On Thursday, video was uploaded to YouTube of a student at Cass Tech High School being pepper sprayed by a Detroit Public Schools Police Officer during a December incident.
The video shows the young woman being pushed into a wall as she and the officer struggle over an object. The student is then pushed into a corner before the two begin fighting again. Eventually, she is carried off by another officer.
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On Friday, DPS released a 68-page report which included the officer’s version of events. The student was apparently attempting to ride the elevator with an expired pass and was asked to get off the elevator and take the stairs. When the officer arrived and asked for ID, the student ran upstairs and ran into the assistant principal, who she then “tuned out” by putting on headphones.
The officer reached to remove the headphones and says the student fell against the wall and became belligerent. The officer then told her that she would be arrested if she continued her disorderly behavior, at which point she began to kick at him and try to bite him. He warned her that she would be pepper sprayed if she continued to fight.
The officer sprayed the student once and she was subsequently taken by ambulance to the hospital to get her eyes washed out.
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The Detroit Public Schools Police Department determined “the officer followed proper procedures as outlined in the Force Continuum Policy” and the school district agreed that it was satisfied with the department’s decision.
Venus Heard, the student’s mom, says that although her daughter may have broken the rules, there was could’ve been an alternative way to handle it.
“Just write her up for being insubordinate,” Venus told ABC7. “Nobody acted or behaved as an adult should have acted. Is this how you treat your children at home? Would you pepper spray your child? Would you slam them into the wall?”
The student was subsequently suspended for 30 days from school for insubordination and assaulting the officer.
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