A sheriff's deputy from Florida was placed on a "restricted administrative assignment" after a video beating a black teenager in the head during an arrest, which provoked outrage over the weekend in Tamarac, Fla. just west of Fort Lauderdale.

The video shows a Broward County Sheriff's MP pushing the unidentified teenager to the ground before another MP pinned him to the ground, knocked him down on the ground, then punched him in the head.

MP Christopher Krickovich was ordered to surrender his weapon and badge while the Home Affairs Division investigated the incident.

"I wanted to assure you that this incident is the subject of a thorough investigation," sheriff Gregory Tony said in a video statement Friday. "We will look at this as a fact-finding measure to make sure we hold people accountable."

MPs were on a "proactive patrol" at Tamarac Town Square Plaza due to reports of students fighting, according to Krickovich's arrest report on Thursday's incident. Sgt. Gregory LaCerra spotted a teenager who had been involved in a big fight the night before and who had caused material damage.

During his detention, Krickovich said he saw a "man dressed in a red tank top" trying to pick up the student's phone. LaCerra ordered the student in the red tank top to stay back while Krickovich had his back turned. The student then "adopted an aggressive stance towards Sgt. LaCerra "and" cleared his body and started clenching his fists, "Krickovich said.

The student was then sprinkled with pepper and forced to the ground, before Krickovich jumped on him and weighed him with all his weight "so that he could not attempt to abscond or fight us. ".

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"Again, we were all three less likely than the other students who shouted threats and surrounded us," wrote Krickovich. "I had to act quickly, fearing to be hit or that a student would potentially take weapons from my belt or my jacket."

At one point in the struggle, the student put his right arm under his face and Krickovich wrote that he had hit him on the head "as a distraction technique" to free his right hand . "The technique was a success and I was able to handcuff it without further incident," he wrote.

The teenager, who was charged with assault, resistance to arrest and intrusion, was then taken to the Coral Springs Medical Center for treatment.

Video of the arrest has been viewed more than 5 million times on Twitter and more than 20,000 people have signed a petition demanding the dismissal of the deputies involved.

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Broward County Mayor Mark Bogen issued a statement calling the behavior of these MPs "scandalous and unacceptable."

"The agent who jumped on the student, punched him and hit his head against the ground should be fired immediately. There is no excuse for that. a law enforcement officer may harm a teenager who was on the ground and who has not resisted. " "If the MP wanted to stop the student, he could easily have done it without throwing him to the ground, I hope that the competent authorities will investigate this case and take the measures that are imposed."

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Follow N & # 39; dea Yancey-Bragg on Twitter: @NdeaYanceyBragg

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