A high school security officer has been charged after footage of him tackling a student during a fight went viral last week.
Michael Lee Soto, who works for the Donna Independent School District in Texas, was charged with official oppression and making a false police report.
Soto was one of several security officers who attempted to break up the fight, which was between at least three female students, according to krgv.com.
District officials filed the charges after conducting an internal review, which included viewing footage of the incident taken from several students’ cell phones.
Soto, who has worked at Donna ISD for seven years, has been suspended without pay.
Soto’s attorney, Orlando Jimenez, says his client was tripped as he made the arrest and that there’s alternative footage of the incident that shows it was an accident.
“The video was very clear on that, so I welcome anybody to look at that video,” Jimenez says. “It was not intention. One of the most important elements in official oppression is that he had to intend to commit this kind of misdeed on the detainee.”
The school district will not make further comments until the district attorney’s office reviews the charges.
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