Texas School Cop Caught Body-Slamming Girl On Video Placed On Leave

A Texas school police officer who was caught on cell phone video body-slamming a 12-year-old student has been placed on administrative leave while the school district conducts an investigation.

The officer, identified as Joshua Kehm, was working at Rhodes Middle School in San Antonio when the incident happened on March 29, according to a statement form the San Antonio Independent School District.

The video, which you can see above, was published Tuesday and shows Kehm handling the girl at the school. People nearby are heard shouting, "Janissa, Janissa, chill."

Kehm eventually picks her up and slams her to the ground, and the students around her yell and check on her.

“Janissa, Janissa, you OK?” a student is heard saying. “She landed on her face.”

The girl was then put in handcuffs.

She was not identified by the school, but her mom told local media that her name is Janissa Valdez.

"I guess we're still both kind of shocked," Janissa's mother, Gloria Valdez, told mySA. "We still can't believe it happened."

The district launched an investigation Wednesday and put Kehm on administrative leave pending its outcome.

"It’s important that the investigation be done appropriately and in a timely manner," the district's statement said. "Texas state law requires an investigation to be conducted following a complaint filed against an officer, before that officer can be subject to any disciplinary action. The officer was placed on leave Wednesday morning, pending the outcome of the investigation. We are working to interview as many witnesses as possible, to ensure we take the appropriate action."

Last year in South Carolina, a school police officer was caught on video slamming a girl down who was sitting in her desk.

A statement from Advancement Project, a "multi-racial civil rights organization," said the Texas video shows that police officers should not work in schools.

"It is unconscionable for a 12-year-old student involved in a verbal altercation to be brutalized and dehumanized in this manner," the organization's co-director, Judith Browne Daniels, said in the statement.

"Once again, a video captured by a student offers a sobering reminder that we cannot entrust school police officers to intervene in school disciplinary matters that are best suited for trained educators and counselors.”

Image via YouTube