SRO on paid administrative leave after video of student being thrown, dragged surfaces

Law enforcement authorities in Vance County told the Associated Press on Sunday that a school resource officer has been placed on paid administrative leave after school surveillance video showed him violently slamming a middle school student to the ground twice before dragging him off camera.

Posted 6:20 p.m. Dec 13, 2019 — Updated 3:47 a.m. Dec 16, 2019

Cullen Browder

, WRAL anchor/reporter

HENDERSON, N.C. — Law enforcement authorities in Vance County told the Associated Press on Sunday that a school resource officer has been placed on paid administrative leave after school surveillance video showed him violently slamming a middle school student to the ground twice before dragging him off camera.

School district officials reported the officer to authorities Thursday.

Vance County Sheriff Curtis Brame said he asked the North Carolina State Bureau of Investigation to probe the situation at Vance County Middle School,

The incident was captured on video shot inside the school.

School leaders issued a statement Friday saying, "We are aware of the incident that occurred at Vance County Middle School involving a school resource officer."

"I was stunned and shocked because I have eight grandchildren, four between the ages of 8 and 13," Sheriff Curtis Brame said Friday. "To see a child that small reminded me of one of my grandchildren."

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The video shows a student wearing a red top and the school resource officer in uniform walking toward the camera side by side. The officer stops, reaches out, lifts the student against the wall, flips the child head-down and slams the child to the floor. The officer then bends over, drags the student to a standing position and lets him drop a second time. As the video ends, the officer drags the student toward the camera. The officer appears to be dragging the student by the shirt.

Emma Williams is a grandmother of a Vance Middle sixth grader. She couldn't believe what she was seeing on the video.

"Regardless of how a kid acts, what a kid says, that person, that's a grown man, and the job you have, you gotta have standards," she said. "It's disturbing."

The school reported the incident to central office on Thursday, and then the sheriff was brought in.

Mike Waters, district attorney in Vance County, said Brame acted quickly when the video was brought to his attention. He asked for help to investigate.

"I've been able to assure the family that this is being conducted appropriately," Waters said.

Williams was concerned that she learned about this incident on social media rather than from the school.

Brame said the SRO was placed on paid leave pending an investigation. That officer had worked for the department of two years and has had no prior incidents of concern.

The child is under age 12, the sheriff said, declining to be more specific. He said the child's mother said the child had a bump on the head but wasn't hospitalized.

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