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On Thursday, October 6, 2022, a 15-year-old student from Florida's St. Cloud High School was arrested for allegedly assaulting a police officer. The arrest took place after the teenager allegedly body-slammed the officer to the ground.
Caught on camera, the high school student reportedly body-slammed the police officer while he was in the middle of separating two 14-year-old students who had been fighting. Videos filmed by witnesses show the teenager walking up to the police officer and grabbing him by the neck. The Florida student then proceeded to pick him up and throw him on the ground as others crowded around him and watched.
The situation was brought under control by the intervention of a school administrator, a school resource officer, and other students from the high school. According to Fox 35 Orlando, the teenager was arrested and charged with battery on a law enforcement officer and resisting an officer with violence.
Police react to Florida teenager's attack on a school officer
A viral video shows a Florida teenager approaching a police officer on school grounds, grabbing him by the neck, and then body-slamming him to the ground. According to officials, this was in response to a fight that the officer was breaking up, though the student in question allegedly had nothing to do with the fight itself. His name has been withheld by law enforcement officers.
Police claimed that the officer had tried to deal with the student "with the least amount of force possible" before he was knocked to the ground. St. Cloud Police Chief Douglas Goerke said:
"What occurred to Officer Ball was despicable and should never have happened. We will never tolerate behavior that targets our officers and will hold those accountable at the highest levels."
Furthermore, Dana Schafer, the public information officer for Osceola County Public Schools, told Click Orlando:
"Multiple law enforcement officers responded, and at least one student has been arrested. A video of the incident is being reviewed for discipline purposes."
Police have said that bodycam footage of the incident will be released to the public soon.
This incident took place just days after videos of a 2015 incident of police brutality on school premises resurfaced online. In 2015, a Spring Valley High School student was violently thrown out of a classroom by a school police officer after she refused to leave the room voluntarily after failing to put away her phone in time for class.
The video had led many to question the presence of police officers in schools, and even in Thursday's case, while the police force is putting the blame on the Florida teenager, some people are questioning what caused him to react so violently in the first place.
