Video: Altercation between student, 2 Fall River officers under investigation
“In any use of force incident, the totality of the circumstances must be considered and we will not rush to judgment until all facts are obtained.”
An altercation on Thursday between a student at Fall River’s Resiliency Prep Academy and two police officers, and the use of force by the police, is under investigation, the city’s police department said in a statement.A video of part of the incident, obtained by The Herald News, shows the school resource officers attempting to subdue the student. At one point, it appears an officer begins punching the student as expletives fly.Editor’s note: Video depicts violence and contains explicit language, including a racial slur.
“In any use of force incident, the totality of the circumstances must be considered and we will not rush to judgment until all facts are obtained,” the department’s statement says. “The matter will be reviewed through the chain of command and the justification of force will be determined. We cannot properly assess the incident until all evidence, video and reports are obtained.”
https://www.facebook.com/FallRiverPD/posts/2443550402329908?__xts__%5B0%5D=68.ARApkC6jvHE9y9DsFCjaV-0xAxgJkmFn8jXyXAA67ckDlwg5zj5bnMBkyfMoDIRAZHxVpkAyIpr_j0J3VY-ApSNKOI7UirMQqDtoa3_SWP02n9Trfbeg5th4pSRnoVhNsLrzuA3T_dxaIG86HZXOwpxjJRdYiXri8JAXH9vc7GBjjOk0EN5tY7J235jfOuJqGdg0YhNBI0MAxviblLFXLB9rnnresZ-sK8RfsGbosAVNbBxbxcorQJddxtE2wzs_69lv1x-3nAdqoNY99xrH8PA07xA10f5ExiszdXOlPoegOa9wAu7vI1hPQZMnJUJH7bXBawQD5NcBbRiC48p-OA&__tn__=-R
Police note that the juvenile — who was not publicly identified but is in the ninth grade, according to Fall River Superintendent Matthew Malone — will be summonsed to court, and he was released to a parent.
Sgt. J.T. Hoar told the The Herald News that the student was “unruly” and had destroyed things. The student “became assaultive” when police tried to take him out of the building, he said.
“While officers were trying to escort him out of school he became aggressive toward one of the officers,” Hoar told the newspaper.
Hoar said he didn’t think the officers’ behavior was unwarranted.
“Given the facts and circumstances that were reported to us, it does not seem that these officers acted out of policy,” he said.
The student’s father, Frank Formisano, told NECN that he believes the police “took it too far,” adding that students at the school have learning disabilities and some are on medication.
“I couldn’t believe my eyes,” he told the news station. “That these two full grown men were on top of my son punching him in the head.”
Formisano noted that his son is “no angel.”
“He wouldn’t be in that school if he was an angel but I just think, looking at that video, it was kind of brutal,” he said.
The school district is also working with police, Malone said in a statement.
“We are investigating this situation in conjunction with the Fall River Police Department as we interview witnesses, review statements, view security videos, and analyze all available associated evidence to more fully understand the entirety of this specific incident,” Malone said. “Please know that we will carefully review all applicable policies, regulations, and laws to determine if all proper and appropriate protocol was followed correctly and responsibly.”
https://www.facebook.com/frpsinfo/photos/a.10150111036610123/10161733935765123/?type=3&permPage=1
Malone told The Herald News that he found the interaction “troubling.”
“I’m the superintendent of schools and we try to do our best to work with students to de-escalate and keep them calm, and clearly we weren’t successful in this situation,” he said.
