Agustin Cabrera and Michelle Surgeon filed a complaint with the internal affairs unit of the Hollywood Police Department Tuesday, a day after they said officers abused their son when they arrested him. The parents said they spoke with their son Alex Cabrera, 17, on the phone Monday night for the first time in a week. They said he is sore, has two black eyes, and pain in his face and neck after his treatment by police last Tuesday, which was recorded on surveillance video.
17-Year-Old Was Abused By Hollywood Police During Arrest: Parents
Two local parents say Hollywood Police abused their 17-year-old son when they arrested him after a chase earlier this month. An officer spotted Alexis Cabrera weaving as he drove his girlfriend’s car on Aug. 14 and tried to make a traffic stop, but Cabrera fled, according to a police report. In the ensuing chase a male passenger jumped out and ran away, and Cabrera went through three red lights. When he was cornered he backed up and intentionally ran into a police car, according to the report. But when police pulled Cabrera out of the car at the intersection of Phippen Waiters Road and West Dixie Highway in Dania Beach, they put him on the ground and handcuffed him – and then they roughed him up for no reason, his mother Michelle Surgeon said.
Agustin Cabrera and Michelle Surgeon filed a complaint with the internal affairs unit of the Hollywood Police Department Tuesday, a day after they said officers abused their son when they arrested him.
The parents said they spoke with their son Alex Cabrera, 17, on the phone Monday night for the first time in a week. They said he is sore, has two black eyes, and pain in his face and neck after his treatment by police last Tuesday, which was recorded on surveillance video.
Alex Cabrera fled from an attempted traffic stop and drove through three red lights on Aug. 14, then backed up and intentionally ran into a police car when he was cornered, according to a police report.
After police pulled Cabrera out of the car he was driving, put him on the ground and handcuffed him, they roughed him up for no reason, his mother said.
"Well obviously, he wasn't in a car accident, so somehow or other he got these injuries, and to me, by the video, it looked like the officers are the one who did 'em,” Surgeon said.
In the video, it appears that Hollywood Police punch Cabrera and knee him in the head, and one officer keeps a knee on Cabrera’s neck most of the time, even though the teen appears to be handcuffed behind the back.
Hollywood Police had no comments Tuesday. On Monday they said that internal affairs is investigating, but had no comment beyond that.
Cabrera is being held in the Broward Juvenile Detention Center and faces charges of possession of marijuana, aggravated battery on an officer and resisting an officer without violence.
Surgeon and Agustin Cabrera also picked up their son’s medical documents from Memorial Regional Hospital, where he was treated after the incident.
The documents show Alex Cabrera had bruises on his face, head and neck, that the left side of his face was swollen, and that he had several abrasions. No fractures were revealed in tests of his head and face.
Agustin Cabrera said that police told him that they would fairly look into the incident.
But that doesn’t make him feel better, he said.
“My son just got beat,” he said. “If I touch you right now, that’s aggravated battery. They beat my son and they're not in jail, so I don't feel better about it, no."
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