Public speaks out at Kenosha school board meeting after off-duty officer restrains student with knee
KENOSHA, Wis. (CBS 58/AP) -- It was a contentious night at Kenosha's school board meeting Tuesday, March 22.
People spoke out about the video showing an off-duty officer kneeling on a 12-year-old girl's neck.
It happened March 4 at Lincoln Middle School.
The video appears to show Shawn Guetschow, who was working security at the school, breaking up a fight before he was knocked to the ground in the cafeteria.
He then appears to restrain the girl by putting his knee on her neck.
"We have a girl, two girls actually, that got into a fight," said Billy Weathersby, who spoke at the meeting. "Pushing each other, taking out a staffing member, almost took out a police officer. Let's focus on that."
"I have worked with students, I have worked with students who are considered extremely dangerous," said Laura Bielefeldt, who also spoke at the meeting. "I have been trained in how to take down these students and I can take down a grown man when I am 4'11" without using any of the force that the officer used."
Jerrel Perez, the girl's father, said his daughter was hurt and is seeing a neurologist.
Perez has threatened to sue and has demanded prosecutors charge Guetschow, posting photos on Facebook of Guetschow on top of his daughter next to a photo of Chauvin restraining Floyd.
Guetschow has since resigned from his part-time security job at the school.
He is still employed as an officer for Kenosha police.
As a result of that incident, the Kenosha Unified School District will be hosting a town hall on Friday, April 1.
The organizers say they want to discuss with the community how to prevent incidents like this from happening in the future.
The meeting is open to the public and will take place at Oribiletti Center Lincoln Park at 6 p.m.