The incident with a school resource officer occurred on Tuesday at Liberty High School in Kissimmee, Florida, according to the Osceola School District. A brief video posted on Tuesday, which was widely released online, shows what appears to be a resource officer at the Osceola County Sheriff’s School in a confrontation with a school student.
School Resource Officers are not employees of the school district, according to the district, but sworn sheriffs employed by their law enforcement agency. The Sheriff’s Office removed the resource officer who was involved in the incident from the school until the outcome of his investigation, said District Public Information Officer Dana Schafer.
In the video, the deputy is seen taking a student to the floor and handcuffing her. Another deputy is seen in the video as the incident unfolds. During a news conference on Wednesday, Osceola County Sheriff Marco Lopez said there are other videos besides the “floating” partial, saying “this is why I am not going to express an opinion on what I may or may not have happened “.
Although it is not clear from the short video what led to the incident, Lopez said the interruption occurred at a school function where the student was not complying with legal commands and “went after” another student. Lopez said the situation got worse from there.
“From what I understand, the minor was fine,” said Lopez, adding that the student was seen clinically on the spot and released to her mother, who picked her up. According to the sheriff, the deputy is also “well”, although he suffered some injuries when he fell to the ground.
Lopez said his office is capable of handling the investigation, but he handed it over to the Florida Police Department (FDLE) so that no one can accuse him of influencing the case.
“Certain situations and circumstances require complete and clear transparency and maximum confidence from our citizens,” said Lopez.
The FDLE confirmed that it is investigating the use of force at Liberty High School.
“Each case is unique, including this case. In this case and in all others, our role is to determine the facts of what happened and a state attorney or prosecutor determines whether there are violations of the law,” said a Department statement.
The deputy, whom Sheriff Lopez identified as Ethan Fournier, has been in the sheriff’s office for ten years and has no history of misconduct, except minor damage to property. The sheriff said Fournier was placed 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 fully cooperating with the active investigation by the Osceola County Sheriff’s Office into the situation,” Schafer, the public information officer, said in a statement.
CNN’s Rebekah Riess contributed to this report.