© Elvia Fernández
To make matters worse, the officer yelled at Fernández when she tried to reassure the boy.
Elvia filmed the clip on her cell phone. She speculates that the boy was 10. Amidst the child's screams, Fernández tried calming him down in a mix of English and Spanish, saying, "No te muevas", "Relájate", and "Aquí estamos nosotros". In translation, she was saying: "Don't move", "Relax," and "We're here."
This apparently enraged the officer, who yelled "Stop speaking Spanish!"
Another man yells to the officer: "You're choking him".
The motionless boy screams: "Help me! Help me!"
The officer yells: "Stop fighting me!"
The boy responds, choking out the words: "I'm not fighting you!"
The Chief Communications Officer for the Santa Ana Unified School District, Deidra Powell forwarded an official statement to the OCWeekly, saying "Safety is our number one concern. We are investigating this matter involving a Santa Ana School Police Officer and a 14-year-old juvenile. We don't want to speculate on the case because it may compromise the integrity of the investigation and we want to be fair to all parties."
Watch the cellphone footage below, weigh in and SPREAD THE WORD!
When assaulted it is a normal human response to put ones hands up in defence. Police always use this to cite resistance to justify assaulting their victims. Wear a badge, wear a bullseye, and its from your own doing officers.
Perhaps striving to bring back the type of officer we all respected is best.