CYPRESS, Texas – A Cypress Springs High School student’s mom is speaking out after an encounter involving her son and a district police officer.
The mother, who requested to remain anonymous due to online harassment, expressed her outrage after viewing video cell phone video that appeared to show her 16-year-old son being body slammed by a district officer.
“I looked at the video. I was angry. I wanted to punch the walls. That’s how angry I was, because it’s my baby,” she stated in an interview with KPRC 2′s Rilwan Balogun.
The altercation reportedly took place last week when the district police claimed that the officer’s actions were a response to the student allegedly repeatedly reaching for his partner’s gun. However, the mother disputes it. She accused the district of trying to protect the officer’s image rather than seeking the truth.
“He did not grab a gun. They are lying on my son,” she said. “They tried to protect the officer. They don’t want to look bad.”
The student, who has not returned to school since the incident, said he tried getting a mask from his assistant principal when he claims the staffer said something that offended him.
“I was trying to get my stuff... all I really know is that dude slammed me on the floor,” he said.
He denied any claim that he attempted to grab an officer’s weapon, stating instead that he was simply grabbed and slammed down.
The mother is now considering pulling her son out of the district entirely, feeling that the school has not adequately addressed the situation.
Over the weekend, a KPRC 2 viewer sent additional footage reportedly of the same officer allegedly pulling a girl’s arm down the hall.
The incident is currently under investigation, with both the student and his mother calling for accountability and transparency in handling what they describe as excessive force.
Cypress-Fairbanks Police Department Statement:
While being escorted to the office, a juvenile at Cypress Springs HS threatened and then attempted to charge at an assistant principal. One of our officers stepped between them to stop the juvenile. The officer was trying to detain the juvenile to prevent further violence. The female officer fell to the ground while attempting to assist her partner officer. The juvenile then reached around the female officer, grabbed her service weapon, and tried to remove it from its holster. The second officer (male) grabbed the juvenile and pulled him away. The juvenile continued to hold on to the gun, and the officer picked the student up and took him to the ground. In the cell phone video provided by the media, you can see the juvenile immediately get up from the ground and continue to fight with several individuals, including school staff and the officers. The incident remains under investigation.