Classmates made sure to record video of a Florida cop kicking a 13-year-old?who had?an asthma attack with their cellphones. Now the teen’s family?plan on filing a formal complaint against the officer.
Someone sprayed perfume on the bus, setting off Keven Jean Baptiste’s asthma. The boy started experiencing trouble breathing, so he rolled down a window. The driver insisted he put the window back up and the boy refused, saying he couldn’t breathe well. Baptiste said this when asked about the exchange with the driver:
“I said, ‘I don’t care. I got asthma,’ and I was coughing, and my face was turning red and stuff, so I just let down my window.”
The officer approached Baptiste and another boy after they got off the bus. He kicked the teenager, knocking him to the ground and then put him in the back of a police car. The boy said the police then drove him to Congress Middle School after he was cuffed and kicked. A week later, Baptiste says his leg still hurts.
Baptiste’s mother, who saw the video Tuesday, said she thought the police officer filmed kicking her son was “not nice” and that the family planned on filing a formal complaint by this week. The boy’s mother said that Jean cried all night long the evening after the incident, but would not tell his mother why he was crying.
The Boynton Beach Police Department says they have placed the officer in question on administrative (paid) duty?while the matter is under investigation.
Terrence Dixon, the boy who recorded the incident with his cellphone, said he did not know the officer would kick Baptiste. He thought the officer would just talk to the boy.
Meanwhile, incredibly, the boy has been banned from riding the bus to school.
Watch video of the incident here.
H/T Raw Story
Edited by D.H.
