Video shows principal holding a students head while hes shocked with a stun gun
Video and more at the link. Tase me if old.
An attorney for three students who were allegedly threatened and beaten at a Pittsburgh high school said recent surveillance video exposes an atmosphere where administrators and police are assaulting children.
Todd Hollis, a civil rights attorney, said his clients plan to sue the Woodland Hills School District, school board and Churchill Police Department in three separate cases in southwestern Pennsylvania.
We want a change in the culture, Hollis said in an interview.
This has gone uncovered; nobody feels that theyve done anything wrong because theyve been doing it so long, Hollis added. Theyre assaulting children. Theyre violating childrens civil and constitutional rights.
The three incidents at Woodland Hills High School date to March 2015, when a then-15-year-old student was taken to the principal because he disagreed with a teacher in a classroom, the students attorney said.
Surveillance video released Tuesday showed Ahmad Williams, who is black, sitting in the school office when the school resource officer, identified as Churchill Police Officer Steve Shaulis, pointed a finger in the teens face.
The officer was seen walking into a hallway, where he appeared to continue speaking to the boy.
Hollis, the teens attorney, said the officer was taunting the teen, and that the teen responded.
The video showed the officer pull the boy by his collar and put him in a chokehold, forcing him down a hallway headed away from the camera. The officer then slammed him to the ground.
Another man, identified as Woodland Hills High School Principal Kevin Murray, quickly intervened holding the teens head down as the resource officer appeared to use a taser on him.
Shaulis tased him a number of times and handcuffed him, Hollis said in a statement. After handcuffing the child, Shaulis lifted the child up off the ground by his handcuffs and took him back into his office, where he continued to assault the child. The child was later charged with resisting arrest and disorderly conduct. After presenting the attached video in court, the students charge for resisting arrest was dismissed.
Hollis said a second student was threatened in November when he was found on school property after hours. A school administrator told him to leave and, during an argument, the teen called her a vulgar slur.
The student was then taken to see the principal. In an audio clip, the principal can be heard saying, Call me a b-. You want to treat my people like s, treat me like s; see how this goes for you.
You call me a b-, Im going to f punch you in the face, he continued. Man to man, bro. I dont care if youre f 14 years old or not, I will punch you in your face and, when we go down to court, its your word versus mine, and mine wins every time.
The next month, Murray, the principal, was put on administrative leave during an investigation by the school district and the Allegheny County District Attorneys Office, according to the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.
He was reinstated earlier this year.
Video and more at the link. Tase me if old.