[ad_1]
The incident with a school resources officer took place Tuesday at Liberty High School in Kissimmee, Fla., According to the Osceola School District. A brief video posted Tuesday, which was circulated widely online, shows what appears to be a school resources officer from an Osceola County sheriff during a confrontation with a student at the school.
School resource officers are not school district employees, according to the district, but rather sworn sheriffs employed with their law enforcement agency. The sheriff’s office has fired the resource officer involved in the incident from the school until their investigation is completed, District Public Information Officer Dana Schafer said.
In the video, the deputy is seen taking a student to the ground and handcuffing her. Another deputy is seen in the video as the incident unfolds. At a press conference on Wednesday, Osceola County Sheriff Marco Lopez said there were other videos aside from the “floating” partial video, saying “that’s why I’m not going not express an opinion on what might or might not have happened “.
While it is not clear from the short video what led to the incident, Lopez said the disruption occurred during a school function where the student was not following legal orders and “sued” another student. Lopez said the situation worsened from there.
“From what I understand, the minor was fine,” Lopez said, adding that the student had been medically treated at the scene and handed over to her mother, who came to pick her up. According to the sheriff, the deputy is also “fine”, although he suffered injuries from hitting the ground.
Lopez said that while his office is capable of handling the investigation, he made the decision to turn it over to the Florida Department of Law Enforcement (FDLE). The sheriff says he wants to make sure the investigation is thorough and conducted as an independent investigation so that no one can ever say he had any influence on this matter.
“Certain situations and circumstances require full and clear transparency and maximum trust with our citizens,” said Lopez.
FDLE has confirmed that it is investigating the use of force at Liberty High School.
“Each case is unique, including this one. In this case, as in all others, our role is to determine the facts of what happened and a prosecutor or prosecutor determines if there are any violations of the law. the law, “said a statement from the department.
The deputy, whom Sheriff Lopez identified as Ethan Fournier, has worked in the sheriff’s office for ten years and has no history of misconduct other than minor damage to property. The sheriff said Fournier was put on paid administrative leave, pending the outcome of the investigation.
CNN tried to contact Fournier and the Florida Police Benevolent Association for comment.
“The district is cooperating fully with the Osceola County Sheriff’s Office’s active investigation into the situation,” Schafer, the public information official, said in a statement.
CNN’s Rebekah Riess contributed to this report.
[ad_2]
Source link