He was forced to wear a heavy suicide jacket and endure 24-hour “bright lights,” the lawsuit said. Once he was returned to jail, Cruz was placed on 24-hour suicide watch, and Green “assigned a ‘one-on-one’ deputy to intimidate Cruz,” the lawsuit alleges. “Reported sadness was temporary and not clinically troubling,” the suit said. Rather, he “was noted as being pleasant, cooperative and alert,” it said. Doctors decided Cruz “did not display the signs of a mentally disturbed person,” according to the lawsuit. The 18-year-old spent five days at the Broward Health Medical Center, which released him without prescribing any medication. Once Cruz was taken to jail, according to the suit, Green ordered that Cruz be admitted to a mental institution, despite his records saying he had no mental issues, and despite Cruz behaving reasonably and cooperating with officers during his arrest.Ī medical report stated that Cruz had no telephone or car, risked “being released to the streets” and had the community on edge, according to the lawsuit. In a news conference Thursday, Mike Donovan, the group’s president and CEO, said Cruz was subjected to “horrific constitutional abuses.” “After he posted his $25 bail, authorities conspired to hold him in custody, reset his bond to an excessive $500,000, and then engaged in a campaign of intimidation and torture once he was in the Broward main jail facility,” said a statement from legal rights group Nexus Derechos Humanos. Zachary Cruz ‘has become a villain because of his name’ The suit alleges Mollica issued an exorbitant $500,000 bail for Cruz based on his older brother’s crimes, while jail officials intimidated and harassed Cruz, deprived him of sleep and forced him to wear a restraint vest around the clock. The state attorney’s office said, “No comment,” and the sheriff’s office said it wouldn’t comment on ongoing litigation.Ĭruz requests a jury trial and seeks punitive damages and expenses, the lawsuit said. Sherea Green, a member of the jail’s executive staff.ĬNN has reached out to the defendants for comment. The suit targets Judge Kim Theresa Mollica, State Attorney Michael Satz and Assistant State Attorney Sarahnell Murphy and Broward County Sheriff’s Capt. He will be released on supervised probation for another five months, after getting credit for time served. The lawsuit was announced about two hours before Zachary Cruz appeared in court Thursday afternoon for a probation violation hearing.Ĭruz admitted to driving without a license, prosecutors said. The brother of the Parkland, Florida, school shooter is suing several Broward County officials, saying they violated his Eighth Amendment rights and tortured him during a recent stay in jail.
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