School resource officer in Herndon accused of falsifying police report involving a child
HERNDON, Va. (FOX 5 DC) - The NAACP and a Fairfax County family are demanding an apology from a school resource officer they say falsified a police report in an incident involving a child. The accusation stems from an altercation on a school bus last fall that was caught on camera.
The NAACP and the child’s mother say the police report does not match what they've seen on a video but Herndon's police chief is standing by the officer in question.
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FOX 5's Tisha Lewis reports the police chief is going after the NAACP and the child's mother for what the chief describes as an "agenda to remove resource officers from schools" — saying she was outraged and disgusted.
Sandra Barksdale says her son Khalief was attacked by another student on the school bus, suffered a concussion and was forced to miss school due to the attack. This happened on September 20, 2019, and police got involved on October 9.
Barksdale says initially her son was punished for the attack even though she insists video from the bus that the school showed her shows her son was not the aggressor.
Barksdale and the NAACP made their claims Tuesday morning.
A few hours later, Herndon Police Chief Maggie DeBoard addressed the media to defend her officer, though she admits she has not seen the video and did not explain why she hasn’t.
"This false narrative is distracting from the real issues that demand our attention," said DeBoard.
Barksdale told FOX 5, "Both the school administration and the school resource officer involved blamed my son for the incident, even though he was not the aggressor. I'm afraid to send my son back to the school... [the] police report does not match the video."
The NAACP's demands include the video from the bus to be released, they also want the SRO officer in question to apologize and be removed or reassigned, and ultimately, they’d like SRO officers removed from Fairfax County Public Schools, citing a disproportionate number of minority students are criminalized compared to their counterparts.
The school district says they can only release the bus video to a parent by request.
There is another video of a meeting with the child’s mother, the NAACP, and the officer in question that the chief released Tuesday evening online.
"Earlier today in a press conference hosted by NAACP of Fairfax County, Ms. Hampton alleged that a Herndon Police Officer was “openly hostile and angry” and pointed his finger in her face “in a controlled rage” during his October 15, 2019 meeting with her, Ms. Barksdale, and her son. (The press conference can be seen here: https://bit.ly/2ZnxXzj.) This video was taken from the officer’s body-worn camera footage from this meeting. The purpose of releasing this video is to refute the false allegations of unprofessional and threatening conduct by our officer.
Watch the video below: