Someone on the school bus had sprayed perfume, irritating Kevens Jean Baptiste, who has asthma, so he opened the windows.
The bus driver gave the order to keep the windows closed, and he refused. That led to Kevens being handcuffed and kicked by Florida police, as cellphone footage taken by a friend apparently shows, NBC Miami reports.
"I said, 'I don't care. I got asthma,' and I was coughing, and my face was turning red and stuff. So I just let down my window," Kevens told the news station. For his disobedience, he was kicked off the school bus and the police were called. And then the unbelievable happened: He was handcuffed and made to kneel, and his feet were kicked out from under him.
"He, like, sweeped me off the ground. He kicked me," the 13-year-old, who weighs less than 90 pounds, told the news station about the police officer. "He didn't say nothing. He just kicked me, and they put me in the back of the car."
Upon seeing the video, his mother shook her head and said it was "not nice." She said that the young boy cried all night after the incident but initially refused to say why.
"Every time I, like, bend down for a long time, it still hurts a little," Kevens said.
In a statement viewed by the news station, Boynton Beach Police spokeswoman Stephanie Slater said, "We are investigating the circumstances surrounding this situation and have placed one of the officers on administrative duty. We are concerned as to the initial appearance of the video, and despite the fact that we have received no formal complaints at this time, we are committed to reviewing the situation in its entirety and taking whatever action is deemed most appropriate at the conclusion of our investigation."
Kevens' family says it intends to file a complaint against the Boynton Beach Police on Wednesday. Meanwhile, Kevens has been banned from the bus.
Read more at NBC Miami.