Griffin officers cleared after viral video of student being tackled

Two Griffin police officers have been cleared of any wrongdoing after a video surfaced showing one of them tackling a high school student during an on-campus arrest this month.

The department launched an internal investigation after cellphone video of the Nov. 5 incident was posted to social media, AJC.com previously reported. The video appears to show two students — a boy and girl — speaking with a group of about five officers near Griffin High School’s bus ramp.

The young man can be seen being placed in handcuffs as another officer moves toward the girl, who appears to be talking on her cellphone while sitting on a brick ledge. She tells the officer she’s on the phone with her mother as he reaches out to grab her arms.

Once the officer touches her, the student stands up and can be heard screaming, “Get off of me. Don’t do that.”

The officer then appears to push her over the ledge, landing on top of her in the grass and she continues to scream. The other student, seen in the video wearing a yellow hoodie, appears to grab the officer’s shoulder in an attempt to get him off the girl before being taken to the ground by three other officers.

Both students were then taken from the school in handcuffs, district officials said.

In a statement, district spokesman Adam Pugh said the incident began when the girl cursed at Griffin High’s assistant principal at dismissal and then refused to give him her name.

“Griffin High School teachers and administrators have a reasonable expectation to receive a respectful response from students,” Pugh said. “The assistant principal was justified in speaking to the student about her actions and requesting her name. The student remained non-compliant after repeated requests for her to state her name and the assistant principal used his discretion to involve the school resource officer in the process.”

According to an incident report from the police department, the resource officer called for backup after the student refused to give him her personal information and cursed at him, too. The incident turned physical when the boy tried to prevent the officers from arresting her, police said.

“Upon the arrival of other units an attempt to arrest the female resulted in a fight,” the report said.

Credit: Facebook

Credit: Facebook

Police said the boy punched one of the officers before being taken to the ground, though the cellphone video posted to social media doesn’t show that portion of the interaction. Both students were ultimately charged with disorderly conduct, felony obstruction and disruption of a public school, authorities said, and the incident prompted internal investigations by both Griffin police and the Griffin-Spalding County School System.

“Our use of force review determined that the actions were lawful, legal and within policy,” the police department said in an emailed statement. “There will be no disciplinary action taken against either officer.”

Department spokeswoman Laurie Littlejohn said each officer at the department will be required to take de-escalation training this year.

In a statement posted to Facebook after the video surfaced, school board member Syntel Brown said he was shocked by what transpired on campus.

“While it is an ongoing investigation, the videos that are circling via social media are very disturbing and presents a grave concern,” Brown wrote in the statement that was co-signed by Zachery Holmes, the school board’s vice chairman.

“The use of excessive force from police officers has been a concern nationally,” the statement said. “We must ensure that situations like this do not occur on our grounds, especially when professionals can use de-escalation tactics from both an educational and law enforcement perspective ...”

Brown said Tuesday he intends to meet with the school board attorney and the Spalding County Solicitor-General’s Office to develop a plan aimed at keeping students who commit “low-level offenses” from being arrested and prosecuted.

“It can mean as little as a warning to the student, but can also involve referrals to counseling, school discipline, and/or programs such as restorative justice or drug treatment based on the situation and the scholar’s needs,” he wrote.

Brown hopes to discuss those plans with fellow board members at next week’s meeting.

In addition, district officials said they met with the high school’s student government groups and discussed ways to keep incidents like this from happening again. A panel discussion featuring both students and law enforcement officers has been scheduled for Dec. 15 at Griffin High’s auditorium, Pugh said.

“We hope the dialogue in this event will help communicate expectations of administrators, school resource officers and students in various situations,” he said. “The officers can share their perspective and training from the police academy and students can voice concerns, receive direct answers to questions and hopefully all stakeholders can find common ground and improve as a team.”

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