An Indianapolis Metropolitan Police officer was placed on leave Friday after a video circulating on social media appears to show him hitting an Indianapolis Public Schools student across the face.
IMPD officers were called to assist the district’s police department with a fight at Shortridge High School on Thursday afternoon, according to an IMPD news release. The officers stopped outside the school to address a situation with a parent.
The 27-second video, which is drawing attention and condemnation on social media, shows a conflict on the steps outside Shortridge as two officers tell a woman to leave.
“You want to go to jail? You want to go to jail?” an officer yells. “Let’s go.”
“For what? For protecting my child?” the woman shouts back.
The officers then move toward the woman, and a student approaches them. One of the officers appears to hit the student in the face.
For several seconds, the video becomes too shaky to be clear, and people are shouting indistinctly in the background. Then, the woman pulls the student off the ground and holds him to her chest. “No, no, no,” she says. “We are trying to leave.”
IMPD confirmed the use of force in a news release Friday and said a supervisor arrived at the scene for a preliminary investigation. The department is also conducting an internal affairs investigation.
IMPD did not release the name of the officer.
Indianapolis Public Schools confirmed in a statement the district requested assistance from the city’s police department to handle an altercation between students.
“The District has confirmed that following that altercation, there was an incident involving an IMPD officer striking an IPS student,” the statement said. “We are fully engaged in and investigating this matter, while taking every step at the building level and from central office to ensure the safety and well-being of our students.”