Family of Florida teen criticized by school officer demands dismissal

The family of a 16-year-old girl in Florida who was slaughtered this week by a school resources officer is asking that the MP be fired and arrested.

Video of the mobile phone incident has been shared widely on social media, and civil rights lawyer Ben Crump, who represented the families of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor, has now taken the matter into his own hands.

“The person who’s supposed to protect her is the person who brutalized her,” Crump said. “It’s a problem especially in the African American community because we often see them using this excessive use of force with our children.”

Taylor Bracey is a junior at Liberty High School in Osceola County, Florida. Her mother, Jamesha Bracey, told NBC News that her daughter had previously told school administrators that other students had threatened her.

“She is very traumatized at the moment,” her mother said, adding that her daughter had suffered from headaches, blurred vision and memory loss since the incident. “(We are) just angry and want justice done.”

As the video shows, other students were shocked when Bracey’s head audibly hit the concrete floor. The MP is then seen pulling her hands behind her back and handcuffing her.

Bracey’s mother said her daughter was knocked unconscious and couldn’t remember hitting the ground. She told NBC News that school administrators were initially reluctant to tell her what had happened. She doesn’t think she would have gotten a full debrief if other students hadn’t recorded the altercation.

“Why did you do this to my daughter?” she says. “She’s a very nice girl, she loves keeping a journal… She’s a good girl.”

Sheriff Marcos Lopez announced on Wednesday that he would turn the matter over to the Florida Department of Law Enforcement. At a press conference, he said MP Ethan Fournier had no history of misconduct.

“From what I understood, it was a disruption of a school function,” Lopez said. “The student was not following legal orders. She went after another student.”

Bracey’s family disputes this.

“There was never a fight,” Crump said. “There was a verbal altercation. Taylor never touched anyone, then this cop does what we see in this video.

Fournier is on paid leave while the investigation continues. His lawyer, David Bigney, said in a statement that “school resource officials never want to be put in a situation where they have to use force on a student.” “Unfortunately, sometimes a situation reaches a level where force is warranted and necessary.” Bigney said. “When a video like this shows only a small part of the story, the media and the public tend to jump to the conclusion that the use of force was excessive without knowing what led to the use of force. The use of force in this case was in fact justified. “

Fournier’s dad, Gregory Fournier, told NBC News in a text message, “My son has a stellar record and would take a bullet for these students. I think he is being treated publicly very unfairly.

According to the National Association of School Resource Officers, there are between 14,000 and 20,000 school resource officers in the United States and about 20% of all K-12 schools have one.