Lawsuit filed after video showed officers trying to handcuff 8-year-old at Florida school

The family of an 8-year-old boy who was taken into custody at school while having a mental health crisis is suing a Florida city along with the school district and staff, civil rights attorney Benjamin Crump said Tuesday. They also want the police officers involved held accountable.

Crump, who is also representing the family of George Floyd, shared a video on Twitter late Sunday that shows officers trying to put handcuffs on the child at a Key West school in December 2018.

The complaint obtained by USA TODAY claims the boy's Fourth and 14th amendment rights were violated, as well as the Americans with Disabilities Act. It lists the Monroe County School District and city of Key West, as well as the police officers, teacher, principal and assistant principal, as defendants.

The lawsuit alleges the officers acted with excessive force, school officials and officers failed to intervene, and the city and school district failed to accommodate the boy's disability and failed to properly train its employees. This resulted in "embarrassment, humiliation, and psychological injury that manifested itself physically, some or all of which may be permanent," according to the lawsuit.

A lawsuit only represents one side of a case.

Crump on Tuesday held a virtual press conference with the boy's mother, Bianca Digennaro, and attorneys Devon Jacob and Sue-Anne Robinson to announce the lawsuit.

"We're here because some authorities in the school and within the police department in Key West, Florida, felt that it was appropriate to arrest and charge a 8-year-old child who was 64 pounds, 3.5 feet tall with a felony because he was having a mental illness crisis," he said.

'It hurts your bones': Private special ed schools can restrain kids with disabilities 1,000s of times. Parents might not know

The video shows officers patting the child down and telling him he's going to jail. He's asked to put his hands behind his back and an officer tries to handcuff him. Eventually, another officer says it's "not worth it" and the boy is told his hands are too small for the cuffs.

The child is led from the school and before he is taken to a police vehicle an officer says, "You understand this is very serious, OK? I hate that you put me in this position that I have to do this. The thing about it is you made a mistake and now it's time to learn from it and grow from it, right? Not repeat the same mistake again."

On the day of the incident, the child was placed with "a substitute teacher who had no awareness or concern about his needs and who escalated the situation by using her hands to forcibly move him," Crump said in his statement. The child has been diagnosed with ADHD, depression, anxiety and severe Oppositional Defiance Disorder , and he has an an individualized education plan in place at the school, Crump said.

Crump said the called the police when the boy "acted out."

Defund police in schools?: How the movement got momentum after George Floyd's death

According to the lawsuit, the teacher had asked the boy to sit by her – after she repeatedly asked him to sit properly – and the boy refused. The lawsuit claims the teacher walked over to escort him to where she was sitting and attempted to "go hands-on" and physically move him. He asked her not to touch him and when she did not let go, the boy punched her once in the chest, according to the suit.

Crump said Tuesday that the police took his mugshot, fingerprints and DNA and that the child was locked in a jail cell for several minutes.

The child was booked into Monroe County Detention Center, an adult facility where juveniles are also processed they if are arrested, according to a police report obtained by USA TODAY.

Key West Police Chief Sean T. Brandenburg said in a statement Monday that his officers did nothing wrong: “Based on the report, standard operating procedures were followed,” he said. The Key West Police Department declined to comment further, citing ongoing litigation in an email to USA TODAY.

Policy shifts amid national unrest: A look at how cities, states are responding to police brutality

The boy was charged with battery, which is a felony, according to the Monroe County State Attorney's Office. Crump said the state attorney "zealously pursued" those charges, which officials said were dismissed in October 2019 after the boy received counseling.

Crump did not identify the school; A Monroe County School District spokesperson did not respond to a question about where in the district in the incident happened.

"The District has been advised by its attorneys not to comment on this matter due to ongoing legal proceedings," the district spokesperson said Tuesday in an email to USA TODAY.

Digennaro said her now 10-year-old son is starting to understand what happened more now that he's older, but that the incident was "traumatic" for him.

"I will never be able to watch that video," she said. "It never gets easier. I can tell and I can feel how scared my son was and it's impossible to watch."

Contributing: The Associated Press

Follow N'dea Yancey-Bragg and Jordan Culver on Twitter: @NdeaYanceyBragg and @JordanCulver

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Ben Crump files lawsuit after Florida cops handcuff boy at school