Video Shows Texas Police Officer Grab Student By The Throat

Cellphone footage taken after a student fight shows the officer grabbing a 14-year-old boy then dragging him to the ground in the Round Rock High School cafeteria.

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A video recorded Thursday appears to show a Texas police officer grabbing a high school student by the throat.

The incident happened Oct. 8 at Round Rock High School, about 20 miles from Austin. According to a statement from the Round Rock Police Department, school resource officers were called to the cafeteria to break up a fight between two students. After police arrived, one of the students continued trying to fight, the police said in the statement, and "officers were forced to detain him for his safety and the safety of others."

However, in the video two officers can be seen talking with a student — identified by local media as 14-year-old Gyasi Hughes. During the conversation Hughes bumps into one of the officers, who holds onto his arm. Seconds later, the officer grabs Hughes' throat and drags him to the ground. The video was widely shared in the two days following the incident.

Austin-based KVUE identified the officer as Rigo Valles.

Hughes told KXAN he asked the officer "to leave me alone and that's the point when he grabbed me and took me down and tried to detain me."

"I was just very upset, I was amped up over the fight and wasn't really thinking," Hughes added.

His father, Kashka Hughes, has filed a report with the police department, KVUE reported, but plans to wait for the results of an investigation before deciding on potential legal options. Kashka Hughes also told KXAN he thought the officer's actions were too much.

"The police officer that was actually in this particular situation, he should have been trained well enough to know that this is a 130-pound child and that the action that was taken was totally unnecessary," he said.

Gyasi Hughes was suspended for the fight — which reportedly began over a pair of goggles — and will return to school next week.

School officials and police did not immediately respond to BuzzFeed News' request for comment Saturday. According to the police statement, the incident is under review.

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