Deputies charged after violent takedown of teen
Broward sheriff: ‘We will be transparent’
TAMARAC — Two Broward Sheriff ’s deputies recorded on cellphone video pepper-spraying and violently slamming 15-year-old Delucca Rolle’s forehead into the pavement during an afterschool arrest will face misdemeanor charges for battery and falsifying police reports, the Broward State Attorney’s Office announced Wednesday.
A third deputy also has been charged with “falsifying the circumstances of the juvenile’s arrest,” state prosecutors said.
Sheriff Gregory Tony immediately suspended the three deputies without pay.
Rolle was arrested April 18 outside a Tamarac McDonald’s after he was pepper-sprayed in the face, punched and tackled to the ground and his forehead was slammed into the pavement, fracturing the tip of his nose.
The J.P. Taravella High football player was back in the news over the weekend for allegedly running
from police after he was spotted in a stolen car on
Friday.
Rolle was arrested after Lauderhill police discovered the stolen car and followed it into North Lauderdale. Rolle was a passenger in the car, authorities said.
“I think it’s clear to everyone why he would run,” the Rolle family lawyer, SueAnn Robinson, said. “Even seeing officers on television affects him.”
At a Wednesday evening news conference Robinson and Rolle’s mother, Clintina, lauded the decision to charge deputies Gregory LaCerra, Christopher Krickovich and Ralph Mackey.
“Good officers are going to think this is a good thing,” Robinson said.
“It’s too premature for us to say justice has been served,” she said. “The charges have been filed, which is a step in the right direction, and it shows that the officers are going to be held accountable for their actions, and we hope that eventually it leads to a successful prosecution.”
Sheriff Tony quickly vowed accountability after the video surged across social media and local news showing Rolle’s takedown in the McDonald’s parking lot a short walk from the Coral Springs high school the teen attends.
“It may take some time but we will be transparent, and if folks need to be held accountable, it shall be done,” he said in a video statement released the day after the pepper-spraying incident.
The internal affair investigations continue, Tony said Wednesday.
Sgt. LaCerra, 51, faces two battery charges for pepperspraying the teen and throwing him to the pavement.
He also faces one count of falsifying his police report and one count of conspiracy to falsify records for “falsifying the circumstances of the juvenile’s arrest,” the state attorney’s office said.
Deputy Krickovich, 29, faces two counts of battery for slamming the teen’s head into the pavement and punching the side of his head.
He also faces two counts of falsifying police records and one count of conspiracy to falsify records.
Three deputies were outnumbered by about 200 students “who were yelling, threatening us and surrounding us, I had to act quickly, fearing I would get stuck or having a student potentially grab weapons off of my belt or vest,” Krickovich wrote in a police report.
Records show LaCerra has been with the Sheriff’s Office for 17 years; Krickovich has served the agency six years.
Deputy Mackey, 49, faces one count of falsifying records and one count of conspiracy to falsify.
The battery and falsifying records charges are first-degree misdemeanors punishable by a maximum sentence of one year in jail.
The conspiracy charges are second-degree misdemeanors that carry a maximum sentence of 60 days in jail.
The aggressive deputy response alarmed local government officials. Some, like School Board member Rosalind Osgood, took to Twitter to “demand removal of these officers.”
The commotion erupted at the McDonalds, a popular after-school hangout, when deputies were called because
several students had gathered. A follow-up call about 15 minutes later said the kids were fighting, the Broward Sheriff’s Office said.
Deputies had one teen pinned on the ground when Rolle, of North Lauderdale, reached for the pinned boy’s cellphone on the ground, video of the incident showed.
Krikovich wrote in his police report that Rolle “bladed his body and began clenching his fists” and that’s when the teen was pepper-sprayed.
Deputies subdued Rolle, saying he defied orders and posed a threat.
While on the ground, Rolle’s “left arm was free and next to him, while he placed his right arm under his face,” Krikovich wrote.
He punched Rolle in the side of the head as “a distractionary technique” so that he could handcuff him without further incident, Krikovich wrote in his report.
Broward County Mayor Mark Bogen said he saw hothead deputies on the video who didn’t know how to control their tempers.
“It was outrageous that a deputy would do this to an unarmed student who was not fighting back, who was giving no resistance,” Bogen said.
Rolle’s mother said about the Friday arrest that her son did not know the car he was riding in with a friend was stolen.
“The friend told the police my son wasn’t aware of what’s going on,” she wrote. “My son was afraid and he ran.”
Police used a helicopter to find Rolle after he ran away, police said. He was charged with being in a stolen car, and resisting an officer without violence.
As of Wednesday afternoon, state prosecutors had not received all of the paperwork or made a decision in the stolen car case. It did not identify Rolle or his involvement in that incident.
After the first arrest in April, Rolle’s family hired Benjamin Crump, a prominent civil rights attorney.
“It is about time the three officers face the consequences of their actions,” Crump said Wednesday in an emailed statement. “Wearing a badge is not a license to hurt children and then lie about it.”
Jeff Bell, president of the International Union of Police Associations, said today’s decisions by the sheriff and the state attorney’s office were unfortunate, disappointing and politically driven.
“Ultimately, they’ll get found not guilty, they’ll win and they’ll get back pay,” Bell said. “And that’s great for one day. In the meantime it’s a huge financial burden. These men have families.”
Bell took a swipe at Sheriff Tony’s transitory status. Tony was appointed early this year after Gov. Ron DeSantis ousted Scott Israel from the job for failings during the Parkland school shooting.
“It’s very disappointing when your temporary sheriff has no interest in speaking with the unions and what appears to be no interest in speaking with his own deputies,” Bell said. “If only the sheriff had spent a little less time trying to be a politician and a little bit more time learning how to be a sheriff, we would feel safer doing our jobs.”
LaCerra, Krickovich and Mackey are expected to appear in Broward County Court for arraignment in the coming weeks, a spokeswoman from the Broward State Attorney’s Office said.
Those hearings have not yet been scheduled.