Another Teen's Rough Arrest By Broward Sheriff's Office Caught On Camera, Outraged Mother Wants Answers
POMPANO BEACH (CBSMiami) – The Broward Sheriff's Office is accused of another rough arrest involving a teenager.
The incident allegedly happened at a high school.
Attorneys for Jordan Bennett held a news conference Monday morning.
They say they are coming forward in part because of what happened to another teenager outside of a McDonalds.
Bennett's mother Debbie shows a photo of what her 17-year-old son looked like when she arrived at Blanche Ely High School on February 21st.
"After getting through and seeing him there with his head wrapped up, bleeding all over the place, I was just in awe," she said. "What happened? What happened to my child?"
According to Debbie Bennett and their civil rights attorney Jasmine Rand, Jordan was involved in a verbal altercation with another student that day in the school's Cafeteria.
They claim a custodian handled the situation but as Jordan was walking away a Broward Sheriff's deputy got involved.
"As he was walking away a Broward County Sheriff's officer came up and viciously took him to the ground, hitting his head against the hard concrete of the cafeteria floor," said Rand.
Video of the incident was taken by one of the students and given to CBS4 by Rand.
In that video, Jordan is seen on the ground and a BSO deputy is holding him down by his neck.
"It's a disturbing video, just to see my child there being choked out," said Debbie. "Sad to say my daughter saw the whole thing and at one point she saw him being choked and his tongue was hanging out of his mouth. And after she saw that she was telling them 'please stop' but they wouldn't stop pushing her away, like 'hey get away from here.'"
Broward Sheriff Gregory Tony spoke to the media about the incident late Monday afternoon.
"What you all in the media have been able to see from a video standpoint is just a fraction of what this entire incident looked like," said Sheriff Tony. "I've read my deputies report. I've looked at the surveillance video, body worn camera. The allegations made today are not consistent and not accurate with what video footage shows."
The sheriff went on to say that the 17-year-old assaulted two school employees and choked them before the deputy arrived, and that Bennett tried lunging at one of them again and that's when the deputy took him down.
"The answer is no. This is not going to be an internal investigation," said Sheriff Tony.
Bennet's mom says she is not surprised by the sheriff's announcement that there would not be an internal investigation. She said she is just going to wait it out.
This incident took place just a few weeks before the rough arrest of 15-year-old Delucca Rolle by two BSO deputies.
That case has made national headlines and now Jordan's mother is also taking action.
"Something has to be done, we got to find something to take this situation taken care of," she said. "Let everyone know, hey my son was a victim and there could be other victims out there. But it is time for us to speak up about what's going on with our children."
