A police officer in North Carolina has been placed on administrative leave after a video of him slamming a female student from Rolesville High School has gone viral. The investigation on the matter has started.
The officer was identified as Officer Ruben De Los Santos. In the video posted on Twitter on Tuesday, which lasted for nine seconds, he was seen lifting a female student into the air then dropping her to the ground. He also took her away from a group of students at the aforementioned high school.
The News & Observer reported that De Los Santos is the school resource officer assigned to the high school. Rolesville Police Chief Bobby Langston said in a statement that he asked the State Bureau of Investigation to look into the matter.
According to CBS News, the Wake County Public Schools said in a statement that they are aware of the video but could not comment on the matter since they are investigating the incident. They are working with Rolesville Police regarding the investigation.
A witness claimed that a fight took place before the officer slammed the female student. The girl who was slammed was said to be trying to break up the fight as one of the females involved in the earlier scuffle is her sister. This information has yet to be confirmed.
Other witnesses are saying that the cop came out of nowhere and the girl slammed to the ground did nothing to provoke the cop. It is unclear if the cop knew about the earlier fight.
Rolesville High School students took to Twitter to demand answers about the incident. They also called the incident a disturbing use of force. The American Civil Liberties Union of North Carolina also said that they are investigating as they were very disturbed with what they saw, noting that such use of force is not justified, especially when children in schools are involved.
