On May 20th, at approximately 12:34 p.m., a Fairfield Police Officer assisting as a School Resource Officer at Fairfield High School responded to a physical altercation involving multiple students on campus. During the altercation, a student physically fought a school official who was attempting to break up the fight. The officer immediately requested emergency assistance while he was attempting to stop the fight. The officer observed one involved student attempting to retrieve an item from a backpack during the fight. The officer believed the student was retrieving a weapon and immediately confiscated two backpacks and provided them to school staff, who secured the backpacks in the school office.
The officer then escorted one of the students involved in the fight to the school office. A large crowd followed the officer, including several students who were actively trying to fight the student the officer had detained. Once the officer placed the student in the office, he contacted a second student who was continuing to try to fight. The student refused to listen to the officer and ran into a large group of students, where additional physical fights were occurring.
The officer was able to locate the second student and attempted to detain him. The suspect hit the officer to avoid being detained. The officer grabbed the second student’s arms and escorted him towards the school office. During this time, the second student continued to pull away from the officer. At this time, additional officers arrived at the school to assist. The second student then quickly pulled away from the officer and turned towards the officer. As the second student was displaying aggressive behaviors and had already struck the officer, the officer performed a takedown technique to place the second student on the ground. As officers worked together to control his movements, the second student continued to resist being placed in handcuffs.
The second student placed his hands over his head and covered his face. An officer grabbed his wrist and tried to place his hand behind his back. The second student tensed his arms, and the officer was unable to overcome his resistance. The officer administered a distraction strike to the second student’s hands. The officer tried again to pull his arm behind his back but was still not able to overcome his resistance. The officer applied additional distraction strikes, which resulted in the second student complying and placing his hands behind his back. The second student was subsequently arrested.
During this encounter, a large group of students were surrounding the officers attempting to arrest the second suspect. Several students tried to push past two additional officers who were preventing anyone from fighting the second student. At this time, the first student who was detained in the school office ran out of the office and back to the area where the officers and second suspect were. Officers observed school staff attempting to physically control the first student and assisted by arresting the first student. Both students were arrested for causing a disturbance on a school campus and resisting arrest.
Officers located sharp objects, including a screwdriver, in the backpacks originally confiscated during the fight. The officers and students arrested were uninjured during this incident.
The department is aware of a video circulating online of a Fairfield Police Officer using force against a student in this incident. The department is committed to transparency in this incident. Body camera videos from two officers have been released to provide context to the situation.
The first video depicted was provided as evidence to the police department of a student, identified as the second student in this incident, in a physical altercation with a school official who was trying to break up the fight.
The second video depicted is body camera footage from the officer assigned to Fairfield High School yesterday when the incident began. The footage shows the officer escorting the first student to the school office and attempting to detain the second student. The second student struck the officer and ran into a group of students to avoid being detained.
The third video depicted is body camera footage from the officer assigned to Fairfield High School yesterday when the incident began. The footage shows the officer contacting the second student, escorting him to the front area of the school, and arresting him.
The fourth video depicted is body camera footage from one of the officers responding to the school to assist with breaking up the fight and shows the arrest of the second student.
The video can be located at this link: https://vimeo.com/1194536846?fl=ip&fe=ec
If anyone has additional information regarding this incident, the information can be provided to the Fairfield Police Department at 707-428-7300.
Any media inquiries are referred contact the Fairfield Police Department Public Information Officer at [email protected].
