Video shows Florida security guard grabbing student and flinging him to the ground for refusing to give up phone
POMPANO BEACH, FLORIDA: A security guard at a school in Florida was fired and arrested after a surveillance video showed him grabbing a student and throwing him to the ground, according to reports. The guard, named Alie Joseph now faces three misdemeanor charges after he was accused of using excessive force on the student.
Joseph worked as a security guard at the Youth Under Construction Youth Center, a private school for at-risk youth in Pompano Beach, Florida, on North Powerline Road, until last Thursday, according to Delvin King, the school's principal. King told WPLG Local 10 on the incident, "It was a total shock to me because they know that that’s not my protocol." He continued, "I don’t allow for employees to physically abuse my students because I treat each and every student at my school as my child." Students who were in the room told WPLG that while the classmate in the video could be a troublemaker and a class clown, they were surprised by what happened.
According to King, the incident started because the student was not wearing the school uniform and was placed in internal suspension. King's investigation of the incident revealed that the student – whose name has been redacted from official documents and has not been identified – refused to give up his cellphone to Joseph. When the student dropped the phone on the floor, Joseph grabbed the student by the arm and pulled the student out of the seat before throwing him to the ground. Joseph then dragged him out of the room into King's office, where Joseph knocked the student on to the ground. King, who witnessed part of the encounter, then called the Broward Sheriff's office.
Joseph was charged with two counts of battery and openly carrying a weapon without a license, which are all misdemeanors according to official records. He was released from the Broward County Jail on a $1,000 bond. According to Sun-Sentinel, King was so disturbed by the incident that he canceled his school's contract with the company that employed Joseph, State Line Protection Services.
King told the publication, "I just couldn’t believe that someone, especially that’s in our culture, in Black culture, would treat our students like animals." He continued, "This is nothing I stand for at the youth center. This is nothing I would allow.” He also said that Joseph had had no previous complaints against him. King also said he retrained his staff on de-escalation techniques to prevent this from happening again.
Sun-Sentinel also reports that a man who identified himself as the owner of State Line Protection Services but declined to give his name said that the video did not show the entire encounter. The man said that the student got physical with the guard in the hallway before they were seen on camera. The man declined to comment further, wanting to wait until the investigation into the incident was complete. However, the student in question told deputies that the earlier encounter was provoked by Joseph when he grabbed him in the classroom.