Fall River Police Officers use of force on student under investigation

Fall River Police have issued the following statement concerning an incident involving officers and a student.

On Thursday May 2, 2019, Two Fall River Police Officers assigned to the School Resource Unit working at the Resiliency Prep Academy were involved in an incident with a juvenile student. The incident remains under investigation as it pertains to the Officers’ use of force during the incident. We are aware of a short video that was taken of part of the incident and it will be reviewed as part of the investigation.

In any use of force incident, the totality of the circumstances must be considered and we will not rush to judgment until all facts are obtained. The matter will be reviewed through the chain of command and the justification of force will be determined. We cannot properly assess the incident until all evidence, video and reports are obtained.

At this time, we are working with the Fall River School Department in obtaining video surveillance footage and investigating the matter thoroughly. We can confirm that the juvenile will be summonsed to court as a result of the incident and that he was released to the custody of his parent. The partnership between the Fall River Public Schools and the Fall River Police Department is a long standing one and we both put the safety of the students and staff as the highest priority.