The Key West Police Department is facing a lawsuit and a wave of criticism following the release of a video showing two officers arresting an 8-year-old biracial boy in December 2018.

The boy is disabled, according to his mother Bianca Digennaro, and was having a temper tantrum when he hit a teacher in the chest, reports The Miami Herald. The police were called, and the sobbing boy was arrested. During the arrest, officers struggled to find handcuffs that would fit the child. 

Digennaro said her son was 3-and-a-half-feet tall and weighed 64 pounds when he was arrested at Gerald Adams Elementary School. He was put against a cabinet, searched and frisked. 

The boy was taken to the police station and subsequently faced a nine-month battle with prosecutors over a felony battery charge that was eventually dropped in October 2019, reports ABC7. 

But on Monday, video from the December 14, 2018 incident was released from the body cameras of the officers who arrested the boy, reigniting controversy around the situation. 

Digennaro is now working with civil rights attorney Benjamin Crump, who facilitated the release of the video, and is suing the city of Key West, officials within the Monroe County School District and the three officers who arrested her young son: Michael Malgrat, Kenneth Waite and Fred Sims.

According to CNN, the federal lawsuit filed by Digennaro includes allegations of police brutality and outright violations of the Americans with Disabilities Act.

“This is a heartbreaking example of how our educational and policing systems train children to be criminals by treating them like criminals. If convicted, the child in this case would have been a convicted felon at eight years old. This little boy was failed by everyone who played a part in this horrific incident,” Crump said in a statement to The Herald. 

In response to the recent outrage over the arrest, Key West Police Chief Sean Brandenburg sent a statement to The Herald, saying his officers did nothing wrong. He said the "standard operating procedures were followed."

The school district declined to comment on the situation.

The video spread like wildfire across the internet, particularly the portion of the video where one of the officers can be heard saying, “I hate that you had to put me into this position to do this. The thing about it is, you made a mistake. Now it’s time for you to learn about it and to grow from it, not repeat the same mistake again.”

In documents seen by CNN and The Herald, the boy's teacher told police that she got into a dispute with the child because he would not sit properly. When she asked him to sit next to her, he refused, and she went over to move him. He told the teacher “Don’t put your hands on me" and “My mom is going to beat your a*s,” before punching her in the chest. 

The school called his parents, but Digennaro was having a medical procedure done. Even though his father got to the school in time, the boy was still arrested. Local10 reports that even as the boy cried out for his father, officers told him his dad had already left. 

Attorney Devon Jacob told Local10 the officers' behavior was "disgusting."

“Could you imagine a child thinking that their father just left them? And that’s what a police officer told him," Jacob said.  

He was then taken to a juvenile justice facility in Key West.

In an email to CNN, Val Winter, Monroe County chief assistant state attorney, said the charges were dropped after a doctor examined the child and decided it was best to dismiss the charges. Digennaro said her son was taking medication for ADHD, oppositional defiant disorder, depression and anxiety.

The family's lawsuit includes a section explaining that the school district conducted an evaluation in February 2018 that determined the child had an "emotional or behavioral disability." The school and family created an individualized education program for the young boy to accommodate his disability, according to the lawsuit. Digennaro repeatedly said she could not understand how the school was unaware of her son's condition considering they diagnosed him. 

"I'm heartbroken this happened to my son. I'm just here for my son because I refuse to let them make him a criminal or convicted felon at the age of 8," the mother said. 

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