In the video, we do not see what happened prior to the officer slamming Essence Prince to the ground and smashing his elbow into her neck. What we do see, however, is the massive officer grab the high school sophomore and violently take her down.
The takedown and subsequent elbow and knee on the young girl's neck were enough to cause other students to try to interfere, according to Ebony Dawson, Prince's mother.
"The school attendants threw at least two more students into the wall. Those students were begging for help for her. They were telling them she can't breathe. They even suspended one saying that she interfered with a crime," Dawson said.
Dawson says that she attempted to review the surveillance footage of the incident but that the school and police have refused to allow her access.
The incident happened on Friday, March 9 around 12:00 pm. However, Dawson says she was not notified until close to three hours later. Even after the school called Dawson, they only told her she'd been suspended for fighting and not that she'd been arrested. They would call her back later to tell her Prince had been arrested.
"At 3:06 pm I received another call from Mr. Castillio, the principle I had just spoken with. He informed me that Essence was arrested. He stated if she gets a felony she will not be allowed back on campus. I was never told that she had been beaten by an officer or possibly needs medical attention. I was told that she was already downtown at Juvenile," Dawson wrote in a statement to Ashton P. Woods.
Worried about her daughter, Dawson immediately left work in an attempt to find Prince. Contrary to what she had been told, Prince was not at the juvenile facility and was actually still in the Humble ISD police department where Dawson says police questioned her daughter without consent and lied to her.
"Essence was detained and question with no consent. She asked for medical attention for several hours. Essence asked for Medical attention and help with her neck in the 12 pm hour. Essence cried for them to call me. They told her that I was at work and I said she was in trouble and I wasn't leaving work. They lied to her to stress her out. I wasn't contacted until after she had already been arrested. The lied, scared her and questioned her without my consent. After arriving at the police station I was told , I cannot see her but she is fine. I was told that they could allow Essence to call me but not to see her. I was in rage. I explained I was not leaving until I was confirmed my child was fine. I explained this is a child with Asthma and a heart murmur. I explained from this video she cannot be fine. I told them I was calling the news. They then agreed to call EMT. EMT notified me her heart was beating a little faster but seem to be fine from their knowledge. They do however have concern with her neck. She is complaining of soreness and seems to not be moving well," Dawson wrote.
For a schoolyard quarrel, Prince is now facing felony charges. According to her mother, the young girl has been charged with two felony assaults on a public servant. One of the charges, according to Dawson was related to Prince allegedly spitting at the officer. However, she says that the spitting and the other assault charge was merely a reaction from being choked because she couldn't breathe.
Adolescent quarrels are a frequent occurrence. As hormones rush in, children attempt to assert control over their environment as well as other children and the result can often manifest into a fight.
In the past, if a fight were to break out at school, the teachers, and in some cases the students, would rush in to pull the students apart. However, as the video above illustrates, this is no longer the case.
Sadly, as schools across the country rely more and more on police to force student compliance, instead of training and common sense, this scenario becomes more common.
In a single week in February, TFTP reported on two other instances of school police caught on video violently attacking children.
In one video, a massive deputy grabs a 16-year-old boy by the neck and sprays him directly in the face with pepper spray. The boy was not the one fighting.
In another video, another massive deputy grabs another 16-year-old boy and body slams him to the ground like a rag doll. The incident was so overwhelmingly disturbing that the school had to be placed on lockdown after students began to revolt.
Something has to change.
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