Three Cops Tackle High School Girl to the Ground to Get Her Cell Phone
Sam Houston High School in Texas takes its "no cell phones in class" policy seriously. The footage above shows 15-year-old, 70-lb sophomore Ixel Perez screaming and crying as three campus cops tackle her to the ground to get her phone. One of them puts his knee on the side of her head.
Fellow student Gustavo Lucio, who took the video of the arrest last week, told KHOU 11,
... The cops just tackled her down to the floor. They put her knee on her head and after that they just arrested her, took her phone. The cop just said you can't use your phone and after that, no words no nothing, just actions, grabbed her, threw her down.
It's not at all clear why the cops thought this kind of force was necessary or why they handcuffed Perez. Here's her version of events:
"I just didn't want to give up my phone," said Perez who said she was talking to her mom who suffers from medical conditions. Perez said she was trying to make sure her mom was OK.
"She asked me for the phone and I didn't want to give it to her, because I was scared. I ended up walking down the stairs trying to get away from the AP (assistant principal) and then she had already called the cops."
After that, the cops arrived and again asked her to give up her phone. She refused because she was still talking to her mom.
Perez told KHOU 11 she's going to try to transfer to another school. Sam Houston High administrators say they're "continuing their investigations" of the incident. Perez's brother Chris Cardenas told KHOU 11, "We all know it was wrong. It doesn't take three cops to take down one teenage girl, especially a 70-pound teenage girl!"
