By Selene Raj
Christopher Krickovich has been in the headlines multiple times since 2019. First, for being caught on video slamming a teenager’s head into the ground, then for being charged with battery and falsifying records — then again for being fired by Broward Sheriff Gregory Tony.
As his case quietly plays out under the radar of many news outlets while news of the pandemic and the election dominate the airwaves, Krickovich and co-defendant Gregory LaCerra have been trying to get their charges dismissed.
First, they alleged that although Delucca Rolle, who was 15 at the time, was unarmed and never threatened nor touched them or any other officers, Krickovich and LaCerra were standing their ground, because their lives were threatened by Rolle’s “pre-attack posture” and “angry face.”
However, months later, the case is still open and the charges are still active.
Their lawyers, Jeremy Kroll and Eric Schwartzreich have tried to find another way to get their clients’ cases dismissed.
Most recently, on July 16, Krickovich and LaCerra have claimed that as police officers, under Chapter 870 of the Florida Statutes, they were provided the authority to use force — even deadly force, in responding to an unlawful assembly, which they claim Rolle was part of.
This would mean that, even if Rolle wasn’t an immediate threat to the deputies, his presence in an unlawful assembly justified any action they took against him.
Much of their argument focuses not on the victim, Rolle, or any of his actions, but rather, his presence in a large group of J.P. Taravella students in a space where fights were frequent, and where business owners and customers had complained many times before.
The 247-page motion to dismiss included hundreds of pages of background information on the climate of the plaza, related to the congregating Taravella teens, leading up to the incident.
While there are several hundred pages including testimony, none of the witnesses testified that Delucca Rolle harmed anyone that day in the plaza, or any day leading up to the incident.
One student said that he overheard that Rolle might participate in a fight that day, on April 19, but it surprised him, because he had not known Rolle to participate before, and had no drama in the school at that time.
Like the previous motions to dismiss, the documents included accusations of Rolle having an “angry face” but once again made clear that he had not physically harmed or verbally threatened to harm any officer.
Christopher Krickovich and Gregory LaCerra.
What makes this motion different than the previous one, is that it does not rely on the judge believing that their lives were in immediate danger, but rather on using a statute to protect them from legal consequences and prosecution.
At the end of the motion, their attorneys assert that the Florida Statute supports Krickovich’s actions, quoting it directly in regards to an officer dispersing an unlawful assembly:
“If any such person or other person present is killed or wounded, the said officers and all persons acting by their order or under their direction shall be held guiltless and fully justified in the law.”
They do not clarify whether that statute would include the killing or wounding of a child, which Rolle is currently, and was at the time.
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