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An officer with the Kenosha Police Department is under scrutiny after widely circulated video appears to show him kneeling on a 12-year-old girl’s neck at her middle school.
Officer Shawn Guetschow was off duty during the March 4 incident, working at his part-time job as a security guard at Lincoln Middle School in Kenosha, Wis. Videos shot at the time of the incident appear to show that when two girls got into a fight in the cafeteria, Guetschow quickly intervened to break them up, entering a scuffle with one of the students. Soon, the girl was seen lying face down on the floor with the officer’s knee pressed against her neck.
After appearing to kneel on her neck for about 30 seconds, he places the girl in handcuffs and walks her out of the room.
Other students in the cafeteria captured the incident on video, which circulated social media, and on Friday, the Kenosha Unified School Districtreleased surveillance footagethat appears to corroborate the series of events.
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In 2021, responding to the murder of George Floyd at the hands of Minneapolis police, Wisconsin Senate passed a law banning police use of chokeholds unless it is a last resort. While Guetschow was off duty at the time of the cafeteria fight, some community members — including the girl’s father, Jerrel Perez — have called for criminal charges against Guetschow, arguing that the chokehold ban should still apply.
Perez has also hired a lawyer and announced his intent to sue Guetschow, the school district and the police department,according to theMilwaukee Journal Sentinel.
“Right now [my daughter is] in therapy and has to see a neurologist,” Perez said,per FOX 6. “I felt helpless as a father, I felt like I let my daughter down.”
According to CNN, the Kenosha Police Department has referred that the court charge both juveniles involved in the cafeteria fight with criminal disorderly conduct.
As of Monday, the Kenosha district attorney has not formerly charged anyone tied to the March 4 incident.
source: people.com
