The San Antonio school district has placed an officer on paid leave after video surfaced showing him body-slamming a 12-year-old girl.
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The officer, who has been identified as Joshua Kehm, is seen lifting Janissa Valdez, a sixth grader at Rhodes Middle School. He then whirls around and slams her to the ground. Students can be heard telling Valdez to “chill” prior to being slammed on the ground, followed by someone shouting, “Janissa, are you ok?” as she lays motionless on the ground.
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Raul Valdez III, Janissa’s father, explained that she had been bullied in school and thought she was defending herself. Janissa stated that she was just hoping to go somewhere and talk to a classmate about a problem they were having when the officer showed up.
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Janissa was suspended for three days and it’s not known whether Officer Kehm has a history of this sort of behavior. Leslie Price, a spokeswoman for the school district, told The New York Times, “The video is very disturbing and we immediately launched a formal investigation, which is being conducted by both district police and administration. We are not going to tolerate any excessive force.”
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