FDLE investigating Opa-locka cops videotaped dragging bound mentally ill teen down steps

State investigators are looking into possible criminal charges against two Opa-locka police officers who dragged a bound teen down a flight of stairs after he was stunned with an electronic Taser — an encounter captured on cellphone video.

The officers — whom the city has not named, but who have been identified in a federal lawsuit — were cleared of any wrongdoing by the department from the 2020 incident and both had been promoted in the weeks leading up to it. The investigation into officers Sergio Perez and Nikeya Jenkins comes less than three months after Jafet Castro, 21, filed a lawsuit in federal court accusing the officers of false imprisonment and brutality.

“We received a complaint and we are reviewing the information provided,” said Troy Walker, Miami’s Special Agent in Charge for the Florida Department of Law Enforcement.

Several law enforcement sources have confirmed that Castro and family members have been interviewed by investigators in the past two weeks. Castro’s attorney Michael Pizzi wouldn’t confirm meeting with FDLE, but said his client and his family have done all they can in cooperating with law enforcement.

“What happened to Jafet was a crime. He was brutally assaulted,” Pizzi said. “We want them charged with a crime.”

Steadman Stahl, president of the South Florida Police Benevolent Association, which represents the officers, said it’s not unusual for the state to investigate complaints it receives about possible police brutality.

“We’d like to see the case play itself out. He certainly wasn’t cooperating with police,” said Stahl. “It didn’t look good. But most arrests don’t look good.”

On Sept. 21, 2020, Opa-locka Police received a call from distraught family members of Castro, who said he was acting erratically. When police got there, they found Castro’s father and an uncle standing outside the apartment. According to the lawsuit, officers ignored Castro’s father’s request to leave and instead entered the home, which was on the first floor, but up five steps.

Inside, police found Castro already subdued, lying on the ground, his hands tied with rope. Still, the lawsuit claims, officers tried to turn Castro over and handcuff him, despite pleas from the mentally ill teen, that they leave. Castro fought with them. Officer Sergio Perez, the lawsuit claims, punched him in the face and officer Louis Serrano fired his Taser, striking Castro.

The next 48 seconds of cellphone video lit up social media: Taken by someone outside the apartment, it showed Perez and Jenkins dragging Castro down the five steps, his hands still bound and his head bouncing off the ground. A woman cries, “No, don’t do that.”

Castro was initially charged with resisting arrest without violence. The charge was quickly dropped. Both Perez and Jenkins were cleared of any wrongdoing by the department’s Internal Affairs investigations.

Then in May of this year, Castro filed a nine-count complaint in federal court against the officers and the city of Opa-locka, which in addition to excessive force and false imprisonment, accuses police of illegally entering his home and negligence in neglecting to train officers on how to deal properly with the mentally ill.

Perez has a controversial and lengthy history with Opa-locka police. He’s been booted from the department twice. One of the times came after a car chase in 2013 that ended with him going the wrong way down a ramp onto I-95 and resulted in the death of four tourists. He got his job back. More recently in February, Perez was shuffled off to a desk job in code enforcement after striking another officer — who would soon be named interim chief — with his Taser.