School Video Shows Off-Duty Officer Putting His Knee on a Girl’s Neck

A police officer in Kenosha, Wis., has resigned from his place as a college safety officer after video circulating on social media confirmed him restraining a 12-year-old scholar by placing his knee on her neck.

Surveillance footage launched on Friday by the Kenosha Unified College District exhibits a struggle on March 4 between two college students within the cafeteria at Lincoln Center College. Within the video, faculty district staff intervene, together with a Kenosha Police Division officer working off-duty for the varsity district. The officer, Shawn Guetschow, has been an officer with the Kenosha police for 4 years, in accordance with the division.

The video exhibits Mr. Guetschow restraining the scholar and kneeling on her neck for a minimum of 20 seconds. The woman’s identify has not been launched.

Drew DeVinney, an legal professional for the woman’s father, Jerrel Perez, mentioned that Mr. Perez took his daughter to the emergency room that night time to be evaluated for neck accidents and concussion signs. Mr. DeVinney mentioned she was present process continued remedy and neurological analysis to find out the extent of her accidents and that she was given a physician’s be aware allowing two weeks of medical go away whereas she recovers.

“She’s humiliated, she’s traumatized,” Mr. Perez mentioned at a information convention this week, including that daily, she tells him, “‘Daddy, I don’t need to go to highschool.’”

Mr. DeVinney famous that the maneuver by Mr. Guetschow mirrored the one utilized by Derek Chauvin within the homicide of George Floyd in Minneapolis in 2020.

“The officer continued to push his knee into Jerrel’s daughter’s neck as she instructed him she couldn’t breathe,” Mr. DeVinney mentioned.

This week, Mr. Guetschow resigned from his place with the varsity district, citing the “psychological and emotional pressure” it positioned on his household, and “the shortage of communication and or help I’ve acquired from the district.” The police division has not mentioned whether or not it could take motion in opposition to the officer and didn’t reply to a request for remark. Efforts to succeed in Mr. Guetschow’s police union had been unsuccessful.

In 2021, Gov. Tony Evers of Wisconsin signed a package deal of payments involving using drive, together with a invoice prohibiting using chokeholds by regulation enforcement. However even with out this laws, Mr. Guetschow’s actions represent extreme drive, Mr. DeVinney mentioned.

“I need to see this officer get charged, as a result of if it was me or one other mum or dad or any grownup that put their knee on a child, that might be abuse,” Mr. Perez mentioned. “Why does that make him any completely different?”

Mr. DeVinney mentioned that the household intends to deliver a lawsuit in opposition to Mr. Guetschow, the police division and the varsity district. The household can also be working to get the police division to dismiss a cost of disorderly conduct in opposition to the scholar.

In a press release just a few days after the incident, the division mentioned that it was “investigating the incident in its entirety whereas being cautious to not make conclusions based mostly off a small piece of knowledge shared on social media.”

The varsity district declined to remark pending doable litigation.