'I Got Maced,' Delucca Rolle Testifies In Stand-Your-Ground Hearing Of BSO Deputies Charged With Battery
MIAMI (CBSMiami) - A high school student who was pepper-sprayed and pushed to the ground by BSO deputies during what he said was a rough arrest, testified on Friday at a hearing, saying "I got maced."
Sixteen-year-old, 11th grader DeLucca Rolle was testifying at a stand-your-ground hearing in which the two deputies who are charged with battery.
Body camera and cell phones captured video of the incident at a McDonald's restaurant in the 8300 block of Pine Island Road in Tamarac and that video has gone viral.
BSO deputies Gregory LaCerra who is on reserve duty and Christopher Krickovich who was fired are charged with battery and falsifying records.
WATCH: TEEN PEPPER SPRAYED, HEAD SLAMMED INTO GROUND DURING ARREST
It happened when hundreds of teenagers from nearby Taravella High School gathered for what was supposed to be a fight between two girls. Cameras captured the 16-year-old Rolle, who was then 15, being pepper-sprayed and his face pushed to the ground and handcuffed.
All charges against him were dismissed but those two deputies were charged along with deputy Ralph Mackey for allegedly falsifying a police report. Rolle at the time was waiting by a curb for his mother to pick him up. After Rolle saw a friend being handcuffed for trespassing, he went to reach for a friend's cellphone. That's when video shows him being pepper-sprayed and taken to the ground.
Rolle testified "I told him I'm sorry for using foul language and I said don't touch me. I got maced in the eye. I feel like they were just burned. I was just rubbing my eyes. I didn't know what was going on. It just burned."
Rolle also testified "I had trouble feeling my legs and I stumbled and tried to get my balance. I got maced. I was then rubbing my eye. My eyes were burning."
Defense attorneys say the deputies are innocent and say this was a case of Stand-your-ground. One of the attorneys accused Rolle of lying.
It's not known how long the stand-your-ground hearing will last.
The judge in the case ruled that experts in the field of stand-your-ground would not be allowed to testify.