DAUPHIN COUNTY, Pa. — Editor's note: The above video is from Jan. 27, 2022.
A School Resource Officer (SRO) is facing a civil lawsuit after he tased a high school student while attempting to break up a fight over a year ago.
The student's father filed the lawsuit on his behalf, stating that the SRO used unreasonable force against the unarmed juvenile when he deployed his taser into the back of the retreating student during a fight that broke out during a lunch period on Jan. 26, 2022.
The Middletown Area School District said that in an attempt to get the situation under control, the high school's assistant principal and the SRO intervened due to the "escalating nature of the situation."
The new lawsuit comes approximately eight months after the Dauphin County District Attorney's Office said the the SRO's use of force was determined to not violate the Crimes Code, and that it was a "permissible use of non-lethal force to prevent the juvenile from continuing to attack another juvenile down the hall."
The new lawsuit, filed on March 2, seeks damages under the the Fourth and Fourteenth Amendments.
It points out that the juvenile was not fleeing arrest when he walked away from the SRO, the officer never gave a verbal command to stop before deploying his taser and no criminal charges were brought against the juvenile.
The lawsuit further states that the student had to be taken to the hospital to have the taser wires removed from his skin.
The plaintiff asks the court to take the following actions if ruling in their favor:
- Award traditional tort remedies such as compensatory damages against all defendants
- Award such punitive damages against the SRO
- Award prevailing party attorney's fees and costs pursuant to 42 U.S.C. § 1988(b)
- Award pre- and post-judgement interest at the lawful rate
- Order other relief that the court deems just and proper under either law or equity