A Florida sheriff's office is investigating a deputy who was captured on video putting his hands on a black man's throat in front of his child after cursing him and calling him "boy."
Body camera video from the 2017 incident showed Broward County Deputy James Cady approach Allen Floyd, sitting outside a hotel with his 9-month-old son on his lap, according to a complaint filed by the Broward Public Defender’s Office on Jan. 30.
Several deputies had responded to a call from the hotel about the child's mother, the complaint said.
Cady almost immediately started berating Floyd, the video showed.
"I’m going to take her to jail cause she’s got a warrant. And I’m going to call child services on this kid," Cady can be heard saying on the video.
"Get your ID for me, bro," Cady said, before later adding, "Quit f---ing with me, boy."
Floyd calmly asked the deputy why he is yelling in front of a child, and why he is being "hostile."
"This is my baby, man. Stop calling me 'boy,'" Floyd said. "We can communicate like grown men."
The public defender's complaint said that Cady's words and tone were "inflammatory," "angry," and "derogatory."
It added that "Cady's use of the word 'boy' is offensive, condescending and demeaning," and carries "racial connotations" when used to address adult black men.
Still, the "video clearly depicts Mr. Floyd attempting to de-escalate the situation as he talked to the deputy," the complaint said.
"Deputy Cady responds by grabbing Mr. Floyd by his neck and chokes him," then pushes him into a car "all while Mr. Floyd is holding his infant child," the public defender's filing said.
"This video depicts a clear display of police abuse," said the complaint, which was sent to the Broward County Sheriff's Office and called for an investigation into the incident.
The sheriff's office responded with a statement Monday saying its division of internal affairs is investigating.
Cady has been sued in federal court three times during his time with the sheriff's office. He and other deputies were accused in 2003 of physically abusing an inmate. The case was dismissed.
A 2012 wrongful arrest suit brought against Cady and other Broward County deputies was also dismissed.
In another wrongful arrest suit brought against Cady in 2010, he was "found liable for tasering, tackling and beating an individual," according to the Broward Public Defender’s Office. The victim in that case was awarded $250,000 in damages, according to court documents.
Cady has twice been investigated for "conduct unbecoming an employee" by the Broward County Sheriff's Office's division of internal affairs, according to department records. He was cleared of wrongdoing in a 2003 investigation and suspended for one day as a result of a 2010 investigation.
Cady is currently on full duty, a sheriff's office spokeswoman told NBC News.
