A cellphone video circulating widely on social media shows a Greenville Police Department school resource officer lifting a female student and slamming her to the cafeteria floor at South Central High School in Winterville, North Carolina, during a fight this week. The footage has prompted online demands that Officer Scott Venable be arrested and fired, with some framing the incident in racial terms.
Greenville police say Venable, a Master Police Officer assigned to the school since at least 2019, was breaking up a fight between two female students in front of hundreds of other teens on Tuesday afternoon. After separating the girls, he issued commands to stop. One student continued fighting the other and shoved the officer, police said. Venable then used a trained takedown technique to regain control.
Both the student and the officer were injured. The student suffered a forehead gash that required stitches. Venable sustained an arm laceration and a knee contusion. Police plan to pursue charges against both students involved in the fight. No disciplinary action has been announced against Venable, and the department’s investigation is ongoing.
SRO Supervisor Sgt. Richie Williams defended the officer’s actions. “Once he got the females separated, he disengaged and gave them commands to stop,” Williams said. “Had that situation stopped right there, we could have a conversation about what took place… but when it kept escalating, then that SRO used the tool he had available at that moment to gain compliance.” Williams described the takedown as “the least amount of force he could use” given the large crowd of students present.
The student’s grandmother, Starr Joyner, called the force excessive. “There’s a difference between handling children and criminals on the street,” she said. “He chose to flip her, body slam her on the floor… she got a big gash in her head.”
The family learned of the incident from another student rather than school officials and wants SRO training reviewed. Pitt County Schools declined to comment on the specific disciplinary matter.
The video, which captures the chaotic cafeteria scene with bystanders watching, has drawn divided reactions. Some viewers argue the officer had no choice after being struck while trying to restore order in a crowded school. Others insist a different restraint method should have been used on a teenager. The central question remains whether the force was proportionate once the student continued to resist and assault the officer after the initial fight was broken up.
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