Noe Nino de Rivera injured by police while in school
In
a new report written by Jaeah Lee of
Mother Jones titled "Chokeholds, Brain Injuries, Beatings: When School Cops Go Bad," at least 28 cases of extreme police brutality in American middle and high schools are highlighted, including one death.
With the United States now averaging four people killed by our police per day, more time and attention is being given to the cause of police brutality than ever before.
Yet, another disturbing police problem has drawn far less attention: Use of force by cops in schools. According to news reports and data collected by advocacy groups, over the past five years at least 28 students have been seriously injured, and in one case shot to death, by so-called school resource officers—sworn, uniformed police assigned to provide security on K-12 campuses.
Indeed, it was only a matter of time until police officers who were violent outside of schools began imposing their violence on students inside of schools.
In Lee's report, she details incredibly disturbing cases of middle school students being choked unconscious by officers, students who were breaking up fights receiving traumatic brain injuries after being Tasered, and even a student being shot by an officer who claimed to fear for his life while pursuing a student who had been in a fight earlier that school day.
While these reports are disturbing, they aren't surprising. This past week in Troy, New York, two elementary school-aged boys were put handcuffs when police thought they matched the description for someone they were looking for in a robbery—only to let them go later.