The family of a Florida girl is demanding that a school resource officer who murdered her 16-year-old daughter be fired for her actions, according to NBC News.
At the beginning of the week, images of an incident between Rep. Ethan Fournier and 16-year-old Taylor Bracey went viral showing Bracey stabbing Fournier outside Liberty High School in Osceola County, Florida.
Bracey’s head crashed to the ground during the encounter.
The sea of Bracey he said NBC that her daughter has had headaches, blurred vision and memory loss since the incident. “(We are) angry and want justice done,” his mother, Jamesha Bracey, said. Bracey told her mother she became unconscious and her mother said the school was unwilling to tell her what happened at first.
“The person who is supposed to protect her is the person who brutalized her,” said Ben Crump, a prominent civil rights lawyer. “This is a problem especially in the African American community because we often see them using this excessive use of force with our children.”
Crump, who has represented the families of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor, recently took over the Bracey case.
Sheriff Marcos López stated that the girl was not injured during the meeting at a press conference. “In my understanding, it was an interruption of school function,” Lopez said. “The student was not complying with legal orders. He went to look for another student.”
Crump says Lopez’s description of the facts is incorrect and that there was never a physical fight. “There was a verbal altercation. Taylor never touched anyone and then this police officer does what we see in that video, ”Crump said.
David Bigney, the officer’s lawyer, said that “Unfortunately, sometimes a situation rises to the level where force is justified and necessary” and that videos posted on the Internet like this never explain the full story.
Fournier is on paid leave as the investigation was handed over to the Florida Police Department.
The Hill has contacted Crump’s office to comment.