A San Antonio school police officer has been put on paid administrative leave after a video of him body-slamming a 12-year-old onto her face surfaced online.
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The beginning of the video shows an officer, identified by the district as Joshua Kehm, lifting a young girl from behind before turning and slamming her on the floor.
Stunned students can be heard yelling in shock before a moment of what sounds like stunned silence. Students can be heard screaming and repeatedly asking the girl if she is okay. She is then pulled up and led away in handcuffs.
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 need to gather all the details, but also we will not tolerate excessive force in this district”. The incident reportedly took place at Rhodes Middle School “last week”.
“She was, I guess, unconscious”.
“I can tell you the video is concerning and we’ve certainly reached out to all involved to learn everything we can about it”, Price says.
The incident began as a “verbal altercation” between two girls at about 4 p.m. on March 29, outside of the middle school, the district said in a statement to ABC News.
Although she said no fight ever broke out, she was suspended – and says the officer’s actions left her with a large bruise near her right eye.
School administration learned about the clip on Tuesday.
He previously served in the U.S. Air Force from 2007 to 2014, he said on Linkedin.
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“I just want justice for my daughter”, Valdez said.
