Broward fires deputy over rough arrest of teen. Union says sheriff overstepping authority.
The Broward Sheriff’s deputy who slammed a high school teenager’s head on pavement was fired this week — despite the recommendation of an oversight board that he keep his job.
During a press conference Wednesday morning at Broward Sheriff’s Office headquarters in Fort Lauderdale, Broward Sheriff Gregory Tony called the actions of Deputy Christopher Krickovich “unreasonable” and unnecessary.
“I disagreed with that recommendation and he was terminated yesterday,” Tony said. “We don’t have a policy that allows a deputy to slam someone’s head into the ground.”
The rough arrest in April, captured on cellphone video and posted on social media, was condemned by national civil rights activists and many local community leaders. But the deputy was later cleared of wrongdoing by Internal Affairs and the county’s Professional Standards Committee — made up of 11 members from law enforcement, the department of corrections and civilians — had unanimously recommended no discipline for Krickovich.
Sue Ann Robinson, a Broward civil rights attorney who represents the family of the teenager, Delucca Rolle, along with prominent civil rights lawyer Benjamin Crump, called the firing of Krickovich “a step in the right direction.”
“It validates what we all saw in the video,” she said. “I hope it translates to other officers as well.”
Almost immediately after Tony’s Wednesday press conference, Jeff Bell, a member of the PSC who also is president of the county’s largest police union, said an unfair labor practice complaint had been filed in Tallahassee with the Public Employees Relations Commission. Bell maintained that Tony had no right to overrule the decision by the committee.
“Rolle [the teen involved in the incident] was actually disobeying Krickovich’s command to put his hands on his back,” Bell said. “He actually pushed upward.”
Yet footage captured on the cellphone video during the April confrontation makes it difficult to tell exactly what happened. Delucca was quickly pepper-sprayed, then driven and pinned to the ground. The entire incident took just a few seconds.
Dozens of students from nearby J.P. Taravella Senior High School had gathered in the Tamarac parking lot at the McDonald’s in a small strip mall that day in anticipation of a fight as BSO deputies aware of the tension were nearby. When an officer spotted a teen who had been involved in an altercation the previous day and took him to the ground, the teen dropped his cellphone.
Another student captured what happened next with a cellphone camera. When Rolle, 16 at the time, leaned down to pick up the phone, he was grabbed by BSO Sgt. Gregory LaCerra, who pepper-sprayed the teen. Then Krickovich got on top of Rolle as he was face down and slammed his head into the ground.
Initial charges against Rolle were not pursued by the state prosecutors. And a host of sports icons came to the teen’s aide. Lebron James tweeted about the incident, as did Golden State Warriors Coach Steve Kerr. The family hired Crump, who a number of times since Rolle’s arrest has slammed BSO for stalling any action against the deputies.
In July Krickovich, LaCerra and Deputy Ralph Mackey were charged by state prosecutors for the rough arrest. Krickovich is facing two counts of battery and two more counts of falsifying records. LaCerra was also charged with two counts of battery and a single count of falsifying records. And Mackey, who was charged with a single count of falsifying records, was cleared by a jury trial earlier this year.
Tony, on Wednesday, refused to discuss LaCerra’s status, saying his investigation had not yet run its course.
Krickovich’s termination is the latest in a string of firings and suspensions of Broward deputies by Tony, many for use-of-force issues. The sheriff, who was appointed to replace Scott Israel by the governor in the wake of the 2018 Marjory Stoneman Douglas Senior High mass shooting, is expected to run against Israel for the post next year. He’s repeatedly said he’s trying to change the culture in one of the largest policing agencies on the east coast and compares it to “changing the direction of a ship.”
By June, the sheriff fired four deputies who he said neglected their duty to confront Parkland shooter Nikolas Cruz. He suspended Krickovich, LaCerra and Mackey in September. Then in late October another deputy was fired for punching a man he had arrested on New Year’s Eve. The man was handcuffed to a hospital bed when he was struck. And last month Tony suspended a Pompano Beach School Resource Officer who had been arrested after he slammed a female teenager at a special-needs school to the ground during a violent take-down.
Late Wednesday, Robinson and Crump released a statement.
“This young boy was the victim of a brutal and unjustifiable attack by Broward law enforcement officers who were sworn to protect him,” the statement read. “While it is unconscionable what Delucca and his family had to endure, the decision by the Broward County Sheriff’s Office to terminate the employment of Deputy Krickovich is a significant step in the right direction.”
This story was originally published December 11, 2019 at 11:55 AM.