Banning police look for suspect in assault of officer at football game
Police continue search for suspect accused of assaulting a school resource officer during a football game at Banning High School.
The incident happened during Friday’s game against Shadow Hills High School. The officer was originally called in by school security to remove a 17-year-old that was allegedly instigating a disturbance between several patrons in the stands.
According to a news release by Banning police, the 17-year-old disregarded the officer’s commands to leave. The officer then attempted to arrest the 17-year-old but he resisted and grabbed the officer from around his waist and threw the officer to the ground, where the officer sustained serious injuries. Some students say they’re uneasy after the incident happened.
“It’s kind of scary ’cause you can’t trust people, or what they can do to you, if it’s harming you. It was a cop that happened, imagine with a student or one of our friends,” said a senior student, Shantel Hernandez, Wednesday night.
Police said several people came to the aid of the officer and school staff detained the 17-year-old who assaulted the officer. More officers arrived a short time later and the 17-year-old was placed under arrest.
The officer was transported by ambulance to a local hospital with non-life threatening injuries, according to the news release. The 17-year-old was subsequently transported to the Riverside Juvenile Hall for assault on a police officer with great bodily injury.
One of the suspects friends says he supports the student’s actions.
“The cop pulled up on him. He (the suspect) ‘aint deserve that. The cop pulled up on him. It would be different if he pulled up on the cop, but the cop pulled up on him. The cop had no reason to put his hands on him,” said a sophomore student at Banning High School, Prince Waters.
Video of the altercation revealed a second male suspect grabbing the officer by his throat while the officer laid on the ground injured and unable to protect himself.
Detectives described the suspect as a dark-skinned white male or possible light-skinned Hispanic male who was wearing a black long-sleeve shirt. When the suspect grabbed the officer by his throat, the sleeve of his shirt exposed his bare skin which revealed what appears to be a tattoo on the inside of his right wrist.
Police spoke to a third person of interest Wednesday afternoon. The subject was completely cooperative with detectives and was able to provide additional evidence in the case. After speaking with the individual and viewing additional video footage, detectives discovered he was assisting school staff in apprehending the suspect in the case. The individual was released without further incident.
“I hope that all of our games, win or lose, we all have fun, we come home safe and everyone just has a great time,” said Hernandez.
Watch: Students react to assault on officer at Banning High School football game
Banning police are asking for individuals with any additional video footage of the incident to contact the Police Department. Banning police are in possession of several videos, however, due to the quality of the videos, it has made it difficult to get a clear video of the whole event. You can contact Banning police at 951-922-3170.
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