The family of a 16-year-old girl in Florida who was shot this week by a school resource officer is demanding that the deputy be fired and arrested.
Video of the incident over the cell phone was widely shared on social media, and civil rights lawyer Ben Crump, who represented the families of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor, took over the case.
“The person who should be protecting her is the person who brutalized her,” said Crump. “This is 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 third year 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 right now,” said her mother, adding that her daughter has been suffering from headaches, blurred vision and memory loss since the incident. “(We are) just angry and we want justice to be done.”
As seen in the video, other students were shocked when Bracey’s head audibly hit the concrete floor. The policeman is then seen pulling his hands behind her back and handcuffing her.
Bracey’s mother said that her daughter fell unconscious and does not remember falling on the floor. She told NBC News that school administrators were initially reluctant to tell her what had happened. She does not believe that she would have obtained a complete report if other students had not registered the altercation.
“Why did you do this to my daughter?” she said. “She is a very sweet girl, she loves to write a diary … She is a good child.”
On Wednesday, Sheriff Marcos Lopez announced that he would hand the case over to the Florida Police Department. During a press conference, he said that Representative Ethan Fournier has no history of misconduct.
“From my understanding, it was an interruption of a school function,” said Lopez. “The student was not complying with legal orders. She went after another student.”
Bracey’s family disputes this.
“There was never a fight,” said Crump. “There was a verbal altercation. Taylor never touched anyone and this policeman does what we see in that video. “
Fournier is on paid leave while the investigation continues. His lawyer, David Bigney, said in a statement that “school resource officers never want to be put in a situation where they have to use force on a student”. “Bigney said.” When a video like this comes out that shows only a small part of the story, the media and the public tend to jump to conclusions that the use of force was excessive without knowing what led to the use of force. use of force in this case was indeed justified. “
Fournier’s father, Gregory Fournier, told NBC News in a text message: “My son has a stellar history and would be shot by those students. I think he is being treated publicly in a very unfair way ”.
According to the National Association of School Resource Officers, there are an estimated 14,000-20,000 school resource officers in the United States and about 20 percent of all K-12 schools have one.
