Who is Taylor Bracey? Black girl body-slammed by cop in Florida high school suffers depression and memory loss
KISSIMMEE, FLORIDA: A Black teenage girl who was body-slammed by a police officer before being handcuffed in a Florida high school is reportedly suffering memory loss. UNILAD reported that Taylor Bracey was allegedly manhandled by a school resource officer, deputy Ethan Fournier, last week. Her mother, Jamesha, has now said that the 16-year-old -- a student at Liberty High School in Kissimmee -- is experiencing memory loss, headaches, blurry vision, and sleep deprivation due to the incident. Some reports stated that Fournier was stopping a fight involving Bracey, but the girl’s family has refuted such claims. After the incident, the officer was placed on administrative leave while a probe into the case continues. The mother of Taylor told WESH 2 over the weekend: “She [has been] very depressed since this happened. She’s not herself. She’s not Taylor. She is having trouble sleeping, and she’s having a problem remembering. […] We just wanted justice to be served and for [Fournier] to be charged – to be held accountable for what he’s done.”
It has been said that after the incident, Taylor went unconscious, but Osceola County Sheriff Marco Lopez said at a press conference that none of the parties involved suffered any serious injuries. At the time, Lopez also stated that Fournier, who has been working with the department for a decade, “does not have a history of misconduct”. “We… have made the decision to turn this investigation over as criminal to the Department of Florida Law Enforcement. We’re going to allow them to take over this investigation and work with our state attorney’s office to make sure this is completely independent of our agency… complete transparency,” the sheriff added. The Florida Department of Law Enforcement also issued a statement that read, “We are investigating […] It’s a use of force case. That’s all the information we’re releasing at this time.”
Meanwhile, attorney Benjamin Crump representing Taylor and her family said, “I am just angry that a trained professional, adult man feels that he has the right to pick up and slam a young Black girl. He is supposed to use the minimum force necessary. They don’t do this to other people’s children. Why do they feel like it’s okay to do it to our children?” Crump, who is known to represent the families of Trayvon Martin, Ahmaud Arbery, Breonna Taylor, George Floyd, and Jacob Blake, told CBS News, “We demand that this officer be terminated because this is unacceptable that you can do this to our children and not be held accountable. And we also want him to be charged with aggravated assault and battery on a child because Taylor was a child, he was a grown man."
The BRUTALITY of an @OsceolaSheriff deputy body-slamming a student at Liberty HS in Kissimmee FL, hit so hard on concrete she likely lost consciousness! This was NOT a “minimal amount of force necessary” as dictated by the Dept’s use of force policy! We must demand justice! pic.twitter.com/zm8cwQb2gZ
— Ben Crump (@AttorneyCrump) January 27, 2021
The lawyer also posted the video of the incident on his Twitter page, where he wrote, “The BRUTALITY of an @OsceolaSheriff deputy body-slamming a student at Liberty HS in Kissimmee FL, hit so hard on concrete she likely lost consciousness! This was NOT a “minimal amount of force necessary” as dictated by the Dept’s use of force policy! We must demand justice!” While Osceola School District spokesperson Dana Schafer said in a statement, “It has been a difficult week for Liberty High students and staff. The entire staff and administration of Liberty High School remain committed to ensuring that we have a safe and positive learning environment for all students."