A screenshot of a video shows school resource officers’ altercation with a student, where the student was shoved against a wall and tackled to the ground. The video was sent to the Daily Journal by a Clark-Pleasant parent.
A video taken on Oct. 6 at Whiteland Community High School shows an interaction between a student and a school resource officer escalate to four officers holding the student on the ground.
The incident, which occurred just before the school district’s fall break, prompted Clark-Pleasant schools to bring in the Indiana State Police to investigate the altercation and officers involved, spokesperson Rick Hightower said.
A video of a portion of the interaction was sent to the Daily Journal on Oct. 18 by a parent in the Clark-Pleasant school district. The video shows the altercation took place just outside an entrance on the north end of the main high school building, near the football field and bus drop-off location.
In the beginning of the video, a Black male student is seen interacting with a school resource officer, when the officer pushes him back. The video does not pick up what they were saying prior to that moment. The student walks away, yelling, ‘don’t f—-ing touch me!” while taking his backpack and jacket off. The first officer tries again to grab the student, as he walks away. The student at no point in this part of the video touched the officer.
The situation escalates as another officer runs up, while the first officer pushes the student back quickly, and shoves him against a brick wall on the outside of the building. Two more officers come into the frame, as they take the student to the ground, telling him several times, “put your hands behind your back.” At the end of the video, two of the four officers are on top of the student, as they appear to attempt to handcuff him.
The video just shows the end of the interaction. Hightower said in an email that the video only captures a portion of what happened following a separate fight between students in the same area outside the high school that day.
While school resource officers responded and investigated that prior incident, the student in the video walked toward the officers, yelling at them, Hightower said.
What was shown in the video happened after that. The student in the video was arrested and an officer was transported to a nearby medical facility for treatment, Hightower said.
Following the incident, the video spread among parents and students on social media. In the interest of fairness and transparency, Clark-Pleasant tapped ISP to take the investigation.
“While the short video clip posted on social media does not give a complete understanding of the situation, we realize its significance and have asked the Indiana State Police to investigate the incident,” Hightower said in an emailed statement on behalf of the school corporation.
Clark-Pleasant officials declined further interview requests with Clark-Pleasant Police Chief Chad Pryce and WCHS Principal Benji Betts, as the incident is still under investigation by ISP.
Sgt. John Perrine, an ISP spokesperson, confirmed ISP was asked to investigate but declined to answer questions while it was still ongoing.
Clark-Pleasant schools reached out to the student’s family and informed them school officials will be “totally transparent in the investigation process.”
The officer under investigation is on administrative duty until the investigation is complete, and will be given due process, Hightower said in the statement.
“The goal of the Clark-Pleasant staff is to provide a safe learning environment for all students at all times. We also work to maintain and build trust through transparency and action,” the statement continues.
This is one of a few incidents that occurred at WCHS during that same week before fall break. Two days before, on Oct. 4, another fight broke out in the same area near the buses outside, according to an email sent to parents by Betts on Oct. 4. The altercation involved multiple students and one student was injured. Students involved are facing “severe school discipline as well as possible criminal charges,” according to the email.
School officials are not sure if all the recent incidents are related at this point, Hightower said.
