Video shows cop at Kenosha school kneeling on student’s neck during fight
KENOSHA, Wis. — School officials in Kenosha, Wisconsin, released surveillance footage that shows an off-duty police officer putting his knee on a 12-year-old girl’s neck to restrain her amid a lunchtime fight.
The Kenosha Unified School District released redacted footage of the March 4 fight on Friday. It shows Kenosha officer Shawn Guetschow intervening in the fight and then scuffling with the girl, before falling to the ground and hitting his head on a table.
Guetschow, who was working as a security guard at the school, then pushes the girl’s head into the ground and uses his knee on her neck for about half a minute before handcuffing her and walking her out of the cafeteria.
Jerrel Perez, the girl’s father, has called for charges against Guetschow for using a type of restraint that was banned for Wisconsin law enforcement officers last year. He said his daughter is in therapy and seeing a neurologist.
The district initially placed Guetschow on paid leave. He resigned from his part-time security job with the school on Tuesday, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported.
In his resignation letter, Guetschow complained that the school district has not supported him and that the incident has placed a heavy burden on his family.