Parents Demand Footage After Chicago Heights Middle Schooler Dragged

CHICAGO HEIGHTS, IL — The family of a Chicago Heights Middle School student who parents say was dragged and put on the ground outside the school are prepared to take legal action to get security video of the incident, according to the family's lawyer.

In a story first reported by Patch, District 170 Superintendent Tom Amadio told reporters he is aware of a video and post regarding the alleged incident circulating on social media. In it, Chicago Heights resident and father of the student Cornelius Dawson says administrators treated his daughter in a way that was "not acceptable."

"You will be held accountable as you want us to be held accountable for our children," Dawson wrote. "You had no business putting your hands on my baby girl."

Dawson provided footage of the incident, which shows the student waving to another student on the school bus before two adults pull her arms down and drag her back towards the front of the school. Another adult appears in the frame and looks on as the girl appears to be lowered to the ground.

In a press conference, Dawson and the student's mother said both the girl and her older sister were on the bus when the bus driver turned around and brought the students back to the middle school because they were being loud and distracting.

The cell phone footage shows the girl turn and wave as she gets off the bus before being taken away, but the video is grainy. In hopes of finding a clearer picture, the Dawsons said they have been asking district officials for security footage but have not heard back.

The school's principal and vice principal have been suspended pending an internal investigation, district officials said.