Hollywood Officer On Administrative Duty Following Excessive Force Claim

HOLLYWOOD (CBS4) - A Hollywood Police officer has been reassigned to administrative duty as the department investigates claims cops used excessive force when arresting a 17-year-old boy, CBS 4 News confirmed from a city spokeswoman Monday.

Hollywood PD launched an internal affairs investigation shortly after learning of a surveillance video that captured several officers taking Alex Cabrera, 17, into custody last week.

Cabrera's parents first shared the video with CBS 4 News Sunday. By Monday, they'd met with internal affairs personnel at the police department.

"They're said they're going to be fair," Michelle Surgeon said. Surgeon is Cabrera's mother. "They're going to look at it at every angle and do what the correct thing is to do."

Surgeon said she was outraged when she first saw the video that she says shows her son's August 14 arrest. She said the cried when she saw it. Her son's father was also upset.

"After I saw the video, I could not sleep," Agustin Cabrera said. "It just kept going on in my head as they're beating on my 17-year-old son."

Alex Cabrera remains in custody at the juvenile detention center. He is charged with resisting arrest, battery on an officer, and possession of marijuana.

According to the police report, Cabrera did not pull over last Tuesday when police pursued him from Hollywood to Dania Beach.

Officers say he rammed the front of a police vehicle and when given orders to exit the vehicle, he did not.

Cabrera's father said his son did not put up a fight.

"He didn't even resist," Cabrera said. "When they came in they had him. Why would they keep wailing on his face?"

City officials are aware of the incident and the subsequent internal affairs investigation.

"We are always concerned when there are allegations of an excessive use of force by our police officers," city spokeswoman Raelin Storey said. "We take those things very seriously."

For now, the promise of a thorough investigation is good enough for Cabrera's worried mother.

"Now that I'm here and I've talked to them and I realize that they're really looking in to it and have already opened the investigation and want to know all the information, I feel better," Surgeon said.

Cabrera's parents said their main priority now is making sure their son gets any medical attention he may need.

His medical records from immediately following the arrest show he suffered several contusions to the head. His father said the teen had two black eyes.

They're working with an attorney in hopes of having a judge release Cabrera from juvenile detention soon.