Students Call For Independent Investigation Into Alleged 'Police Brutality' At Norristown Church Carnival
NORRISTOWN, Pa. (CBS) -- Hundreds of students raised their voices against police brutality on Monday. They say Norristown officers used excessive force when breaking up multiple fights at a church carnival over the weekend.
Now, a number of people are calling for an independent investigation.
Video of the fight appears to show an officer putting a teenage girl in a chokehold while trying to break up multiple fights between teen girls.
On Monday, dozens of students took to the streets to protest what they call police brutality. More than 100 middle school students walked in the pouring rain -- about a block from their school -- to the church where that video was recorded.
Students say the situation should not have happened.
More than 100 Stewart Middle School students marched down West Marshall Street. They were part of a school walkout in protest of what they call police brutality, after cellphone video surfaced of a teenage girl being placed in chokehold by a Norristown police officer at a church carnival.
Another teen girl was seen punching that same officer in the face before another officer body slammed her. Police initially responded Saturday night to break up a fight between two groups of teen girls.
Two days later, students marched and rallied about a block from their school to the same spot where the brawl happened at Saint Francis of Assisi Parish.
"That's not how you're supposed to put a lady under arrest, not at all," student Qwaderia Johnson said.
School adviser Yvette Madden helped the students organize the walkout.
"They said to me, 'Ms. Madden, we want to walk out. We want to walk out for the issues that transpired over the weekend, on Saturday,'" Madden said.
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Alisha Bates' daughter was the teen in the chokehold. She's among several parents now calling for an independent investigation.
"I still see it in my mind and I hear the people screaming and terror in their voice, how afraid they were," Bates said.
Several teens were arrested. All but one have been released.
Ethiopia Daley is the aunt of the one teen still in a juvenile facility.
"We just all need community support and we need the community to come together in this situation," Daley said.
The carnival is the church's biggest fundraiser every year.
