Part of the Key West footage of police officers from the December 2018 arrest was released Monday by civil rights lawyer Ben Crump, who represents the boy’s mother.
On Tuesday, she filed a federal lawsuit, alleging that the officers used excessive force, that school officials did not enter, and that the city and school district violated the Americans with a disability law. The lawsuit says the boy has special needs.
Key West police declined to comment to CNN, citing the lawsuit.
The mother, Bianca N. Digennaro, said at a Zoom press conference Tuesday that her son was arrested, taken to jail, fingerprinted, DNA-swabbed and his mugshot taken that day.
The boy – who was 3-and-a-half feet tall and weighed 64 pounds, Crump said – was charged with felony criminal mischief. His mother fought the case in court for nine months until a prosecutor dismissed the prosecutors.
Crump, Devon Jacob and Sue-Ann Robinson represent Digennaro in court.
“This is a heartbreaking example of how our education and police systems train children to be criminals by treating them as criminals – if convicted, the child would have been sentenced to eight years old in this case,” Crump said in a statement. “This little boy was failed by everyone who played a part in this horrific incident.”
Jacob, Digennaro’s lawyer, said the boss’s remark that this was a standard arrest was just the problem.
“That’s the problem. That’s why we have this lawsuit. This will end with this lawsuit,” he said.
Monroe County Chief Assistant State Attorney Val E. Winter said in an email that a mental health assessment was conducted on the boy, in conjunction with his attorney, and that it was in the best interests of the child. to dismiss the accusers, based on the young man’s age and mental evaluation.
The case was dismissed when the agency received confirmation of services based on the doctor’s report, Winter said.
Monroe County School District declined to comment. The elementary school did not respond to a request for comment. The teacher could not be reached.
What the police report and watch video clips
Police moved to arrest the boy after he allegedly hit a teacher who was not injured, according to a report by Key West Police. Crump identified the teacher as a replacement.
The teacher was supervising a class in the lunch room and said the student was not sitting properly on the bench, the report states. She asked him to sit well several times, and then she asked him to sit next to her, the report states. He refused, and she got up and walked over to him, according to the police report.
She told police that the student told her “do not put your hands on me” when she approached him. The student apparently started cursing at her, telling her “my mom will hit your ass,” and then stabbing her in the chest with his right hand, the teacher said, according to the police report.
An officer saw the boy’s hands clapped in fists and “he was stolen as if he was ready to fight,” the police report states.
The teacher did not keep any “obvious injuries” out of the punch, the report states.
The part of the film body of the police body, provided by Crump, begins after three officers move in to arrest the boy, who is sitting and crying.
“Son, do you know where you’re going? You’re going to jail,” said one officer.
The officer asks him to put his hands up against a cabinet and then pat the boy down, the video shows. The officer then asks the boy to place his hands behind his back and he complies. The officer then tries to put handcuffs on the boy, but soon realizes that the cuffs do not fit his wrists.
“Your hands are too small,” the officer says.
The officers ask him instead to keep his hands to himself, the video shows, and they then seem to run to a police car, but the video ends before they reach the car.
“You understand that this is very serious, OK?” says another officer. “I hate that you put me in this position that I have to do this. OK? Okay? The thing about it is that you made a mistake, now it’s time to learn from it and grow out of it, right? Not repeating the same mistake where, OK? “
Key West police said they did not release the full bodycam video to CNN because the person is a youth.
Mom: Young had a special needs plan
Digennaro said her son has been diagnosed with ADHD, oppositionally debilitating anxiety, depression and anxiety, and he was taking medication for her. If he starts having an episode, as she says this happened in this incident, he becomes sensitive to everyone who touches him, she said.
In February 2018, the school district conducted an evaluation on the boy and classified him as “an emotional or behavioral disorder,” according to the lawsuit. The school district also developed an individualized training program tailored to its needs, the lawsuit states.
In a statement, Crump said the teacher had no awareness or concerns about those needs and escalated the situation. The police report does not indicate that he had special needs, and it is unclear whether the teacher or police officers were aware of disability.
According to the police report, the school had contact with the boy’s parents before arresting him. The lawsuit alleges that the student’s mother was out of town and the father came to school before the boy was seized.
Jacob, the family’s lawyer, criticized the actions of police involved in the incident.
“As a former police officer, I am apprehensive about holding and carrying these officers,” he said. “Their actions and treatment of this young boy, deviating from unfavorable, deviating from widely accepted police procedures regarding the treatment of minors and the disabled.”
“We are trying to fight for the little boy of Bianca Digennaro, but (also) for other marginalized little children, who will try to put the system on the pipeline from school to prison, even before they reach their teenagers,” he said. hy.
Digennaro said her son, now 10, is doing better, but that the incident was traumatic.
“I’m heartbroken this happened to my son,” she said.
“I’m just here for my son because I refuse to let her know he’s a felon or convicted felon at age 8.”
CNiel’s Jamiel Lynch contributed to this report.
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