The Kenosha, Wisconsin police department asked the FBI to look into a March incident where an off-duty officer held his knee on a 12-year-old girl’s neck to restrain her during a fight.
Interim chief Eric Larsen made the request because he wanted an outside agency to look at it “given the high profile attention the incident garnered,” a police spokesperson said Thursday.
The FBI did not immediately return a request for comment.
The March 4 fight was captured on surveillance video and showed Kenosha officer Shawn Guetschow intervening in the brawl and then getting into a scuffle with the girl, before falling to the ground and hitting his head on a table.
Guetschow, who was working at the school as a security guard, then pushed the girl’s head to the ground before placing his knee on her neck for about half a minute. The footage showed that Guetschow then handcuffed the girl and walked her out of the cafeteria.
The Kenosha Unified School District placed Guetschow on paid leave but he later resigned from the position, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported. In his resignation letter, he complained the school district has not supported him and that the incident has placed a heavy burden on his family.
The girl’s father, Jerrel Perez, has said he wants Guetschow to face criminal charges over the incident because he used a type of restraint that is banned for Wisconsin law enforcement. No criminal charges have been filed against Guetschow.
Source: | This article originally belongs to Nbcnews.com
