VIOLENCE IN THE CLASSROOM...

Here we go again! The S. Carolina 'resource' officer was fired for his over the top response to a CHILD being "non-compliant".  People have said that there are consequences for your actions and that is precisely what has happened here.  The officer, thankfully, isn't going to be "retrained" or moved to another situation. 

There is a reason why choke holds are illegal in many states, especially for police.  It further endangers the suspect and can lead to brain injury or death.  The same can be said about throwing someone across the room.  There can also be spinal injury, which can lead to a situation, like acquired hydrocephalus.  Anything that disrupts the flow or production of the cerebral spinal fluid (csf) has the potential to cause dangerous accumulation of pressure around the brain.

I don't care if the child, any child, hit an officer.  That is a ticketable offense, not something that rises to the level of this kind of violence.  We had a situation here a few years ago where an officer used excessive force on a teenage girl who threw a shoe at him and, supposedly, said something nasty about his "mother".  That officer also body slammed the teen, only this was against a cement wall.  He was the adult--the TRAINED adult.  The same with this situation.

So this officer apparently lives with a black woman.  Big deal.  Who is to say he doesn't toss her around the house from time to time.  I think it is fair to say that he out weighs said girlfriend and if he blows up because of a backtalking teen and has a history of overreaction/excessive force, then it isn't much of a stretch to theorize that he takes those behaviors home.

There needs to be more logic applied to how everyone, from the teacher in the classroom to the Principal of the school handles these kinds of situations.  Not to mention finding good officers for resource work who aren't hotheads with bad judgement.  I've said this before, this is also about how officers are trained.  Many, fortunately not most, don't have proper regard for the damage they can do that will take a productive (or potentially productive) person and make them vegetables, or worse.

I don't care what this particular child said or did.  It didn't rise to the level of the response that was taken, by anyone.  Also, I find it disturbing that a school that knew about this resource officer's behavior condoned it and let it continue!  Parents send their kids to school for an education, not to be terrorized.