Six Hollywood Police Officers Caught on Video Kicking, Pouncing on Handcuffed Unresisting 17 year old Latino Teen
/Video [HERE] “Police said I'm lucky it wasn't nighttime.” From [HERE] and [HERE] A Broward teen who was roughed up by Hollywood police during a traffic stop was released from the county’s juvenile lock up Wednesday afternoon. On Aug. 14 Hollywood Police arrested Cabrera – and the takedown was caught on video. Cabrera says they roughed him up for no reason.
Michelle Surgeon, the mother of 17-year old Cabrera, said an emergency hearing was held Wednesday morning and judge ruled that he could be released under the condition that he wore an ankle monitoring device. Surgeon said this was great news. She said her son still having bad headaches every day because of the head injuries he sustained. Cabrera has been in the Broward County juvenile detention center since August 14th.
On that day, Hollywood Police said he refused to stop when they tried to pull him over because his license plate did not match the registration. They said Cabrera ran red lights, rammed a police car at one point and then refused to get out of his car once cornered. “The police cruiser hit me in the back as I was driving,” he said. “I never put it in reverse, I kept going straight. The police cruiser hit me. And so he wouldn’t get in trouble, he said I hit him.” Police said he was given order to exit the vehicle, but he did not. Cabrera said they did not say anything to him.
The takedown was unexpectedly captured on a homeowner’s security system. In that surveillance video, you can see officers pulling Cabrera from his car, wrestling him on the ground and after being handcuffed, one officer uses his knee to poke Cabrera. In the video, it appears that Hollywood Police punch the teenager and knee him in the head, and one officer keeps a knee on Cabrera’s neck most of the time, even though he appears to be handcuffed behind the back. Cabrera said he blacked out as officers beat him on the head.
But he also recalled something he said they told him during the incident. “They said I'm lucky it wasn't nighttime,” Cabrera said.
“When he punched me,” Alex Cabrera explained, “He yanked me out of the car and as he yanked me both sides of my shirt ripped. “
“Do you remember anything of them telling you to get out of the car?” CBS 4’s Ted Scouten asked.
“I was punched in the face and then pulled out the car,” said Cabrera.
“But you don’t remember being told to get out of the car,” Scouten asked again.
“Nope,” said Cabrera.
Cabrera’s parents say the emergency room report from the hospital where their son was taken after the take down. The report showed that Alex Cabrera had a ‘closed head injury, facial contusions and abrasions at multiple sites,’ but there were no broken bones.
"I have massive head pain, I have massive neck pain. When I came in here I had two black eyes, my left eye couldn’t open, and my neck was so stiff I still have to turn my body to turn my head,” Alex Cabrera said.
“Do you think those police officers should be punished in any way?” asked another reporter.
Cabrera responded, “Just like I was punished, they should be punished, they broke the law, as well as I did.”
So you acknowledge you broke the law?” asked a reporter.
You have to ask my lawyer,” Cabrera responded.
Hollywood Police launched an internal affairs investigation into the actions of the officers who were captured on the tape. They confirmed that police officer involved in the takedown was placed on ‘desk duty’ during the investigation.