A 25-year veteran of the Oklahoma City Police Department has been charged with misdemeanor assault and battery after an incident with a high school student earlier this month.
Master Sgt. Thomas Jaha was working as a school resource officer at U.S. Grant High School on October 9 when he confronted a 16-year-old student who was in a hallway without a pass, police said.
Jaha was charged Wednesday with one count of assault and battery. Prosecutors accused him of hitting the student, who had taken up a fighting stance after he refused to go to a gym assembly.
Capt. Paco Balderrama of the Oklahoma City Police Department told CNN affiliate KFOR: “They have the right to use physical force to protect themselves, to protect the public. In this particular case, the force was not appropriate.”
The incident was recorded by a surveillance camera.
Jaha, who spent the past three weeks on restricted duty, was suspended with pay Wednesday.
A family member told KFOR the officer handled the situation the wrong way.
“I think there’s other measures to take besides punching a kid in the eye,” the man told the station.
A spokesman for the school system, Mark Myers, said a parent took the boy to the hospital after the incident.
On its Facebook page, the police department responded to a commenter’s request to see a picture of the boy by saying it was trying to be transparent.
“We post officer-involved incidents so the public hears what happens from us first and before the media sees it,” police said. “It is our attempt to be transparent and to show the public we have nothing to hide. Does it make this incident more ‘high-profile’ because of South Carolina, of course. But that’s even more reason to be honest and transparent.”
The South Carolina reference pertains to a case at a high school in Columbia where a school resource officer was fired after an incident with a student who officials say was disrupting class while sitting at her desk.
Richland County Sheriff Leon Lott said he fired Deputy Ben Fields because he threw the student across the floor.
The former deputy’s attorney said his client acted properly.
“We believe that Mr. Fields’ actions were justified and lawful throughout the circumstances of which he was confronted during this incident,” attorney Scott Hayes said.