Violent conflict between police, students captured on video after parent allegedly encourages riot at high school
A high school in Alabama was the scene of a chaotic confrontation between police officers and students after a parent trespassed onto campus and allegedly encouraged students to riot, according to Athens City Schools superintendent, Trey Holladay.
WAAY 31 reports that Athens High School in Athens, Alabama, was placed on lockdown and police remained on the scene throughout the day as a precaution.
Holladay told the outlet that some parents were upset after their children were punished on Tuesday for a classroom disturbance. He did not reveal what the disturbance was but said that only one parent filed a formal complaint regarding the punishment, which they found to be too harsh.
He states that police responded to a trespassing call for the one parent who did not go through the appropriate channels to file a complaint. Holladay alleges that the parent encouraged students to riot against police officers, who were already on campus.
The violent incident was captured on video and depicted officers and students engaging in a physical confrontation. One female student is seen being hit in the head by an Athens police officer, while another lays, allegedly unconscious, on the floor between the officer’s legs before being dragged away by her peers. Holladay said during a press conference that police did not report anyone unconscious. According to one student's Facebook post, four students were taken into custody. The parent who was trespassing has also been arrested, according to WAAY 31.
Holladay said that they are "aware of" the videos being shared on social media, as well as students’ responses and "will deal with those, too," according to AL.com.
Athens police chief Floyd Johnson said that an investigation into the incident is underway, according to the outlet. "We’re going to do a full investigation to get to the bottom of what happened. We probably won’t have answers to everybody’s questions today, but we’ll investigate everything.”
Both Holladay and chief Johnson did not immediately respond to Yahoo Lifestyle’s requests for comment. Yahoo attempted to contact a student involved in the altercation and did not hear back in time for publication.
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