MIAMI-DADE COUNTY, Fla. – David Brown Sr. said Thursday night that he was concerned. He wants the Miami-Dade Police Department to make sure the police officer who is accused of kicking his teenage son doesn't get back to work on the streets unless he is fit for the job.
In April, prosecutors charged Sgt. Gustavo De Los Rios with misdemeanor battery in connection with the Feb. 14 incident. A witness recorded a video of the officer's interaction with David Brown, who was on the ground in handcuffs.
The teen, who police said was a suspect in a burglary, was a passenger in a car when officers stopped his mother on Red Road and Northwest 186th Street in Opa-locka.
"Y'all had him in custody. Y'all had him restrained," the teen's father, David Brown Sr., told Local 10 News reporter Christian De La Rosa. "Y'all had him and you (are) still physically harming him. I mean, what else does it take for you to put him in a car?"
Prosecutors determined the video showed De Los Rios, 38, kicking the teen in the head and using his knee to hurt his neck. Prosecutors also charged Brown with battery on law enforcement officers and resisting arrest with violence.
De Los Rios has a history of violence. He was arrested last year in Broward County, after he was accused of using a bottle to hurt his ex-wife. Prosecutors dropped the case after the victim recanted her claims.
In 2015, De Los Rios was accused of using his position as a law enforcement officer to obtain information about his ex-wife's travel plans on a ferry. In 2014, his ex-wife sought a domestic-violence restraining order against him.
David Brown Sr. said he isn't angry at De Los Rios, who remains on desk duty and is pleading not guilty to the charges.
"I don't, you know, look at him as, 'he's a bad guy.' He just made a bad decision," he said. "I mean, whatever penalties that he has to go through, I mean, they need to reevaluate him before they put him out here in the streets again."