Charge dropped against officer

No misdemeanor for pepper-spraying teen

Broward Sheriff ’s Office Sgt. Greg LaCerra, the deputy who pepper-sprayed teenager Delucca Rolle in a Tamarac parking lot in April 2019, won’t face a misdemeanor criminal charge because he was standing his ground, a Broward judge ruled Friday.

However, former Deputy Christopher Krickovich, who jumped in and appeared to slam Rolle’s head into the asphalt multiple times, will still face one misdemeanor count of battery.

The decision by Broward County Judge Jill K. Levy was issued Friday afternoon and followed a weeklong hearing last month, with the deputies arguing that Rolle, then 15, appeared to be ready to attack LaCerra during a mob scene in the parking lot of a Tamarac strip mall.

The aggressive arrest of the J.P. Taravella High School student has been a footnote to the larger Black Lives Matter movement, with activists arguing the deputies were tougher on Rolle than warranted by the circumstances.

Bystander and bodycam videos showed Rolle trying to pick up the cellphone of a friend who was being arrested. LaCerra pushed him away and, as Rolle stood up, blasted him with pepper spray. Rolle said he was trying to gain his balance as he stood up. The deputies said he was getting in a fighting posture. Levy said she believed the deputies.

As Rolle tried to step away after being sprayed, LaCerra grabbed Rolle and brought him swiftly to the ground.

Prosecutors Justin McCormack and Chris Killoran argued that LaCerra could no longer be standing his ground because Rolle was trying to walk away, but Levy defended LaCerra’s response.

“Utilizing pepper spray to [defuse] the situation and pushing Delucca on the ground to arrest him was a justified response to Delucca’s apparent threat of imminent harm,” she wrote.

LaCerra’s lawyer, Eric Schwartzreich, praised the decision.

“This ruling is a big win for Sgt. LaCerra and comes at a time when law enforcement officers are being second-guessed by Monday morning quarterbacks over all of their actions,” he said.

The videos also showed Krickovich getting on top of Rolle’s back after LaCerra brought him down and grabbing the teenager’s head, striking him on one side and appearing to slam Rolle’s head onto the ground multiple times.

Krickovich testified that he was trying to keep Rolle’s head on the ground but that Rolle was resisting, which made it appear on the video that the deputy was lifting the head and slamming it. The punches, Krickovich said, were a distraction technique taught to police as a way to subdue a resisting suspect.

Levy didn’t accept that explanation — at least as part of a self-defense argument. “Once Delucca Rolle was pushed onto the ground by LaCerra to make an arrest, he no longer posed a threat of imminent harm,” she wrote. “When Krickovich jumped on top of Delucca, the use of non-deadly force in pushing

his head into the ground and punching him in the head was not a reasonable action of self-defense.”

A spokeswoman for the Broward State Attorney’s Office said prosecutors are likely to appeal Levy’s decision in LaCerra’s case.

Krickovich was fired from his job at the sheriff ’s office late last year. “We believe this honest assessment of the facts underscores Mr. Krickovich’s innocence and will lead to his eventual exoneration,” said Krickovich’s lawyer, Jeremy Kroll, pointing out the dangerousness of the overall situation at the plaza and Rolle’s apparent hostility toward LaCerra.