A school resource officer in Texas is on paid leave while officials investigate whether the way he body-slammed a 12-year-old middle school student in an incident that was caught on video is a case of excessive force, the San Antonio Express-News reports.
According to the newspaper, the video shows Officer Joshua Kehm, who had stepped in when two students started arguing with each other at Rhodes Middle School. Kehm can be seen holding the girl from behind before lifting her up and slamming her to the concrete before placing her in handcuffs.
Stunned students can be heard yelling in shock before a moment of what sounds like stunned silence. One girl who is heard off-camera repeatedly asks if the girl who was slammed to the ground is okay, and sounds distressed as she points out that, "She landed on her face!" The officer then leads the handcuffed girl away by the arm.
A spokeswoman for the San Antonio school district, Leslie Price, told the paper that the video was "concerning," and said officials were working to understand what happened exactly. "...we are not going to tolerate excessive force in our district," she said.
The incident brings to mind two other cases last year where officers were accused of using excessive force on schoolchildren in incidents caught on video. In October, a South Carolina officer was fired after pulling a student out of her desk and dragging her across the floor, allegedly because she wouldn't put her phone away. In November, a Florida school resource officer was seen on video brutally slamming a 13-year-old boy to the floor. That officer was also fired.
