Florida officials are investigating after a video posted on Twitter showed a school resource officer violently taking down a female student and throwing her to the floor head-first.
Footage of the incident Tuesday at Sunlake High School in Land O’ Lakes shows the unidentified school resource officer tossing the girl to the floor while taking her into custody. The teen’s head hits the floor, causing a loud thud in front of stunned classmates in a crowded cafeteria.
“Don’t f–king give me any s–t,” the officer says while on the floor, straddling the girl’s back. “Now give me your hand.”
“My shirt’s coming off,” the girl replies.
“What the hell is going on with you guys? Huh?” the officer says. “What is going on? Is this what I got to do every f–king day?”
The girl then tells the officer that he’s hurting her, prompting him to tell her that she “probably should’ve thought about that” prior to the incident, which occurred when school staffers requested that he remove the girl from the cafeteria, according to Pasco County Sheriff’s Office.
“He then attempted to place the female student in custody and the student resisted arrest,” the sheriff’s office said in a statement announcing an investigation into the incident by its Professional Standards Unit.
“The investigation includes a review of all the facts and circumstances of the incident to include the over 8 minutes of body-worn camera video and statements by witnesses,” the statement continued. “As information continues to evolve, we want to ensure that the statements made about this incident are factual and accurate, as a result no additional information about the case is being released at this time.”
Linda Cobbe, public information officer for Pasco County Schools, said the incident is a sheriff’s office personnel matter since school resource officers are employed by the department.
“A substitute SRO is staffing Sunlake, and we will reserve comment until their investigation has concluded,” Cobbe said in an email to The Post on Wednesday.
The female student, meanwhile, is facing misdemeanor charges. Her identity was not released by the sheriff’s department, the Tampa Bay Times reports.