A video of an East Baton Rouge Sheriff’s deputy apparently body-slamming a middle school student to the ground has gone viral on social media.
The video shows the deputy taking a West Dale Middle School student to the ground. The 13-year-old was involved in a dust-up with another teen when the incident took place. The mother of the teen in this video said the deputy used excessive force.
Here is a statement from EBRSO Public Information Officer Casey Hicks:
“When deputies have to respond to instances such as this, when you are dealing with combative subjects refusing to respond to verbal commands, deputies must then use force in order to neutralize the situation and ensure the safety of everyone involved. The video shown, begins once the deputies had to move in to stop the fight. I’m sure that video prior to that moment exists, but we have not yet seen it.
In this video it appears that the deputy was minimizing physical contact with the combative subject by physically lifting him from the fight and moving him from the fight. Rather than deploy a taser or pepper spray that may affect those around the two subjects fighting the deputy physically removed the juvenile. Had the deputy tried to physically restrain the juvenile while he was combative, he may have then been required to use additional force which could have resulted in injury.
It is unfortunate when law enforcement must intervene due to individuals choosing to engage in violent behavior. There were no reported injuries nor complaints filed from this incident.
We haven’t received any complaint… And as far as we can tell there was no policy violations.”
The East Baton Rouge Parish School System also released a statement:
“East Baton Rouge Parish School System administration was made aware of a recent incident involving a use of force by a school resource officer who was responding to an altercation between students. Like all EBRPSS employees, school resource officers are expected to respond with a level of force deemed necessary to neutralize the situation. As a matter of policy, we do not comment on employee personnel matters, but appropriate action will be taken in accordance with applicable school board policy.”