Deputies allegedly attack activist after mistaking him for suspect

Kron Givens says incident landed him in hospital

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. ā€“ Kron Givens is an outspoken political activist who has at times criticized what he believes to be police abuses in the black community. But Tuesday night, he said he got a taste of that kind of treatment from Broward Sheriff's Office deputies first-hand.

Givens and other witnesses said he was among a small crowd or parishioners feeding the homeless in the Cathedral Church of God parking lot when deputies apparently mistook him for a fleeing suspect. He said a patrol car narrowly missed him and then four or more deputies converged on him before slamming him to the pavement. He said they screamed for him to get on the ground and put his hands behind his back, but before he could gather himself and figure out what was going on, they jumped on him and forced him down.

"One pulling my hair, one grabbing my arm, one in my chest, and then here you, down goes Frazier," Givens told Local 10 News. "And not only that, they were beating my head into the concrete."

Givens and other eye witnesses said people in the crowd told deputies they had the wrong guy to no avail. Givens said that he was shackled "like a runaway slave." He was later treated at a hospital and said, in addition to a cut on his neck, he suffered a torn ligament in his shoulder.

Prior to the incident, Givens had been in a political meeting at the Rahming Poitier Funeral Home with funeral director Theodus Times and attorney Reginald Clyne. The deputies accosted him when Givens jogged to the back parking lot to welcome another attorney.

"I saw a car come up on Kron, and it was sort of a deer in the headlights look he had," said Times, who witnessed the takedown. "He was kind of startled and four deputies came up on him and wrestled him to the ground. ā€¦ He was pummeled."

Times and other witnesses said deputies were looking for a theft suspect who had fled on foot in the area. But Times said the suspect was described by witnesses in the crowd as an older black male with short hair and wearing a black T-shirt.

Givens is 33 with long dreadlocks and wore a white T-shirt at the time. Times said he could not understand how deputies could make such a mistake.

"The only commonality is they were black," Times said.

Deputies at the scene said that Givens had resisted arrest but no charges were filed. Givens said Broward County Sheriff Scott Israel, who heavily courts the black vote, called him personally Wednesday, told him that he had heard good things about him and said that if he felt he was mistreated he should go to internal affairs, something Givens said he intends to do.

"I'm an activist trying to get my city and my people together so this won't happen to them," he said. "Trying to get things under control because it's out of control."

Local 10 has requested comment and the incident report from the BSO, which so far has released no information.

Times said the entire event was "confusing and scary," but he said he was "comforted" by the number of witnesses watching the deputies actions and screaming for them to stop.

"It could have ended a whole lot worse," he said.

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