POMPANO BEACH, Fla. – The parents of a Pompano Beach teen are the latest to accuse a Broward Sheriff's Office deputy of abusing their son.
Calvin Bennett and Debbie Russell-Bennett, the parents of Jordan Bennett, 17, have retained civil rights attorney Jasmine Rand to represent them against the Broward Sheriff's Office for allegedly using excessive force on their son inside the cafeteria of Blanche Ely High School.
According to Rand, the incident occurred Feb. 21.
Rand said Jordan was provoked into a verbal argument by another student, although neither student was physically violent toward the other.
Still, Rand said cellphone video shows a BSO deputy at the school taking Jordan to the ground and slamming his head into the floor, causing Jordan's head to split open.
"Jordan left school that day in an ambulance instead of a school bus. He went home that evening with stitches and now has a permanent scar on his forehead," Rand stated in a news release.
Jordan's mother told reporters at a news conference Monday that she rushed to the school when her daughter, who witnessed the incident, called her.
"No, I'm not ok, just sitting there seeing my son's face all bloody, big gash on his head. You know, wondering if he had a concussion or anything like that. It was a scary moment," Russell-Bennett said.
The incident has surfaced a month after another Broward County teen, Delucca Rolle, 15, had his head slammed into the ground outside a McDonald's by a deputy in Tamarac.
"I have been watching what happened to Lucca Rolle on television and I wanted people to know that it was not just an isolated incident," Russell-Bennett said. "What happened to Lucca happened to my son Jordan. The sheriff's deputies abuse our black and brown children on a regular basis here in Broward County. My husband and I have to stand up for our son."
Delucca's mother has called for the deputies involved in the rough arrest of her son to be charged with a crime and Jordan's parents are also calling for justice for their son.
"Broward County Sheriff's Officers must stop abusing our children," Rand said in the news release. "We all watched the video of the Broward County Sheriff's Office deputy violently smashing Lucca's face into the pavement and breaking his nose. Now we will watch another officer violently take 17-year-old Jordan to the ground and split his head open on the floor of his school cafeteria. What happened to Lucca and Jordan are not isolated incidents, but part of a pattern and practice of the systemic abuse of our children at the hands of the Broward County Sheriff's Office."
Jodan has since transferred to a different school.
Broward County Sheriff Gregory Tony is expected to speak about the incident at a news conference Monday evening.