Courtesy of The Daily Beast:
The San Antonio Independent School District has launched an investigation into a videotaped incident in which a school district police officer body slammed a girl to the ground. Footage shows the officer, identified as Joshua Kehm, picking up and tossing an unnamed 12-year-old female student to the pavement at Rhodes Middle School. A spokeswoman for the school said the incident began when the girl and another student were arguing. Kehm has been placed on paid administrative leave while officials probe the situation.
I am damn sick and tired of seeing videos like this where full grown men uses unnecessary levels of force to subdue children.
I work with troubled children with special needs almost every day of my life, and I would NEVER do something like this.
We have strict protocols for when and how to put our hands on a child, and police officers assigned to schools should have the same training and the same restrictions.
I hope they fire this son-of-a-bitch.
I know it's not my business but I am curious Gryphen, what exactly is your job/line of work? I thought for a long time that this blog kept you busy 24/7 fulltime. I admire your passion for both children and women's issues.
ReplyDeleteI don't reveal my occupation or place of employment for obvious reasons.
DeleteBut it is the same job I have had for almost twenty years now.
Why not?
DeleteAnonymous 7:12: Are you freaking KIDDING? Even if the Palins aren't dangerous, or pal around with dangerous people (and they already know who he is), there's whole world of crazies out there who are just looking for an excuse. It's one reason I've never used my name online. Well, that, and I don't want my employers hearing what I may say.
DeleteI worked with developmentally disabled adults some years ago, as a residential care provider. We were trained to restrain individuals who were showing physical aggression in many ways, all designed to NOT HARM them, but to restrain them(you would certainly be brought up on charges if you hurt these people, thank the skygod). 2-point takedown, 4-point takedown, etc., and these methods never involved hitting, beating, cussing or THROWING our individuals. But we were also trained to TALK to these individuals who were displaying mal behavior FIRST, which usually worked without ever having to physically restrain them. These adult special needs people had been abused as children and had little to no coping skills(that's where WE came in to help them.) Same with the 12-yr old in the above post. TALK to her. She's 12!!! What does she really know about social skills, problem solving at her age? 12!
ReplyDeleteShe just learned a horrible lesson on how to deal with conflict when she becomes an adult. Thanks, Copper!
Bet that cop is xtian. Also bet he's totally for beating the children, oops, I meant spanking the children. And when spanking looses its effectiveness, what then? Up the anty with the physical violence!
Any adult who witnessed this act of criminal abuse is just as guilty as this Very Bad cop.
The only legal way to beat a child in this country is to make sure it's your own kid, and beat them in private(snark). Doesn't this asshole know that?
I had a similar job teaching teenagers with psychiatric issues in a residential treatment center. Upon being hired, I had several days of training in proper methods of restraining kids who were out of control, and that meant "a danger to him/herself or others." Every six months every staff member had refresher training. The first step was always an attempt at de-escalation by talking to the kid. We would clear out the entire classroom of all other kids in many cases before ever getting to the point of restraining a student, if de-escalation did not work. There were many things we were not allowed to do. Anyone who did what this cop did would have been fired.
DeleteJust read that this asshole is married witha young daughter. I weep for any kids that he comes into contact with. And I bet he does beat his daughter. That poor little girl!! Oh Jesus!
ReplyDeleteI appreciate your post and hear what you're saying but at the same time there's a world of difference between spanking a child and beating a child.
ReplyDeleteNot "a world of difference," but a thin line.
DeleteTrying to mitigate your own guilt for spanking a child, are you?
I am happily child free, Tarquin. I was spanked as a child but I was never beaten. My parents wisely knew how to pick their battles and I am a better person for it.
DeleteSincerely, 4:43am
4:43, google some facts about "spanking", please.
DeleteSpanking/beating/hitting(whatever you want to call it) a child lowers IQ, promotes violence as a go-to for personal/social problem solving and very well may sexually arouse children(observe the blood flow pathways in the human buttocks/genitals especially when hit). How freaking sick is that?
How many adults 'spank' a child with a cool head? Always in anger, whether a cold anger or a hot one. Very scary to little children who do not understand.
Big people need to take care of little people.
Hitting each other is considered illegal when adulthood is reached. If an adult tried to punish another non-consenting adult with that treatment, it's an assault/battery charge and possible jail. Why should it be ok for an adult to hit a child, especially if the adult is the child's parent? If the police officer/abuser was just an ordinary joe, he'd be brought up on child abuse charges, for beating someone else's kid. He has a badge, which protects him. I bet he DOES beat his daughter. And calls it 'spanking'.
Adults have legal status, and the ability to lie convincingly to themselves and others about what they do to their kids in private. Most child-beaters call it 'spanking', too, but they won't let you see them in action, during a 'discipline session'. They know what they're doing is WRONG.
If an adult doesn't have the mentality to out-reason an unruly child and simply MUST resort to physical violence for discipline and instruction, then maybe that adult shouldn't be in charge of a child.
Go around hitting other adults when they displease ya, Spankers, and see what happens. If the 12 yr old in the video had been a short adult female being body slammed by a grown-ass man, what then? But it's ok,she's just a child(no legal status to sue) the brat had it coming, huh?
Oh, and true spanking IS a sexual fetish for consenting adults. Anything else is assault and battery and beating up on a non-consenting victim, 'cuz you're mad & more powerful than that victim.
I know of a man whose mother used to 'spank' him as a child and when that lost its scare quotient(as it always does) with her growing son, she would slap him around. Until one time, when he was 14 yrs old and he told her the next time she hit him he would hit back. That bitch never hit him again with her hand, just her words. She knew. The point is, when he was as big as she was, she knew he'd kick her ass. so she changed tactics.
Whenever I hear that tired old saw about how spanking and beating are 'different', I shudder. Both are physical violence meted out on a powerless victim by someone bigger, stronger, and who has power over that victim.
I don't even think there's a thin line to separate spanking and beating. Spanking apologists tend to beat their kids and were beaten as kids.
7:17 thanks to morons like you we have a world full of entitled little assholes, and adult babies. The animal world still knows when to set their adolescents straight without harm. Sometime kids need a straightener, it will serve them well forever.
Delete717 here responding to 855
DeleteI appreciate the moniker 'moron', thanks. So what exactly is a "straightener'? And did you 'need' one?
How does proper parenting result in "entitled assholes and adult babies"?
The simple act of NOT hitting a child can render said child an entitled asshole destined to become an adult baby?
Color my ass corrected, then!!! Parent on, 855. Like Gary Gilmore's parents, or Adrian Peterson maybe Joan Crawford.
Hey 7:17, does the animal world apply harsh corporal punishment on their young for merely going up to a peer for what seems to have been a verbal disagreement?
DeleteJust asking, because you seem to be such an expert on this
717 is a head trauma specialist and knows beyond a shadow of a doubt by skimming the post and not seeing any MRIs or ECTs that this 12 year old girl was indeed set "straight without harm" during this beat down, er, "straightening" .
DeleteRest easy folks. Nothing to see here, riiiight.
7:17, you are pitifully wrong. I did spank my child and it didn't do a bit of good. However, I'm seeing the affect on her and I bitterly regret ever having spanked her. Spanking only makes the adult feel better. It does nothing to develop self restraint or control in the child, which is what we need in all adults. Sure, fear works but only for the moment, otherwise we wouldn't need a second etc spanking. Duh! Only morons think it works.
DeletePretty awful. I would sue the school district. Big tough man, isn't he? Throwing a little girl to the ground like that!
ReplyDeleteAccording to the article, the girl was only involved in an argument with another student. Is this all it takes to be thrown to the ground and handcuffed on school premises in the United States of America?
DeleteGive someone a little authority and they will run with it. Yes, the whole incident is crazy. He could have given her a head injury.
Delete(I hope they fire this son-of-a-bitch.)
ReplyDeleteAnd he probably won't be. They will hem and haw forever, putting on desk duty, administrative something or other, till the public cools. Then the so of a bitch will be right back out there. Even if hie is fired that won't sop him from being hired onto some other force.
here's no winning here.
That video is sickening. He should be fired and the school should be sued. Poor little girl.
ReplyDeleteAgreed. My heart sank.
DeleteAll a cop has to do is say, "I was in fear for my life." It's a get-out-of-jail-free card.
ReplyDeleteI'm adamantly against the practice to have police assigned to schools. The abusive officer shouldn't have been there.
ReplyDeleteLets save some money and get rid of the cops in schools and hire nightclub bouncers. Most of them are free between 7am and 4pm to pick up some extra work. There wont be any pretense that they have special training and we wont be surprised when the kids get knocked around. Same results we are getting essentially
ReplyDeleteJesus Christ!
ReplyDeleteThe land of exceptionalism. If that beast had manhandled my daughter in that fashion, he would have to deal with my husband.
We don't have guns here...
Why is an armed man in uniform in a school to begin with? And what, exactly, did body slamming a child on her face accomplish? David Muir said the principle was id'ed in the video, after showing several instances of extreme violence on students, one body slammed in his desk, dragged, picked up in said desk, and slammed again.
ReplyDeleteThe first action should be de escalating but violence NEVER accomplishes nor fixes anything. I hope they body slam him into a jail cell for a long, long time. It's heart wrenching to watch and totally unnecessary.