Sarasota deputy on leave after video shows altercation with teen suspect

SARASOTA, Fla. - The Sarasota County sheriff is speaking out about one of his deputies who was caught on camera fighting a teenager.

It happened on September 1. The 17-year-old was turning himself in for a warrant when two deputies asked him to remove his hands from his shorts.

The footage shows words are exchanged, then one of the deputies walks over to the teen and can be seen grabbing the teen's neck and hitting him. 

They end up fighting on the floor before he's handcuffed and hauled away.

Now, Sheriff Tom Knight is condemning the deputy's actions.

"When you’re in a detention facility, i don’t really care what a 17-year-old says or what he says to the employees that work for me. If he’s not harming them, it’s fine. Words never hurt anybody. Hands hurt people. We’ve got to find out why that happened. We will get to the bottom of it and i don’t have those answers right now.”

The deputy said he took action because he thought the teen was going to attack him. 

He is on administrative leave and an internal affairs investigation is underway.