Family of Florida girl body-slammed by school officer demands his firing

The family of a Florida girl is demanding that a school resource officer who body-slammed their 16-year-old daughter is fired for his actions, according to NBC News.

Earlier in the week, footage of an incident between deputy Ethan Fournier and 16-year-old Taylor Bracey went viral showing Fournier body-slamming Bracey to the floor outside Liberty High School in Osceola County, Fla.

Bracey’s head slammed off the floor during the encounter. 

Bracey’s mother told NBC that her daughter has had headaches, blurry vision, and memory loss since the incident. “(We’re) just angry and want justice to be served,” her mother, Jamesha Bracey, said. Bracey told her mother that she was knocked unconscious and her mother said the school was unwilling to tell her what happened at first. 

“The person who’s supposed to protect her is the person who brutalized her,” said prominent civil rights attorney Ben Crump. “This is an issue especially in the African-American community because oftentimes we see them using this excessive use of force with our children.”

Crump, who has represented George Floyd and Breonna Taylor’s families, has recently taken on Bracey’s case.

Sheriff Marcos Lopez claimed that the girl was not injured during the encounter in a press conference. “From my understanding, it was a disruption of a school function,” Lopez said. “The student was not complying with lawful commands. She went after another student.”

Crump says Lopez’s description of the events are wrong and that a physical fight never occurred. “There was a verbal altercation. Taylor never touched anybody and then this police officer does what we see on that video,” Crump said.

David Bigney, the attorney for the officer, said that “Unfortunately sometimes a situation rises to the level where force is justified and necessary” and that videos that get on the internet like this never tell the full story.

Fournier is on paid leave as the investigation was handed over to the Florida Department of Law Enforcement. 

The Hill has reached out to Crump’s office for comment.