Mentally ill teen, hit with Taser and dragged down steps while tied up, sues Opa-locka police
Miami HeraldMay 04, 2022
Nineteen months ago, family members of a mentally ill teen accused several
On Wednesday,
“He [Castro] was mentally ill and needed help. He did not need to be dragged out in custody, his head smashed on the stairs and stunned with a Taser,” said Castro’s Attorney
The lawsuit also names two cops with checkered records as being involved in Castro’s detention. One, Officer
The nine count lawsuit was filed electronically in
The story made headlines almost two years ago after Castro’s family released cellphone video showing police dragging the then-19-year-old on his back as he bounced down the home’s front steps with hands and feet tied. As friends and relatives shrieked, an officer is heard saying “It’s just electricity. It looks bad... it hurts for a second, but he keeps resisting, you understand?”
Though family members say Castro had already been tied up by the time police got there, cops still charged him with resisting arrest without violence. The charge was later dropped.
Police were initially called to the home by family members worried that Castro was acting erratically. When police arrived to what they believed was a domestic violence call, the lawsuit claims, Castro’s father and uncle were standing outside the first-floor apartment. Pizzi said the teen’s father asked the police to leave. They didn’t. Instead they entered the apartment and found Castro already lying on the ground, tied up with rope and subdued.
The lawsuit claims when Castro saw the police he, too, asked them to leave. But instead, Bosque and another officer tried to turn him over and put handcuffs on him. Castro fought them, before Officer
“Officer Serrano used the Taser for about 30 seconds straight without stopping causing Castro unbearable pain and harm without any lawful justification,” the lawsuit claims.
A 48-second cellphone video captures two officers then dragging Castro down five steps from the first-floor apartment with bound hands and feet are tied. At one point, a woman cries, “No, don’t do that.”
The city never identified the officers who dragged Castro outside. But law enforcement sources said they were
In addition to naming Perez in the lawsuit, Pizzi also claims Bosque was one of the main protagonists in the incident. Police sources took issue with that, saying Bosque didn’t have much interaction with Castro and was mainly trying to keep the situation calm.
Both Bosque and Perez have made headlines over the years.
Well over a decade ago, a nine-part series in the
He was fired most recently about a year ago when when his bosses thought he was coaching a fellow officer on lying to
Perez was initially fired from
Pizzi said Castro is working as a roofer and still recovering from the emotional encounter.
“He’s trying to get his life back together,” the attorney said.
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