Deputy fires Taser at student who hit him in face at school

By Associated Press AP

PUBLISHED 3:32 PM ET Jan. 28, 2021

EUSTIS, Fla. (AP) — A male school resource officer fired a Taser at a female student in a high school cafeteria after she struck him in the face while he tried to break up a fight in the second viral video this week to show a confrontation between a central Florida student and a deputy.

The Lake County Sheriff's Office deputy was attempting to break up a fight between two students in the cafeteria at Eustis High School 9th Grade Center on Tuesday when one of the students punched him in the face several times and kneed him in the side, according to a sheriff's office report.

While attempting to restrain the student, the deputy wrestled the student to the ground, but he was unable to get control over her. She hit and kneed him and then broke free, according to a video provided by the sheriff's office.

With both of them on their feet, the deputy issued a warning and then fired his Taser. The student collapsed to the ground, according to the video.

Paramedics were called to check out the student and remove the Taser probes, and she was taken to the Lake County Jail. She was then released on home detention to her aunt's custody, according to the sheriff's office report.

The student is facing charges of battery on a law enforcement officer and resisting arrest with violence.

Lt. John Herrell, a spokesman for the sheriff's office, said Thursday that the incident has been reviewed “and our deputy’s actions were deemed lawful and within agency policy."

In the incident report, the deputy said the student, once she had calmed down, told him that she had blacked out and let her anger take over her without realizing what she was doing. The student “asked if my face hurt and apologized because she felt I was a good officer and for that reason she was upset with herself," the officer said in the report.

Earlier this week, the Florida Department of Law Enforcement opened an investigation into the body slam by a school resource officer on a female high school student who appears to lose consciousness after her head hits the concrete at Liberty High School in Kissimmee, Florida. The deputy in that case was put on paid administrative leave pending the outcome of the investigation.

Both schools are in the metro Orlando area.