Joint statement by American Civil Liberties Union of Texas, Texas Appleseed, and Texas Criminal Justice Coalition in response to grand jury’s failure to charge Bastrop County school resource officers
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CONTACT Deborah Fowler, Texas Appleseed, 512.757.1458 [email protected]
Tom Hargis, ACLU of Texas, 832.291.4776, [email protected]
Jennifer Carreon, Texas Criminal Justice Coalition, 512-900-0114, [email protected]
Austin, Texas – “Today’s decision makes it clear that we need more accountability for tragic incidents of this kind and more training for officers who are assigned to schools across Texas, armed with Tasers, and provided little if any instruction on de-escalation techniques that lessen the reliance on force to break up fights.
“A grand jury’s decision today declining to indict Bastrop County school resource officers on charges stemming from the Tasing last November of a Cedar Creek High School student underscores the need for policies that prevent more school children from being harmed by these and similar weapons.
“After hearing a presentation from the prosecutor, the grand jury decided not to charge the school resource officers for Tasing the student, Noe Niño de Rivera, 17, who was knocked down by the force of the weapon, hit his head and suffered permanent brain damage.
“The failure to secure an indictment does not mean there should be no accountability for this tragic event. Videotape of the incident shows the officer using a Taser on Niño de Rivera in the aftermath of a hallway fight between two girls – even though he was not involved in the fight and in fact helped to break it up before the police arrived.
“We again call on Governor Rick Perry to place a moratorium on the use of Tasers and pepper spray on Texas students. Despite several requests, the governor has yet to act on this growing problem or even provide a formal response. In the meantime, more students have been inappropriately Tased following minor incidences over the past several months. Long term, we need regulations that require schools to report on all uses of force by school resources officers.
“With the grand jury process failing to hold the officers accountable, the governor must act. The possible dangers associated with these weapons are too high to allow their use in schools. What’s more, overly punitive policing strategies, such as Taser and pepper spray use, have been shown to worsen misbehavior by alienating students and creating negative school climates that decrease school safety. Such weapons have no place in our state’s schools.”
