A North Carolina sheriff’s deputy has been fired after video showed him grabbing a child, raising his body in the air, and slamming him on the floor of a school hallway. The video depicted the deputy, a school resource officer who officials haven't named, later dragging the boy through the hallway last week at Vance County Middle School in Henderson, which is about 50 miles north of Raleigh. A Vance County Sheriff’s Office official confirmed in a phone call Monday with a Daily Kos reporter that the deputy was terminated.
After seeing the gut-wrenching footage, activist Shaun King made a public demand on Twitter Monday for the deputy to also be arrested “immediately for felony assault of a child.” “This not only violates policy, it violates the law,” King said. The local district attorney did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Daily Kos.
Sheriff Curtis Brame told local news station WRAL Friday he was "stunned" by the video. His office reported the incident to the North Carolina State Bureau of Investigation, which is looking into the deputy's use of force, WRAL reported. "I was stunned and shocked because I have eight grandchildren, four between the ages of 8 and 13," Brame told WRAL. "To see a child that small reminded me of one of my grandchildren." The sheriff said he learned after talking to the child’s mother that he is under 12 years old, had a bump on his head, and wasn't taken to the hospital.
Both school and local officials voiced their concerns about the encounter. Aarika Sandlin, a Vance County Schools spokeswoman, told The New York Times that school officials are "deeply concerned" and working with local authorities to address this matter. Michael Waters, the local district attorney, also talked to the Times Sunday. “As a parent who watched the video, it’s very disturbing,” he said. “I don’t understand why that would have happened. But as a district attorney, I’m committed to finding the facts and the truth, and we will promptly get a determination of what happened in this case.”
Tuesday, Dec 17, 2019 · 2:49:42 PM +00:00
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Lauren Floyd
Vance County Schools announced at a press conference Monday it modified its agreement with the Vance County Sheriff's Office to allow school officials time to review its protocols and procedures in light of the incident. "We are disappointed, embarrassed and most of all, want to express our apologies to our community that this occurred,” the district said in a news release emailed to Daily Kos. “No student should ever experience this anywhere, especially not in our schools. We are better than this. This child deserved better than this."