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Middle School fight broken-up with Taser

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Two Wolf Lake Middle School students were arrested on charges of Affray, Disrupting a School Function and Resisting an Officer With Violence. The school’s resource officer (SRO) used a “taser” device to subdue one of the students and break up the fight between the two students.

On Monday, school administrators from Wolf Lake Middle School asked for Officer Vic Barger, the SRO, to break up a fight they could not stop between a 14 and 15-year old student. He attempted to stop the fight, but was met with resistance.

Officer Barger threatened to use a taser, which caused one student to immediately stop fighting. The other student seized the opportunity and tackled the student who had stopped. Barger again tried to remove the resisting student, and then used his taser device on the student.

According to Sgt. Ed Chittenden (The Apopka Police Department Public Information Officer), the technique is called a "drive stun". It does not place probes into the subject, but delivers an electric shock to a local area, in this case the student’s upper thigh. This immediately stopped the attack and the student was brought into custody.

Both students were charged with Affray (which is defined loosely as Disturbing The Peace), and Disrupting a School Function. The student (who was drive-stunned) was additionally charged with Resisting An Officer With Violence.

Sgt. Chittenden went on to explain why an SRO would carry a taser device on a middle school campus

“They are Apopka Police, not the police of students. They perform the role of peacekeeper, mentor and provide security to students and employees. While I was an SRO at the middle school, I dealt with kidnappings, armed persons including students, violent parents, burglaries, etc. In addition, they frequently respond to serious crimes outside of the school campus when necessary. We do not want to restrict the tools we provide to keep our officers and the community safe. Lastly, it is common practice in the United States to equip SRO’s with the device; there is nothing unique with our situation here.”

Chittenden also stated that Officer Barger’s actions appear to be within applicable policy, and state law.

“As is our custom with every use of force incident, several people will review the actions to verify the best response to the force that has been used."


 

Apopka Police Department, Taser, Wolf Lake Middle School

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