12-year-old girl sues off-duty Kenosha officer, school district and city arguing her rights were violated when the officer knelt on her neck for more than 20 seconds
A federal lawsuit was filed Monday towards the Kenosha Unified Faculty District, Metropolis of Kenosha and a Kenosha police officer on behalf of a 12-year-old woman and her father. The woman was seen on video being restrained in a chokehold by the off-duty officer in Lincoln Center Faculty’s cafeteria final yr.
In a 14-page grievance, the woman’s lawyer, Drew DeVinney, says officer Shawn Guetschow used “unreasonable and extreme” drive and that he “acted with malice or in reckless disregard” of the woman’s rights, when he restrained her throughout a lunch room struggle, by putting his knee on her neck for greater than 20 seconds.
Guetschow had been working part-time as a college safety guard for the college district, whereas additionally serving as a Kenosha police officer. He resigned from his position with the college district a couple of days following the incident, however in his resignation letter known as out the district for a scarcity of assist.
In a press release Tuesday, the Kenosha Police Division, confirmed that Guetschow remains to be an energetic officer with the division. Guetschow was positioned on administrative obligation pending the result of three separate investigations, nonetheless the division discovered that Guetschow didn’t violate anybody’s civil rights, nor dedicated a criminal offense, and was returned to energetic obligation final week, the assertion reads.
Concerning the lawsuit, the division select to withhold any assertion or remark concerning the matter.
DeVinney argues the college district and metropolis’s police division are additionally responsible for a scarcity of coaching and for being conscious of Guetschow’s “quick mood.”
As a result of the woman is a minor, her father, Jerrel Perez, can also be named as a plaintiff within the swimsuit.
The incident befell March 4 and was captured on surveillance footage. The video seems to indicate one other scholar method Perez’s daughter, earlier than Perez’s daughter pushes the opposite scholar and a struggle ensues.
Guetschow intervenes by pulling the opposite scholar off Perez’s daughter. Guetschow then scuffles with Perez’s daughter, earlier than falling to the bottom and putting his head on a cafeteria desk.
Guetschow then restrained Perez’s daughter by pushing her head into the bottom and putting her in a chokehold restraint, for greater than 20 seconds, utilizing his knee on the woman’s neck. The officer then handcuffs Perez’s daughter and walks her out of the cafeteria.
Based on the grievance filed by the woman’s attorneys, Perez’s daughter couldn’t breathe whereas Guetschow had his knee on her neck, she suffered each bodily and psychological trauma, and because of the incident determined to alter colleges. The woman now resides with Perez in Illinois.
“(Perez’s daughter) has (been) handled for practically a yr for the bodily and emotional accidents that she sustained. Though she is just not healed from her trauma, she is able to arise for herself,” DeVinney mentioned in a press release.
DeVinney argues that as a result of the Kenosha Police Division has off-duty insurance policies, Guetschow was topic to these whereas he labored part-time as a safety guard for the district. Town has failed to coach and correctly supervise Guetschow, the grievance states.
DeVinney mentioned his purchasers are demanding a jury trial within the civil case.
The Kenosha County District Legal professional’s Workplace declined to cost Guetschow, DeVinney mentioned, however initially charged Perez’s daughter. DeVinney mentioned there was by no means a conviction and “that case is closed.”
On the time of the incident, Kenosha police requested the FBI look into the matter, a spokesperson with the FBI wouldn’t verify the existence of an investigation, nor touch upon the matter Tuesday.
Contact Drake Bentley at (414) 391-5647 or DBentley1@gannett.com. Comply with him on Twitter at @DrakeBentleyMJS.
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This text initially appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Kenosha woman sues college district, officer who positioned knee on neck
