Mother of boy, 15, who was pepper sprayed and slammed to the ground by cops breaks her silence

The mother of a black high school student pepper-sprayed and slammed head first to the ground by Florida police has spoken out about the incident for the first time. 

Clintina Rolle said footage showing her 15-year-old son DeLucca ‘Lucca’ Rolle being thrown to the ground by officers left her feeling ‘depressed and stunned’. 

Speaking with CBS Miami she said: ‘Looking at somebody who is supposed to protect your child hurt your child, it’s like I didn’t even eat yet just in depression and like what’s going on.’  

Clintina added: ‘You know, to see somebody who is supposed to be protecting my child hurt my child, and it’s all I want is justice for him.’

It comes as commissioner Marlon Bolton called the officers’ actions ‘child abuse’, adding: ‘They should be prosecuted.’ 

The two deputies involved in Rolle’s arrest, Deputy Christopher Krickovich and Sgt. Greg LaCerra, have already been suspended. 

The teen, a student at J.P. Taravella High and who has no prior criminal history, will not face any charges after video showed he was left bloodied outside a suburban Fort Lauderdale McDonald’s.

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Clintina, pictured with her teen son, has spoken out about the footage for the first time

He was originally arrested on charges of aggravated assault against a law enforcement officer, resisting arrest without violence and trespassing. 

His lawyer and civil rights attorney Ben Crump said the charges ‘were to justify outrageous brutality on an unarmed black child. If it wasn’t for the video he would have been convicted on these lies. Delucca Rolle would have been convicted’. 

The NAACP say they are also looking into the case. 

According to the Broward County Sheriff’s Office report, the boy had been picking up a phone belonging to a student who had been accused of trespassing when he bladed his body and clenched his fists.  

Sheriff Gregory Tony said: ‘We have already started an internal affairs investigation, we are working with the State Attorney ensuring that the criminal charges were suitable, to make sure that the deputies responded in compliance with our policies for the use of force, and so as we continue to work this investigation things may change as they did yesterday. 

‘The deputies who were involved went from being on restricted duty to being suspended now.’ 

The footage received nationwide condemnation after it showed the officers outside the McDonald’s where 200 students had gathered.  

DeLucca ‘Lucca’ Rolle had his arms restrained behind his back. Students in the crowd questioned the cops’ actions, screaming at them that the boy is bleeding

The 15-year-old was punched in the side of his head with a closed fist before he was restrained

During the cell phone video, Sgt. Greg LaCerra is filmed spraying the teenager after the young boy stands up and appears to say something to him.

The boy, seen above with blood on his face, later had all charges dropped 

After throwing the teenager to the ground, Deputy Krickovich jumps on top of the boy and pounds his head into the ground before punching him.

As his head is thrown to the ground the boy tries to place his arm underneath his bleeding forehead.

What are you doing? He’s bleeding!’ one of the teenagers standing nearby is heard screaming at the deputies. 

A teen, who recorded the video and shared it on Instagram earlier this month, said that students from the nearby high school had gathered to watch two boys fight, but the responding deputies intervened and proceeded to disperse the crowd. 

Following the incident last week, basketball player LeBron James joined the trending Twitter fight #JusticeForLucca and retweeted footage of the video alongside the message: ‘So wrong!! Hurts me to my soul!! To think that could be my sons. Scary times man.’