A complaint has now been filed with the Community Police Review Board about the South Bend officer who detained a 14-year-old girl outside the downtown McDonald’s.
The complaint was filed one day after a march and protest took place in the wake of a video being released showing a South Bend police officer using force on a 14-year-old girl gained attention online.
The demonstration began at the McDonald’s on Michigan Street and continued to the County-City Building, where the South Bend Police Review Board was meeting.
The protest was organized by the South Bend chapter of Black Lives Matter and the Nu Black Power Movement. Protesters called for financial compensation for the teen’s family, an independent review of the officer’s actions, and the removal of fees to access police body camera footage.
Police said they responded to a call from McDonald’s employees reporting the teen acting aggressively over a meal order. Body camera footage showed Officer Samuel Chaput holding the girl facedown and later placing her in a police vehicle. Faces were redacted in the released footage, and police said minimal force was used and the teen reported no injuries.
At the public meeting, one attendee said, “That officer had no right. Not only should he be fired…”
Another person added, “…but he should be charged. Speaking on behalf of the young girl that was slammed to the ground by the police officer, I don’t see any world where a 14-year-old girl should be handled in that manner.”
South Bend Police Chief Scott Ruszkowski responded at a news conference, saying, “If you remember the initial video, grabbed by the backpack and slammed down, you saw it, that didn’t happen.”
The protest coincided with the Community Police Review Board meeting, a nine-member panel appointed by the South Bend Common Council to review complaints about officers. Attendees used the meeting to submit public comments and raise questions about accountability, transparency, and how officers interact with youth.
5 comments
The officer had every right to detain the girl,
The parents of the girl are to blame.
Do your job as a parent and this would have never happened
Where is the link to the full 36 minuted body cam footage? Casey described it all on Friday. The officer is totally innocent and in his body cam video he very long-suffering with the boy/girl. Plus the South Bend Tribune had a lot of factual errors in their coverage of the event.
please release the security video from inside McDonald’s
I wish the news would show footage from McDonald’s and interview the employees. Let’s see the real story about how much of a brat the girl acted like to deserve it. So easy to blame others for bad parenting
The same people whining about the treatment of this criminal also whine about crime overrunning their neighborhoods.
Cause and effect escape them completely.