Cell phone camera footage shows an Edgewood Independent School District Police Department officer kneeling on the neck of a teenager following a fight off campus.
The video, obtained by KSAT investigates, shows the unnamed officer using the controversial knee-on-neck restraint Nov. 11, as he and another officer attempted to put handcuffs on the teen.
The incident, according to sources, took place off of Edgewood ISD property, in the parking lot of a business in the 1800 block of S. General McMullen Dr., near Kennedy High School.
Warning video contains images that may be disturbing to some viewers.
The 1:05 clip, which includes audio that cuts in and out, shows the officer and teen struggling in a grassy area near a sidewalk, before the teen assaults the officer, punching him multiple times as a second Edgewood ISD officer arrives on the scene.
The first officer is able to gain control of the teen and flips him onto his stomach. The officer then places his knee on the teen’s neck and pulls out his handcuffs.
The footage ends with the officer’s knee on the teen’s neck and with the officer still in the process of placing handcuffs on him.
The officer’s knee was placed on the teen’s neck for at least 10 seconds, the footage shows.
“They’re very violent with this child. He’s already restrained. There’s no need to be cutting off his airway or the circulation to this brain,” said Ananda Tomas, executive director of the police accountability group ACT 4 SA. “At the moment this officer puts his knee on the neck of this child, there’s two officers on top of him and he’s already restrained and that’s what matters.”
For Tomas, the footage brought back the trauma of seeing George Floyd die on camera in May 2020 while then-Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin kneeled on his neck for more than nine minutes.
Chauvin was convicted of murder and other related charges in 2021 and three other officers at the scene of Floyd’s death have since been convicted on charges related to his murder.
Edgewood ISD officials this week confirmed the date of the incident but declined to make anyone from the district available for an interview about the officer’s use of the controversial restraint maneuver.
“Edgewood ISD is aware of the incident on November 11, 2022, where EISD Police Officers responded to an altercation that took place off school district property. We are currently investigating the incident. More info will be given once the investigation is complete,” Edgewood Chief of Staff and Communications Olga Moucoulis said via email.
District officials have not named the officer, described the nature of its investigation or said whether the teen was criminally charged for the incident.
KSAT Investigates could find no record of Edgewood ISD Police Department’s policies and procedures being posted online. District officials have not said if the knee-on-neck restraint is a permitted use of force for its officers.