Employee kneels on California student’s neck, sparking outcry from civil rights group
A campus supervisor at a California high school broke up a fight by kneeling on a Black teenager’s neck while restraining her, video shows, sparking outcry from a local civil rights group and leading to an internal inquiry.
The incident, which occurred at Valhalla High School in El Cajon, was captured on video and went viral on social media. The video shows two Black students fighting and a supervisor pushing both students to the ground. The supervisor, who is white, pressed his knee into one of the girl’s necks, pinning her to the ground, while another staffer grabbed the other girl, East County Magazine reported.
Grossmont Union High School District officials put the supervisor on paid leave pending the results of the inquiry, the Times of San Diego reported.
Grossmont Superintendent Theresa Kemper released a video statement on Sept. 2 in response to the incident acknowledging the negative connotations the incident was likely to have.
“Some students and staff are still feeling the effects of what happened,” Kemper said. “In light of the events that have taken place in America over the last two years, it’s completely understandable that students and members of our school community are upset.”
In response to the incident, local civil rights activist Tasha Williamson said that San Diego-area officials “have not learned from George Floyd,” the Times of San Diego reported.
George Floyd, 46, died while in police custody in Minnesota in May 2020 and his death sparked an avalanche of protests across the nation. He died after now-convicted Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin pressed his knee into Floyd’s neck for more than 9 minutes, as three other officers chose not to intervene.
A 17-year-old bystander took video of the incident, in which Floyd can be heard saying, “Please, please, please, I can’t breathe.”
Local civil rights groups and activists have criticized the school about the incident at Valhalla High, voicing their anger and concerns over the matter at a news conference on Tuesday.
Rev. Shane Harris, president of the People’s Association of Justice Advocates, called the incident “concerning and inappropriate,” according to East County Magazine.
“The school official is visibly larger than the girl and the force used seems to appear excessive by someone who isn’t even a police officer,” Harris said.
The NAACP’s San Diego chapter also released a statement, saying that it is “long past time for something to be done” and that the organization would take legal action if the school district didn’t change.
“Have we as a society learned nothing about excessive force?” the statement asked. “Are we still, after all this time, willing to allow reckless and dangerous amounts of force to be used by ‘peace’ officers? There have been plenty of fights (among white students) on this campus and this kind of force is not used.”
Harris and the others at the news conference, including Bishop Cornelius Bowser and former San Diego County Board of Education member Mark Powell, collectively called for the campus supervisor to be fired. The group also called for a meeting among the high school’s principal, the district’s superintendent, and the girl’s legal guardian, 10 News reported.
Both of the girls involved in the fight are in foster care, the Times of San Diego reported. The girl who was restrained by the campus supervisor has not yet returned to school, 10 News said.
“There needs to be state law that comes out of this, ensuring that no other young lady or no other young man ever has to face the fear of being George Floyd number 2,” Harris said at the conference.
School district officials said that if the investigation into the incident determines that the campus supervisor engaged in “actual misconduct,” they will take “appropriate disciplinary action, up to and including dismissal,” the Times reported.
This story was originally published September 7, 2021 at 5:05 PM.