Two Baltimore City School police officers were charged and arrested overnight Wednesday after a viral video surfaced showing one of them repeatedly hitting a 16-year-old student.
It’s a move DeRay Mckesson, a leader of the Black Lives Matter movement who is running for mayor of Baltimore, says “is good for the city of Baltimore.”
Anthony Spence, 44, the officer who was recorded hitting the student at REACH Partnership Middle/High School on March 1 faces three charges: second-degree child abuse, second-degree assault and misconduct in office. Saverna Bias, 53, the other officer seen in the video, is charged with second-degree assault and misconduct in office.
Mckesson, 30, also co-founder of Campaign Zero, a group that aims to end police brutality, says he called for the firing of Spence when he saw the video. He’s even launched a petition calling for Spence’s firing (13,000 people have signed it).
I'm calling on Baltimore City School Police to fire the officer who assaulted a student yesterday. Sign the petition https://t.co/g9k4WLF8wM
— deray mckesson (@deray) March 2, 2016
“We know we have to take a closer look at how the police interact in our communities whether that’s around or near or in schools and in communities,” Mckesson told Yahoo Finance.
He says he is trying to foster dialogue among community members to improve the criminal justice system.
“There are principals and teachers in this city who want school police to still exist. There are so many families who don’t. And what I’m trying to do is get feedback of those communities as we think about what it means that we have safe schools in safe communities,” says Mckesson.
