Officer at Bradenton juvenile lockup resigns after she slapped boy. Video captured the scene

An officer at a Florida Department of Juvenile Justice detention center in Bradenton has resigned after she slapped a boy during an incident last month.

On July 13, Lauren Adams and four other workers at the Manatee Regional Juvenile Detention Center dragged a boy out of a chair and tackled him to the ground, while a sixth worker watches from the doorway in one of the center’s dayrooms, according to a video shot by a surveillance camera at the facility.

During the altercation, Adams slapped the boy as five other workers held him to the ground and as a sixth officer stands over him, the video shows.

Another staffer who had walked into the room just before Adams hit the detainee immediately removed Adams from the room.

The next Monday morning, July 16, detention center Superintendent Joseph Seeber saw an email reporting the incident, according to a DJJ incident report. Seeber watched the tape, and an internal investigation was initiated. Adams was removed from having any contact with any of the youth, according to the report, pending the outcome of the investigation.

Before she could face any potential discipline, however, Adams resigned.

When Adams resigned isn’t clear.

In her handwritten resignation letter dated July 5 — a week before the incident occurred — Adams wrote that she would be “moving back to PA,” and that her last day at the detention center would be July 28. A signature on the note indicates that the it was accepted by someone on July 16, but a stamp indicates it was received by the detention center on Aug. 6.

Additional details about the incident, including why the boy was dragged out of a chair and held to the ground, have not been revealed by DJJ. According to spokeswoman Amanda Slama, the incident is still under review.

“The Florida Department of Juvenile Justice takes the safety and well-being of the youth in our custody as our top priority and we do not tolerate actions by staff that jeopardizes that safety,” the department said in a statement issued to the Bradenton Herald. “We hold our staff to the highest standards of conduct, and if they are found to have violated policies and procedures, they will be held fully accountable for their actions.”

The surveillance video, which runs for a total of more than 28 minutes, was released to the Bradenton Herald in response a public records request.

Before the boy was dragged from the chair, some of the officers moved a table and chairs out of the center of the room. The video, which has no audio, shows the boy sitting in the chair waving his hands as he speaks and then with his arms cross before he is dragged out the chair.

During the struggle but before Adams slapped the boy, a sixth worker ran in and joined the effort to hold the boy to the ground. After Adams is removed from the room, the officer who removed her returns and joins the others in controlling the boy who continues to struggle as he lays face down on the ground.

Officers continue to hold the boy down for more than two minutes after Adams is removed before releasing him.

The boy then props himself up on his elbows and workers surround him as they talk. The workers eventually sit down and in the last forty-five seconds of the video, the boy is seen getting up off the floor and going to sit in a chair and joined by one of the workers.

The incident was reported to the Florida Department of Children and Families’ child abuse hotline, but was declined for investigation. While the slap in the face pales in comparison to the rampant and widespread abuse in the DJJ system chronicled by the Miami Herald’s investigative series, “Fight Club,” it shows that despite promising to do better abuse continues to occur.

The department also promised after the series ran that it had been improving it’s hiring practices, but according to Adams’ personnel records, she didn’t have any experience as a detention officer or working with children. Fight Club detailed a history of the state hiring unqualified or unfit employee to watch over the youth in its detention facilities.

A graduate of the Pennsylvania homeschooling program, Adams’ work experience consisted of being a cashier at Home Goods or TJ Maxx store and most recently working with a lumber company.

Adams was hired by DJJJ in May 2017, and received a promotion and raise after three months on the job, according to her personnel file.

DJJ is still investigating the suicide of a 15-year-old girl who hung herself in her room at its Bradenton facility in July. Alleny Carbone, a foster teen from Bartow in Polk County with a history of attempting suicide, was found unresponsive in her room during a “10-minute check.”

Alleny’s suicide is being investigated by the Bradenton Police Department while DJJ conducts its own internal investigation simultaneously. Video surveillance obtained from the camera mounted in the hallway outside her room and the recorded 911 call from one of the officers, reveal the panic that ensued after staff at the lockup found her.

Meanwhile, allegations that a staff worker at the Palmetto Youth Academy was seen kissing a 17-year-old boy also remain under investigation. Lacora Shanks, the staff member implicated in reports, is employed by TrueCore Behavioral Solutions, which is contracted to run the residential program for high-risk boys between the ages of 14 and 21 who have a primary diagnosis of substance abuse and/or co-occurring mental health disorder.