On Wednesday, two officers recorded on video assaulting a teen surprisingly walked out of jail, with their court trial pending on the counts of assault and misconduct after their violent confrontation with the student. Both Baltimore City School Police officers turned themselves in Tuesday night but got released the day after on bond.
Unfortunately for this misbehaved police officers, another teenager got the whole event on camera. The video shows two Baltimore City School Police officers harassing a young student while one began slapping and kicking the teenager the other one just stood by and watched.
The offenders were identified as Anthony Spence, age 44 and 53’year old Saverna Bias. They will soon appear in front of the court charged with second-degree assault and misconduct in office. In addition, Spence will also face court on a second-degree child abuse count, considered a felony.
Saverna supposedly told her fellow officer, Spence to use force against the teen, according to police. A witness of the events happened on Baltimore’s public school claims Saverna said to Spence: “you need to smack him because he’s got too much mouth,” as local authorities said.
It’s worth noticing that both officers have been suspended from duty, and Anthony Spence is being denied pay since he faces a felony charge. Before the officers walked out, a school board meeting took place on Tuesday night, where several concerns from both students and their parents were discussed in a heated argument about the school’s safety measures.
Increased concerns on who’s watching over students
Some staff faculty and concerned parents argue whether is safer for students to have such monitored environment by officials since the video shows cops can be aggressive too. It’s important for the student’s wellbeing that all police officers assigned in schools pass through proper background checks and psychological tests in order to determine if they’re capable of handle students.
The school is also taking heat over the officer’s abuse of a Baltimore student as court records show this isn’t the first time Anthony Spence is involved in violent acts while on duty. In fact, he was fired from the force after he was involved in the unnecessary violent arrest of a man in 2002, which resulted to be falsely identified and was actually innocent.
Impressively enough, officer Bias was also charged with second-degree assault a few years ago for a domestic dispute. For this reality, all police officers should go through these steps before he or she is given authority, and a gun. As the school police department is conducting an internal investigation, the Baltimore state’s attorney office now handles the criminal case.
Source: The Baltimore Sun