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Video Captured A Deputy Body Slamming A Black Student At Lancaster High. Now, Community Groups Want Sheriffs Off Campus
Lisa Bloom, the family attorney, speaks alongside MiKayla Robinson and her mother, Neesh Robinson.
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Emily Elena Dugdale
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LAist
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Community groups are calling on Lancaster High School to sever its campus security contract with the L.A. Sheriff's Department. These demands come after a school resource deputy was captured on cell phone video on Aug. 30 body-slamming 16 year-old MiKayla Robinson, who is Black.
Robinson's family and activists gathered Wednesday to protest what they say is disproportionate force against students of color — they say that while Black students represent about 16% of the Antelope Valley High School District's student body, they're involved in half of the incidents involving campus resource officers.
Waunette Cullors is co-chair of the Cancel The Contract campaign. She says Robinson's family was left in the dark about what happened:
"Our children can be removed from the school, slammed down, beat up, and we don't even get a call. We don't even get a call!" she said.
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In a statement, the Sheriff's Department said it "is aware of a video circulating on social media platforms" and that the deputy was responding to an unspecified "criminal complaint."
"The juvenile physically resisted the detention and the School Resource Deputy used force to effect the detention and take the juvenile in to custody," the statement says. As in all use of force incidents, an in-depth review of the policy and tactics utilized during the incident is being conducted."
The school district has not yet responded to KPCC's request for comment.
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