Students react to assault on officer at Banning High School football game
A Banning High School resource officer is still recovering after being thrown onto his back by a student during a football game against Shadow Hills last Friday.
According to detectives, the school resource officer was attempting to break up an altercation and detain the 17-year-old student accused of instigating it. The student was able to wrap his arm around the officer while being arrested and slam the officer down. The officer was dazed and struggled to get up. The incident was caught on camera and is leaving some students uneasy.
“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 to, imagine with a student or one of our friends,” said Shantel Hernandez, a senior at BHS.
Another student, a friend of the 17-year-old in the video, told KESQ & CBS Local 2’s Lauren Coronado that the officer is at fault.
“The cop pulled up on him. He ain’t 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 Prince Waters, a sophomore at BHS.
The student who body slammed the officer was detained and taken to the Riverside Juvenile Hall for assault on a police officer with great bodily injury.
Banning police are investigating the incident and are searching for a man seen on video putting his hands around the officer’s neck while he was still on the ground. Police say the man has a tattoo on his right wrist.
There is still no word on the extent of the officer’s injuries just that they are non-life threatening.
We reached out to the athletic director at Banning High School who said he has no comment at this time just focusing on this week’s game. The Banning Unified School District has not returned our request for a statement at this time.
Police ask that if you have any additional video of the incident you’re urged to call banning police at 951-922-3170.
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