Washington: After almost two years since George Floyd incident, another US cop has been caught in a CCTV footage putting his knee on the neck of a 12-year-old girl while stopping a quarrel in the cafeteria of Lincoln Middle School.
Kenosha Unified School District released a surveillance footage on Friday showing an off-duty Kenosha police officer putting his knee on the neck of a 12-year-old girl to restrain her for more than 20 seconds while attempting to break up a fight in the cafeteria of Lincoln Middle School, CNN reported on Saturday.
In the video, two students were seen fighting. An off-duty officer, working school security at the time, soon intervened to break it up before either being hit or falling backward with one of the students, CNN reported.
It appeared that the cop hit his head on the edge of a nearby table. Shortly after, the officer was seen on top of the student appearing to push her head into the ground with one hand. He then place his knee on her neck for about 25 seconds, appearing to apply the pressure of his body weight at some points. The girl was eventually handcuffed, picked up and led away, the video showed.
Drew DeVinney, family's attorney, said, "The officer's knee was on her neck for an 'unconscionable duration.This was a cruel and heartless act of violence aimed at a child and is unacceptable in our society."
After receiving the video on Friday, the girl's father demanded the Kenosha Police Department to immediately terminate the officer, according to the statement.
The officer was off-duty at the time and working part-time as a school security guard.
Post the incident, he resigned from the school district. The department has not informed about the extent of any injuries the officer may have sustained in the incident, CNN reported.
The police, however, said that a criminal charge of disorderly conduct has been referred to the court system for "both juveniles involved in the incident."
"There is no pretty arrest," Mac Hardy, Director of Operations for the National Association of School Resource Officers, told CNN Friday, but added, "We are never trained to put our knee on the back of anyone's neck." "I've never been aware of any training anywhere" in regards to that, he said.
Hardy also pointed to specific factors that would help determine the type of response used in a school fight circumstance like this, including the "age and the size of the children" involved.
"I would've liked to see more teachers and more school staff in that situation than that school security officer," he said, as he acknowledged being in school is "different than what you get on the streets. Not every police officer is cut out to be an SRO (School Resource Officer)." (UNI)
