COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) - A state representative in South Carolina says schools need to take a closer look at their use of force policies after a school resource officer used a stun gun on a teenager following a fight at a bus stop this week.
Treyvon Hampton, a sophomore at Airport High School in West Columbia, told reporters Friday that he was waiting at the school bus stop Wednesday when he got into a fight with other students.
Treyvon’s attorney, State Rep. Justin Bamberg, D-Bamberg, said a school resource officer with the Cayce Department of Public Safety ran up behind Treyvon and proceeded use the stun gun on his arm. Treyvon, 16, then fell to the ground and was injured, Bamberg said.
Treyvon said he was not able to feel his body afterward and he still has a swollen elbow, his attorney added.
Bamberg called on the school to reexamine its disciplinary procedures for students and use-of-force policies for resource officers.
A cellphone video, about a minute long, capturing part of the incident and was released by Trevyon’s attorneys. It shows the officer stunning Treyvon, who is then handcuffed after he hits the ground.
In an emailed statement Friday afternoon, a spokeswoman for the Cayce Department of Public Safety said the use of force by the officer “was both reasonable and necessary after numerous attempts to verbally and physically deescalate the altercation between the students were ignored.”
The statement said the use of the officer’s Taser was “because of the continued, active resistance of one student, who posed imminent danger both to the many students involved in the altercation itself, as well as the other students, teachers and staff in the area.”
The department said six to seven students between the ages of 15 to 17 “were engaged in a violent, physical altercation” that day. Five of the students involved were arrested and charged with misdemeanor assault and battery. The department did not say whether Treyvon was one of the five charged.
The police department did not identify the officer Friday.
Lexington County School District Two said it took the safety of its students seriously: “To that end, the district is cooperating with local law enforcement officials and conducting its own investigation into these events,” the district said in a statement.
Bamberg said he was still waiting to receive any police reports and body camera footage from the incident.
Treyvon also apologized to the school and his mother for fighting at school.
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