Student-guard scuffle investigated
A scuffle between a student and an armed Chicago police officer working as a security guard at Westinghouse College Prep is the subject of dual investigations.
Video of the scuffle between Sharod Grafton, a 17-year-old senior, and the officer shows the officer holding a gun and shoving Grafton against a wall.
Grafton said the incident took place Tuesday afternoon shortly after school let out. The officer stopped Grafton from leaving the building through a door designated for people with disabilities that Grafton wasn’t supposed to use.
“Normally at the end of the day they don’t have an issue with us going out that door, but I moved on to the next door,” Grafton said The two then exchanged words.
“He said ‘Stop playing with me before I change your life.’ And I said ‘What do you mean you’re going to change my life?’ And he was like ‘You want to be a grown man?’ and ‘I said I am a grown man,’” Grafton said.
A scuffle ensued that was soon broken up as others got involved. Grafton was left with a sore neck and scratches.
“I don’t feel like I did anything wrong,” Grafton said. “He was thinking with his authority he could just grab me and push me and move me and I’m not a man just like him, basically looking at me like I’m a little boy.”
Chicago Public Schools spokesman Evan Moore declined to answer questions about the incident. He instead pointed to a statement the school sent to parents that emphasized student safety and said the staff member had been removed from the school as the Office of Student Protections conducts an investigation. The Chicago Police Department is also investigating the incident, a police spokesman said.
Grafton said the encounter has left him questioning whether he should feel safe at school.
Grafton was asked not to come to school Wednesday, and there was no school Thursday. He plans to return to school Friday.