A Florida sheriff’s deputy who was fired after participating in the rough arrest of a teen in 2019 that went viral was acquitted Monday of misdemeanor battery.
A jury found former Broward County Sheriff’s Deputy Christopher Krickovich not guilty of slamming and punching a teen’s head unlawfully during the arrest.
In April 2019, Krickovich and several other officers responded to what his lawyer described as a scene of “mayhem and lawlessness” outside a McDonald’s in Tamarac.
Delucca Rolle, then 15, was present at the scene and exchanged words with a deputy before Broward County Sheriff’s Sgt. Gregory LaCerra pepper-sprayed him and took him to the ground, according to videos from the incident.
Krickovich can then be seen shoving Rolle’s head into the ground before delivering a punch.
After an internal investigation, Broward Sheriff Gregory Tony fired Krickovich, arguing that the arrest was needlessly aggressive and violated department training. A professional standards committee had recommended exonerating Krickovich, but Tony said he overruled their finding.
“He was terminated because we don’t have a policy in place that provides deputies the opportunity to slam people’s head into the ground, especially under those circumstances,” Tony said after the firing.
At trial, attorneys for Krickovich, who could’ve faced a year in prison if convicted, said the deputies were looking for a teen who was involved in a fight in the area the previous day.
The gathering spot for local high school students, they said, often resulted in fights and other disruptions, witnesses testified.
Lawyer Jeremy Kroll said the deputies were outnumbered by an increasingly hostile crowd, and Rolle made a menacing advance toward them.
Delucca’s mother, Clintina Rolle, ripped the verdict Monday, according to 7 News Miami.
“That means the video doesn’t even matter, like you can see something, but it doesn’t matter,” she told the station.
After the verdict was read, retired Broward County Sheriff’s Capt. Neil Glassman had a heated exchange with prosecutor Chris Killoran outside court, telling him the deputies in the case had “10 times the courage you’ll ever have.”
Killoran accused the former officer of attempting to intimidate him
“Apparently captains like to get in my face and try to intimidate prosecutors,” he said, according to 7 News. “They should know nobody is above the law and that we will continue to prosecute these cases to the fullest of our abilities.”
Kroll added that Krickovich now will look to get this job back, according to the South Florida Sun-Sentinel.
Tony addressed the verdict in a statement Monday.
“The Broward Sheriff’s Office maintains an unwavering commitment to holding all employees accountable,” he said. “Under my administration, we will never be an organization that finds excessive force tolerable.”
