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Lawsuit: School resource officer slams student to the floor, causing permanent brain damage [1]
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Date: 2022-10-13
He was less than 5 feet tall and weighed about 125 pounds at the time. "Parris was not fighting, threatening, insulting anyone," the attorney said.
Hofeld explained that the student had felt targeted by staff members at the school. He was sent home the day before the police encounter for refusing to lower his hoodie, and Hofeld said the day of the incident, the teacher in one of Parris’ classes had been giving him a hard time about where to sit.
“So he left the class and was walking in the hallway,” Hofeld said. "The teacher, we believe, summoned an assistant principal to deal with Parris, who was walking in the hallway."
At one point in the encounter, Hofeld said the assistant principal, Scott Dimke, escalated their interaction, grabbing Parris’ backpack then wrapping both arms around the child and shoving him into what Parris thought was a “secluded room.”
He tried to escape, but the administrator did not let him, Hofeld said. That’s when one of the assistant principals called Lauer. But before he could arrive, Dimke “attempts to jump on top of Parris with the full weight of his body while at the same time pushing him through another closed door inside the secluded area," Hofeld said.
"He ends up on top of Parris," the attorney said of the administrator.
That’s about when Lauer entered the room.
Warning: This video contains footage and photos of police brutality that may be triggering for viewers.
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Diane Morgan, Parris' grandmother, told CBS 2 when she showed up to the school, her grandson was in a wheelchair. “I got out of the truck. I entered the school. The officer approached me and informed me that ‘there was a little struggle,’” Morgan said. “‘Parris had slipped and fell and hit his head.’” That’s the story she was told.
Morgan later learned the severity of Parris’ injuries after he complained that his head hurt and the family took him to a doctor. Hofeld said the child spent several days at the hospital and when he returned home, "he was a different human being."
“He was unable to walk. His hands were folded inward. He looked pigeon-toed,” the attorney said. “He looked like a crippled person. For weeks, he had severe headaches. He was not sleeping. He was throwing up. He could barely speak.”
Hofeld also described lasting impacts of the child’s injuries. The attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder the child exhibited signs of before the police encounter worsened, and he now fears social interactions, Hofeld said. “He's afraid people are going to hit him. He's afraid of the police. He's afraid of the outside world,” the attorney said.
The family is seeking compensatory and punitive damages, accusing school officials and police of treating “a minor, nonviolent disciplinary issue as if it were a violent crime,” using “deadly and unreasonable force against a diminutive, 14-year-old student, violating his civil rights.”
In the suit, the family not only accuses Dimke and Lauer of using unreasonable force, but it also accuses the school district of failing to assess Parris for an Individualized Educational Program, which is used for students with special needs.
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Parris' family has maintained that they tried to get the child transferred to another school in the district but officials ignored their requests, leading the child to be out of school for more than a year.
The school has managed to threaten charges against the teen, Hofeld said. "It's unclear exactly what happened. It's unclear exactly what the charge was, whether it was disorderly conduct, or resisting arrest, or some other generic bogus charge like that," he said.
The family is calling for Lauer to be disciplined.
"Based on Officer Lauer's bald aggression and lack of judgment that he demonstrated when he slammed 14-year-old Parris to the floor, not only should this officer never work in another school, but he should be permanently stripped of his police powers before he kills somebody," Hofeld said.
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