— In Georgia, the United States District Court ruled that, “the fact that a (student) is injured during (a) confrontation with police does not necessarily mean that the injuries resulted from an unconstitutional use of excessive force.” This ruling granted the motion to dismiss a case brought by a student who alleged excessive force by a police officer who, while braking up a fight between two female high school students, briefly applied pressure to the neck of a student who was fiercely resisting. The court also held that “the (the student’s) resistance included cursing and striking (the officer) (not just wriggling to get away), and (the officer) even had to get medical attention after the encounter.” The court placed special emphasis on the facts that, “the officer, never put his hands or arms around (the student’s) neck (no choke hold), (the student) did not express discomfort at the time (no breathing complaints), she instead told (the officer) she was fine, nothing suggests she experienced any aftereffects (no pain or neck brace).” Grandy v Huenke
— In New York, the Lewis County Board of Legislators have revised the school safety plan to increase the presence of its officers. Under the revised contract, the officers will be present the entirety of the school year — including for summer school. The officials stated that, “(a) 12-month model gives us the coverage during the summer months where schools have really started to have a lot of activity which has changed over the years…Ultimately our goal is to try to have an SRO any time there’s a large number of students on campus.”
— In Kentucky, the legislative Joint Committee on Education is asking the Kentucky Department of Education and the Kentucky Center for School Safety to place special emphasis on school infrastructure, exterior doors, and controlled access to buildings. Under the School Safety and Resiliency Act, the legislature has appropriated a total of more than $230 million for school safety. State School Security Marshals are making assessments of all schools, reporting deficiencies to the Kentucky Center for School Safety.
— In Kansas, the Johnson County prosecutor ruled that the school resource officer, who shot a student who brought a gun to campus, will not face charges. The prosecutor closed the investigation after making the following findings:
“The Olathe School Resource Officer believed that he was going to die when (the student) drew a handgun and began firing at him. He watched the muzzle flashes and felt the bullets impact his body. This was a sudden burst of deadly violence without provocation. Objectively, the facts support this belief. The female assistant principal told investigators that (the student) drew and shot his gun before the SRO could respond. The SRO was shot four times resulting in three gunshot wounds. This was clearly a deadly force situation. Under all the appropriate legal statutes and cases as cited above, it was reasonable for the officer to use deadly force against (the student).”
Prior to the shooting, an unidentified student notified school staff that the shooter had been bringing a gun to school. Two assistant principals went to the student’s classroom and pulled him out, asking him to bring his backpack with him. While the three were sitting down in an assistant principal’s office, administrators asked to search Elmore’s backpack, according to investigators. The student refused to allow his backpack to be searched.