FORT LAUDERDALE, FLA. (WSVN) - The trial of the rough arrest of a Tamarac teen continues in its third day Wednesday, with two Broward Sheriff’s Office deputies taking a stand and saying they acted in self-defense.
Deputies Gregory LaCerra and Christopher Krickovich face battery charges in the arrest of then 15-year-old Delucca Rolle, but their attorneys are asking the judge to have those charges against them dismissed.
“It’s scary as hell. I’ll be honest with you, when you have that many people around you,” said LaCerra.
LaCerra spoke for the first time since the April 2019 incident in Tamarac, which resulted in the arrest of Rolle, describing how he felt that day.
“Very nervous, threatened. You know, it’s hard to explain. You know, as a cop, you don’t want to go around telling people that you’re scared, but there are situations that we do get scared with, and that one was pretty up there for me,” he said.
Rolle was arrested, but the charges against him were later dropped. He testified last week.
“I don’t know what I was thinking. I was just thinking my eyes were burning. That’s all I had my mind on,” he said.
LaCerra and Krickovich were charged with battery. Krickovich was fired, and LaCerra was reassigned.
Their attorneys argued that the deputies were defending themselves while working in an area they said was overrun by unruly teenagers.
“It was the biggest crowd I had ever seen there, and it was total mayhem,” said LaCerra. “It’s hard to describe, but every sense of my mind was going off because I knew something bad was going to happen there.”
“Explain to me why you pepper-sprayed him and why you took him down,” asked an attorney.
“He was pepper-sprayed because of the assault that he had committed on me with him blading his body, taking a pre-attack posture,” LaCerra said.
Krickovich is expected to testify Thursday.
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