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Download the app Close icon Two crossed lines forming an ‘X’. It indicates a way to close an interaction or ignore a notification. An off-duty Kenosha police officer knelt on the neck of a 12-year-old after finishing a school fight. The chokehold used was banned in 2021 after the murder of George Floyd. Officer Shawn Guetschow has resigned from his position at the school district following the incident. Loading Something is loading.An off-duty Kenosha police officer was released on surveillance video Saturday by school officials in Kenosha, Wisconsin, kneeling on the neck of a 12-year-old student.
The footage shows a fight that breaks out between two students in the Lincoln Middle School cafeteria. An adult male, first identified by the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel as Shawn Guetschow, can be seen reacting immediately to end the altercation. Guetschow, a Kenosha police officer, worked part-time as a security guard for the school.
Guetschow has a brief scuffle with one of the students before pushing her to the floor and kneeling on her neck. He is shown in the clip using the chokehold maneuver on the student for nearly 25 seconds before handcuffing her and removing her from the room.
The other student, also a woman, is led away by what appears to be another staff member.
The use of strangleholds by police officers was banned in Wisconsin in 2021 after the George Floyd murder, except in life-threatening or self-defense cases.
The girl’s father, Jerrel Perez, told The New York Post that his daughter is seeing a neurologist after the March 4 incident. Perez is calling for criminal charges against Guetschow for using the banned coercive measure against his daughter.
The family’s attorney, Drew DeVinney, said the agent’s knee was on her neck for an “unreasonable duration,” CNN reported.
DeVinney’s office did not immediately respond to Insider’s request for comment.
“This was a cruel and heartless act of violence directed against a child and is unacceptable in our society,” DeVinney said in a statement, CNN reported.
CNN also reported that a criminal charge for disorderly conduct has been referred to court by the Kenosha Police Department for “both minors involved in the incident.”
Guetschow, who was an officer with the Kenosha Police Department for four years, according to The New York Times, worked part-time for the school district and resigned from his position at the school after the incident.
The Kenosha Police Department and Unified School District did not immediately respond to Insider’s request for comment.
The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported that Guetschow wrote a letter of resignation to Kenosha Superintendent Beth Ormseth stating, “Given the events that have taken place and the increased attention this incident at Lincoln Middle School has generated in the community, it has caused mental and emotional tensions.” (sic) on my family, and the lack of communication and/or support I have received from the district, I can no longer continue my work at the Kenosha Unified School District.”
Tanya Ruder, chief of communications for the Kenosha Unified School District, told CNN on Friday that an internal investigation has been completed, adding: “As it appears that this incident could lead to lawsuits, the district will not provide further details at this time. “
This post Kenosha cop uses illegal chokehold on 12-year-old was original published at “https://www.insider.com/kenosha-police-officer-uses-illegal-chokehold-on-12-year-old-2022-3”
