Student suffering ‘memory loss’

The 16-year-old Liberty High School student who was body slammed and knocked “unconscious” on campus by an Osceola County Sheriff ’s Office deputy last week is not well.

At a press conference Saturday, the teen’s parents said she has been experiencing headaches, memory loss, blurry vision, insomnia and depression ever since the Jan. 26 incident.

The violent takedown of Taylor Bracey by Deputy Ethan Fournier was filmed by students and quickly posted on social media. The viral clip has garnered national attention. Taylor, a junior at the school, is black. Fournier, Liberty High’s designated School Resource Officer, is white.

Authorities told Taylor’s parents that she’s also facing criminal charges related to the incident.

“She’s depressed, I’m depressed. We all are traumatized about what happened,” said Jamesha Bracey, Taylor’s mother.

She gently wept throughout the press conference, held in front of the Osceola Sheriff ’s Office administration building in Kissimmee.

It was through the video - not school officials - that the Braceys found out what happened to their daughter, they said. It shows Taylor’s body going limp after Fournier forces her to the ground and her head slams onto the sidewalk. Fournier then handcuffs the teen’s wrists behind her back as she lies motionless on the ground.

“When you watched that video and you heard her head hit that concrete floor — and that thump,” Bracey family and civil rights attorney Ben Crump said as he slammed his hand onto the lectern. “Who can say that they didn’t wonder whether that little girl was killed? Her body was limp. She was unconscious. Lifeless.”

School officials called emergency services, but never explained what happened to Taylor. Here’s how her mother described it.

The vice principal called and said Taylor had lost consciousness, but was awake and then asked if an EMT could perform and examination, according to the press conference.

Jamesha agreed and asked him what had happened. But the vice principal did not answer and passed the phone to the EMT on the scene.

The EMT told Jamesha her child did not have injuries that warranted further emergency medical treatment nor transport to the hospital. She also asked the EMT what happened, but to no avail.

Taylor couldn’t give her mother any more details. She didn’t remember anything.

“She just woke up in the principal’s office. She didn’t know what happened,” Jamesha said. “It wasn’t until we saw the video the next day that we knew what happened.”

Crump said the footage exemplifies widespread racism in the U.S., which often manifests in police brutality against black and brown people, who are also arrested, prosecuted, convicted and incarcerated at disproportionately higher rates than whites.

Crump, who was the attorney for the families of Ahmaud Arbery, Breonna Taylor, George Floyd, and Jacob Blake, said Taylor’s treatment stands in stark contrast to the way law enforcement officers treated the thousands of mostly white rioters who violently breached the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6. Most walked away from the incident unscathed and free from arrest.

“This is the adultification of black children - that our children are seen as adults,” he added. “No, no, this was a child.”

Taylor’s symptoms reflect physical, neurological and emotional trauma, said her attorneys. Pain from the head injury and concussion. Humiliation from millions watching and sharing video of her being slammed onto concrete and handcuffed while unconscious. Fear that a current criminal investigation into possible charges against her related to the incident will lead to her arrest.

Sheriff Marcos Lopez put Fournier on paid administrative leave and said that the Florida Department of Law Enforcement was investigating the incident. The agency said the deputy’s actions were set in motion by a fight between students.

Lopez said Fournier is “innocent until proven guilty.”

During a media briefing on Jan. 27, Lopez said he has “zero tolerance for any police misconduct.”

But for “complete transparency,” he decided to turn the case over to FDLE.

“We remove this burden off us and pass it on to a higher authority to ensure than no one could say that we are looking out for one of our own,” Lopez said. “That’s what we are going to do, it’s the right step to go, it’s the right decision to make.”

Lopez wouldn’t comment if he thought Fourier was correct in his actions.

He said the student was medically treated at the scene.

Fournier has now been receiving death threats, Lopez said. He said anyone who is caught making the death threats would face criminal action.

“Zero tolerance with threatening any of our employees in Osceola County,” Lopez said.

FDLE confirmed it is looking into the case.

“Yes, at the request of the Osceola County Sheriff ’s Office, FDLE is investigating the use of force at Liberty High School. FDLE regularly conducts investigations into the actions of law enforcement. Each case is unique including this case. In this case and all others, our role is to determine the facts of what happened and a state attorney or prosecutor determines if there are law violations,” FDLE said in a statement.

FDLE officials could not state how long the investigation would take, “because every investigation is unique and there are many variables including, but not limited to, investigative steps, such as interviews and the reviewing evidence and documents.”

Crump said nothing justifies Fournier’s actions, that his use of excessive force is obvious and that pursuing criminal charges against the girl is cruel.

“(Fournier) didn’t render any aid. The first thing he did was to put handcuffs on her as if she was cattle. So we have to ask ourselves: For a people that has been dealing with the pandemic of racism for over 400 plus years, when is enough, enough?”

Crump provided reporters with a list of “demands” for local, state and federal lawmakers at the press conference. They include firing Fournier and arresting him for battery, appointing a community task force to investigate the incident and repealing a state law that requires at least one full-time cop at every school.

FDLE is asking anyone with information, or those who witnessed the use of force or who may have video, before, during or after the incident, to contact FDLE Orlando at 800-226-8521.

Editor Brian McBride contributed to the article.