There have been several incidents of school police using unwarranted force against students, spokesman Evan Serpick said in a statement. “If police are going to be in our schools, they must be a positive, supportive force that creates safer environments for our children”.
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The Maryland Coalition to Reform School Discipline says the cellphone video shot Tuesday is evidence of problems requiring systemic reform. A long standing state law prohibits Baltimore City School police from carrying weapons on school grounds, past year the Baltimore City School Polce asked the legistature to allow them to carry their weapons.
It isn’t clear what happened next, though attorney Lauren Geisser, who is representing the 16-year-old, says a witness recorded Spence slapping her client three times, then kicking him while yelling profanities.
Officials say two officers were called to REACH Partnership School on Tuesday because two “intruders” were posing a threat, per the Baltimore Sun.
Baltimore school officials would not disclose the officer’s name, but his lawyer and other sources confirmed he is Anthony C. Spence, 44, of Baltimore.
Hamm also said the male was not a student at REACH.
Still, Officer Perry said that he was appalled by the footage.
The attorney for the teen said he’s a 10th grader enrolled at the public high school and was trying to attend class. The attorney also said the student suffered face and rib injuries from the intense blows.
Marshall Goodwin, the chief of the school police, as well as Spence and the second officer in the video were put on administrative leave after it was posted. “This is unacceptable. It’s not behavior that will ever be tolerated by any city employee”, a school support officer adds. “It has something to do with days that he was in school and when he was not”, Parks told NBC News. The uniformed officer, Deputy Ben Fields, who is white, has been placed on administrative duties as the Richland County Sheriff’s Department is now investigating the altercation. “We’re taking this very seriously”.
“I’m a parent, and I’m totally appalled at what I saw in that video”, he told WJZ-TV. Both were on foot patrol between schools and were armed at the time of the incident, he said.
The acting school police chief has a different story.
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“We believe that we may have been given some bad information by the school regarding whether he was a student”. Spence and the youth left the building, where further events were captured on video, Davey said.
