Body-cam video shows a deputy punch a man who was under arrest and handcuffed to a hospital bed, in a recording released Wednesday by the Broward Public Defender’s office.
It is the second time this week that Broward Sheriff’s deputies have been accused of using excessive force, and both times were recorded on video.
On April 18, videos showed a deputy banging 15-year-old DeLucca Rolle’s head on a McDonald’s parking lot in Tamarac. The teen was also pepper-sprayed.
The incident that ended in the hospital began Jan. 1 at a Pompano Beach Walmart when David Rafferty O’Connell, 27, of Boca Raton, was accused of charging an employee and throwing a punch. The employee “blocked the strike,” Deputy Jorge Sobrino, 24, wrote in arrest reports.
O’Connell resisted arrest, according to Sobrino, who threw O’Connell to the ground and punched his face multiple times “to gain compliance.”
While at Broward Health North in Deerfield Beach to have facial injuries examined, video shows O’Connell’s right arm was handcuffed to a hospital bed.
O’Connell shouts, kneels on the bed and curses at Sobrino, who shuts the room door.
Sobrino tells O’Connell to sit down and shut up, punches O’Connell’s head and pulls his left arm behind his back before handcuffing it to the other bed rail.
Sobrino said O’Connell pushed his chest, committing battery. The public defender said the video shows that was a false claim.
“Punching a restrained individual who is not physically aggressive is unacceptable,” said Howard Finkelstein, public defender, and Gordon Weekes, executive chief assistant public defender, in a letter Tuesday to Broward Sheriff Gregory Tony.
Sheriff’s spokeswoman Veda Coleman-Wright said Wednesday that BSO’s internal affairs immediately opened a preliminary investigation upon receipt of the letter.
O’Connell originally faced three charges, including felony battery on a law enforcement officer.
On April 1, the state attorney’s office dropped the felony charge and on Wednesday, declined to comment on the case.
O’Connell pleaded no contest to misdemeanor resisting an officer without violence, and was sentenced to adjudication withheld and court costs.
His arrest happened while former Broward Sheriff Scott Israel ran the agency; Gov. Ron DeSantis suspended Israel on Jan. 11 and appointed Tony to the job.
Sobrino remains on regular duty.
ljtrischitta@sunsentinel.com, 954-356-4233 or Twitter @LindaTrischitta
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