Massive Brawl Breaks Out At High School, Student Who Records Is Told To Delete Video By Staff, Police Are Called And She Is Arrested

When a fight erupted in the courtyard of Palm View K-8 School in September, one 12-year-old student took out her cellphone and recorded video of the melee.

School administrators ended the fight. Then, they quickly shifted their attention to the girl, demanding she delete the video and give up her phone.

The student refused, setting off a chain of events that ended with a deputy twice forcing the seventh-grader to the ground and arresting her.

George Schrenk, the sheriff’s deputy who works as a school resource officer on campus, captured about an hour of video on his body camera. Throughout the footage, Palm View staff are seen contemplating how to handle the student.

“I don’t think I want her in handcuffs, but I do want a severe consequence and I want her off my campus,” Principal Kaththea Johnson said in the body camera footage.

Mary Dietrick, a counselor at Palm View K-8 in Palmetto, later said the school should use the girl “as an example.”

School staff repeatedly said they wanted the video deleted from the girl’s phone, alleging the student committed a crime by recording school employees as they broke up the fight — a statement refuted by experts and the county sheriff.

One school employee, standing off camera, is later heard expressing concern that the video would end up on social media.

Principal Johnson also said the student evaded school employees and pushed the deputy when they tried to confiscate her phone and stop her from moving around the campus.

In response, the girl’s mother said her daughter felt cornered and overwhelmed by the school leaders and the deputy. After the school fight, they isolated the girl in an empty classroom for about an hour, rushing toward her whenever she appeared to touch her phone.

It was in that room where the girl became agitated and tried to push past the deputy and the assistant principal, Michelle Clark, after they repeatedly stood in front of her and demanded her phone. And it was in that room where the deputy twice forced the student to the ground, charging her with battery on a law enforcement officer, battery on a school employee and resisting arrest.