The incident with a school resource officer took place at Liberty High School in Kissimmee, Florida, according to the Osceola School District on Tuesday. A short video published Tuesday, which has been widely circulated online, shows what appears to be a principal of Osceola County in a confrontation with a student at the school.
According to the district, according to the district, school auxiliaries are not employees of the school district, but rather silent sheriff deputies employed by their law enforcement agency. The sheriff’s office removed the resource officer involved in the incident from the school until the outcome of their investigation, said District Information Officer Dana Schafer.
The video shows the deputy taking a student to the ground and placing handcuffs on her. Another deputy is seen in the video as the incident unfolds. During a press conference on Wednesday, Osceola County Sheriff Marco Lopez said there were other videos besides the partial one that ‘floated around’ and said: ‘therefore I’m not going to express an opinion on what may or may not happen. do not have.’
Although it is not clear from the short video what led to the incident, Lopez said the disruption occurred during a school function where the student did not comply with legal instructions and ‘chased’ another student. Lopez said the situation has increased since then.
“According to my understanding, the youth were fine,” Lopez said, adding that the student was medically admitted to the scene and released to her mother. According to the sheriff, the deputy is also ‘good’, although he sustained some injuries when he hit the ground.
Lopez said his office can handle the investigation, but he handed it over to the Florida Department of Law Enforcement (FDLE) so no one can accuse him of influence over the case.
“Certain situations and certain circumstances require complete, clear transparency and utmost trust among our citizens,” Lopez said.
FDLE has confirmed that it is investigating the use of force at Liberty High School.
“Every case is unique, including this case. In this case and all others, our role is to determine the facts of what happened, and a public prosecutor or prosecutor to determine if there are any violations of the law,” the department said in a statement. .
The deputy, who identified Sheriff Lopez as Ethan Fournier, was with the sheriff for ten years and has no history of misconduct other than minor property damage. The sheriff said Fournier was placed on paid administrative leave pending the outcome of the investigation.
CNN tried to reach Fournier and the Florida Police Benevolent Association for comment.
“The district is fully cooperating with the Osceola County Sheriff’s active investigation into the situation,” Schafer, the public information officer, said in a statement.
CNN’s Rebekah Riess contributed to this report.