A video circulating on Twitter that appears to show a police officer repeatedly striking a high school student has prompted an investigation by the Omaha, Nebraska, police department.
The 15-second video begins with what appears to be a brawl involving as many as five students, though it’s unclear how many were actually fighting. As two of the students are pulled apart, a male police officer—uniformed and armed—enters the frame. He appears to land at least four punches to the head and abdomen of one of the students before the video ends.
https://twitter.com/To_much_verm/status/677596544300806144
The 15-second snippet was posted by an unidentified student at Millard South High School on Thursday afternoon and within a few hours it had been shared by more than 1,000 other users. It does not show what began the fight or what the officer was doing right before he swung at the student.
The Twitter user who originally posted the video told the Daily Dot that they attended the school but did not shoot the video.
Local news outlets reported that the Omaha Police Department is investigating multiple “assaults” and trying to determine whether the officer’s actions were justified. The video, officials said, fails to capture the situation in its entirety, according to WOWT News.
Millard School officials could not immediately be reached for comment, but released the following statement Thursday evening:
“We are disappointed these students chose to fight. We are grateful no students or staff were seriously hurt. We see the videos you see. We have begun and will continue our investigation.”
H/T KETV | Photo via David Holt/Flickr (CC BY SA 2.0)
