A Washington, D.C. officer is facing serious allegations stemming from an assault on a third grader.
The shocking incident in question reportedly took place on Thursday, March 30th. That is when a nine-year-old named Raynard came home and told his mother, Alexis Gibbs, that a Metropolitan Police officer got violent with him on school grounds. According to the child, the unidentified officer grabbed him by the neck and slammed him against a desk after an educational assembly about gangs. Raynard says the topic of the rally was the Crips and Bloods, which the officer falsely accused the children of “admiring.”
Raynard reported that he and two other students were placed in a computer room before he was slammed onto the table, and another boy’s tooth was chipped by the officer. Gibbs says her son came home with bruises on his face. Now, she is determined to get to the bottom of what happened.
“I don’t know if this was some type of ‘Scared Straight’ kind of thing, and that would even have been fine with me if I was notified. However, my son was assaulted like I said, and I was never informed,” Gibbs told ABC 7News.
What’s more upsetting is that the boy claimed the cop tried to bribe him to stay silent about the incident. Raynard said the officer offered to give him pizza in exchange for not revealing what transpired.
The day after the assault, Patterson Elementary School Principal Victorie Thomas sent a letter to parents informing them of the assembly and the incident that followed. She acknowledged that an MPD officer visiting the school held a “demonstration on a student that involved physical force.” Also, in the letter, Thomas stated that the Metropolitan Police Department and Child and Family Services are now handling an internal investigation.
The MPD has not publicly commented on the incident. It’s also unknown if the officer is still on duty during the probe.
