Don Lemon’s response to #AssaultAtSpringValleyHigh video sparks outrage

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Following Monday’s videos of a South Carolina high school student being dragged on the ground by a resource officer, CNN’s Wolf Blitzer gathered a panel to discuss the  incident on the latest episode of The Situation Room.

However, what should have only been a spirited debate quickly devolved into Don Lemon getting into a shouting match with another panelist.

Although the general consensus seems to be that the officer in the clip used excessive force, Lemon and CNN analyst Tom Fuentes were both hesitant to sign off on that assertion.

“It does look disturbing,” said Lemon. “The part that is most disturbing to me is seeing her thrown around. As far as the desk going over, I don’t know if the desk fell over because she didn’t want to get up or if he pushed it over. I don’t know. I think there’s context to everything. I would like to see what happens before and I would like to see what happened afterwards… It does look horrible. It does look like there’s no excuse for what he’s doing to her, but again, we don’t know… This only shows a small slice in time of what happened. I’d like to know more before passing judgment.”

CNN legal analyst Sunny Hostin could not believe the anchor’s dispassionate stance and incredulously responded, “Are you guys kidding me?”

“No, we’re not kidding.” Lemon pushed back. “We don’t know what happened. You weren’t sitting in the room, Sunny. You don’t know if she wasn’t standing up!”

“I don’t need to know more,” Hostin retorted.

“You do need to know more! As a prosecutor, you should want to know more.”

Not surprisingly, many took Hostin’s position and were equally appalled by Lemon’s reaction.

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