Family threatens lawsuit after mistaken police takedown injures teen
Family threatens lawsuit after mistaken police takedown injures teen
A Melbourne police officer has resigned after body camera video showed officers tackling a 15-year-old boy they mistakenly believed was a missing juvenile, leaving the teen with a fractured elbow. The family's attorney now says they are seeking damages and could file a federal civil rights lawsuit if a settlement cannot be reached.
MELBOURNE, Fla. - A Melbourne police officer has resigned after body camera video showed officers tackling a 15-year-old boy they mistakenly believed was a missing juvenile, leaving the teen with a fractured elbow.
The family's attorney now says they are seeking damages and could file a federal civil rights lawsuit if a settlement cannot be reached.
‘Not going to stop until justice is served’
What they're saying:
The incident occurred as Melbourne police searched for a missing teenager. Instead, officers tackled Angela Sparks Hansen's 15-year-old son, who had spoken with officers moments earlier while trying to help search for the missing child.
"I guess they thought my son was the kid," said Hansen. "They tackled him, and he was trying to tell them, 'What are you doing?'"
Hansen questioned how officers misidentified her son.
"If this is their policy, did they know who they were looking for? Did they have a description of who they were looking for?" she asked.
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The family's attorney, civil rights lawyer Daniel Faherty, said the body camera footage shows officers failed to de-escalate the situation before using force.
"It's clear why he was so confused about what was happening to him, because no one was in the process of de-escalating the situation," said Daniel Faherty, the family's attorney.
Faherty said the incident raises broader concerns about officer training during missing-person investigations.
"There has to be some training in place to have that officer or those officers take a breath and start asking questions as opposed to threats, physical violence," Faherty explained.
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One of the officers involved has resigned following the incident, but Faherty said questions remain about whether the other officers have faced discipline.
"Unfortunately, it is unsurprising," said Faherty. "The only way I wind up seeing any actual disciplinary, true disciplinary action is because of media."
The family said it plans to continue pursuing accountability.
"We'd be asking for a jury trial," said Faherty.
"We're not going to stop until justice is served," Hansen added.
FOX 35 has requested the Melbourne Police Department's policies for responding to missing-child cases, as well as the personnel files of the other officers involved. The department has not yet released that information.\
The Source: This story was written based on information shared by the Melbourne Police Department and from interviews with Angela Sparks Hansen and Daniel Faherty, the family's attorney.