Lee county deputy resigns accused of elbowing handcuff teen

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Lee County deputy accused of elbowing handcuffed teen in head resigns; state attorney to review

Michael Braun, Fort Myers News-Press Published 12:34 p.m. ET Feb. 20, 2019

This is a six-month review of the most-read crime stories in Lee County on news-press.com. Vonna Keomanyvong/The News-Press

A Lee County Sheriff's deputy under investigation after video surfaced of him allegedly striking a handcuffed teen in the head has resigned.

The Lee County Sheriff's Office, which launched the internal affairs investigation of Deputy Blake Grossi after the video was Tweeted out last week, confirmed the resignation Wednesday and said that despite the resignation the matter was still being referred to the state attorney's office for review.

"On Thursday, February 14, 2019, I learned of an incident where a suspect in our custody was mistreated," Sheriff Carmine Marceno said in a prepared statement. "Regardless of what occurred prior to this incident, our deputies are held to the highest standards, we respect everyone’s constitutional rights, and we will not tolerate mistreatment of any suspect."

Father of teen allegedly hit by Lee County deputy says son was wrong ... but so was deputy

Marceno confirmed Sunday that Grossi, 25, was the deputy involved and that he had been placed on paid administrative leave.

The video showed one deputy holding on to Bienvenido Gabriel Roman, 17, and another washing his eyes with water after he was arrested on probation violations. The teen had been sprayed with pepper spray after he became belligerent in the back seat of a patrol car.

The video also showed a deputy alleged to be Grossi approaching Roman and striking him in the head with his elbow and then walking off.

Charged with eluding arrest, Roman was apprehended in the Riverdale community and booked into Lee County Jail shortly after 12:30 p.m. Thursday.

More: Report: Teen struck by Lee County deputy on video was wanted on multiple probation violations

The teen's father, Bienvenido Roman, 41, visited his son Sunday in juvenile detention.

"I told him you did wrong," the senior Roman said after the visit. "But so did the officer."

Grossi and the younger Roman have encountered each other before, Bienvenido Roman said.

The deputy has come to their Fort Myers Shores home to check on his son, the father said, and has arrested him before as well. He added that there has never been any sort of violence in previous encounters.

More: Lee sheriff's deputy on administrative leave after video surfaces showing him striking person being detained

There have been about a dozen arrests of his son, Bienvenido Roman said, several of those for violation of probation.

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