentenced the officers involved. "So wrong, it hurts my soul !! James wrote on Twitter. "Thinking it could be my sons. Scary times the man. "
"It's interesting to see how everyone in Parkland and Broward called the local law enforcement a few months ago," writes David Hogg, a survivor of the shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, in Parkland Park nearby. "But now, young black and brown are brutally attacked at school by the same police 15 minutes away. Complete silence … "
As a result of the attack, Sheriff Tony Gregory promised a "thorough investigation" in a video news release. He also announced that one of the officers involved, Christopher Krickovich, would be put on administrative leave for the use of force.
In an arrest warrant affidavit quoted by BuzzFeed News, Krickovich presented his version of the story. He wrote that students often fought in the square after school and that the day before the arrest, there was a big fight that damaged the property of an innocent third party.
After spotting a fight on Thursday, Krickovich wrote, he and other officers saw an intruders teenager who had been involved in yesterday's activity. The student was taken into custody "without incident" – but when this teenager's mobile phone fell during the arrest, Lucca would have bent to take it.
After the sergeant According to Krickovich, Greg LaCerra asked Lucca to stay back, the teenager "adopted an aggressive attitude" with respect to the officer, and "knocked out his body and has started to clench his fists ". he said jumped on the boy and "pushed down […] to make sure that all my weight is on him so that he can not try to run away or fight. "
"Again, there were more of us than the huge number of students screaming, threatening and surrounding us," wrote Krickovich. "I had to act quickly, fearing that I would be hit or that a student could potentially grab a weapon from my belt or jacket."
After the teenager put his right arm under his head to protect his face from splashing, Krickovich added [him] in the right side of his head with a closed fist as a distraction technique to free his right hand. "
At a scheduled meeting with Black's elected group of Broward County on Saturday, Sheriff Tony attempted to quell the outcry.
"This is the most electrifying and dangerous situation for a law enforcement officer to handle," Tony said. "Whenever a white deputy is in touch with the use of force on a young black, this thing explodes."
He added that despite the fury against the officers, he could not dismiss them. "There was a loud cry to go out and fire them. Just get rid of it, "he said. "You all know it does not work that way. It's going to be done the right way. "
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