The student, who had mental and physical disabilities, began to upend desks and chairs because she was upset about a failing grade, according to an arrest report. The DeKalb County school resource officer said he arrested her because she would not calm down.
“My arms were twisted like a pretzel behind my back and I was crying and yelling my arm is hurting,” the student wrote after the April incident.
The officer, who had a history of other complaints about manhandling students, eventually resigned.
But the incident shows that the recent controversial case in Columbia, S.C., where a video showed a sheriff’s deputy flipped over a 15-year-old girl in her desk and dragged her across a classroom, touches on issues also at play in metro Atlanta schools.
In metro Atlanta, the number of officers in schools has drastically increased in the past decade, even as disciplinary incidents have fallen statewide.
It is not clear whether the decrease in incidents is a direct result of having more officers in schools. But school resource officer leaders defend their increased presence, saying an adult in school hallway discourages potential violence.
But that also means confrontations when officers step in.
During the last school year, metro Atlanta school districts investigated a total of more than two dozen complaints of excessive force. Often, officers were accused of being too rough while handcuffing or grabbing a student.
In many cases, the student’s version of events differed drastically from the officer’s. But in nearly every case, the officer was cleared of wrongdoing.
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