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People spoke at the Osceola County School Board meeting last week about the Taylor Bracey case.
Will the deputy be disciplined? Arrested? Fired? Sued?
Will the student get better? Will she be arrested? Will she go back to school?
No one can say what’s going to happen to Osceola County Sheriff’s Deputy Ethan Fournier or 16-year-old Taylor Bracey, the Liberty High School junior who he slammed onto a campus sidewalk last week. He’s Liberty’s School Resource Officer, the common term for law enforcement officers with full-time assignments at public schools.
Several videos of the Jan. 26 incident recorded by student bystanders and quickly posted on social media show the man tackling the girl, her head slamming onto the pavement and her losing consciousness. Taylor’s body is limp and facedown as Fournier, who is also on the ground at this point, handcuffs her wrists behind her back.
Even with the footage, two separate investigations into Fournier and the teenager continue. Osceola County Sheriff Marcos Lopez said the Florida Department of Law Enforcement is investigating Fournier’s actions and that he is “innocent until proven guilty.”
At a press conference last weekend, Taylor’s parents and attorneys said she faces assault and disorderly conduct charges, but did not specify which agency, the Sheriff’s Office or FDLE, is investigating the teen. They also said school officials said Taylor would not be suspended.
The girl has been physically and emotionally sick since the incident, her parents and attorneys said, describing her headaches, blurred vision, depression and feelings of humiliation.
Local Black Lives Matter activists and others advocating for police reforms are protesting Fournier’s actions and said it’s clear he used excessive force.
Some of them spoke at the Osceola County School Board meeting last week during which board members said they could not fire Fournier, but want to hear more from residents.
Board member Julius Meléndez said he has put together a task force to help draft a policy that, if approved by the board, would guide the actions of school resource officers on campus, according to the Orlando Sentinel.
The task force won’t address the details of what happened at Liberty High School, he said, but it will address an apparent need for more “color-blind” and “uniform” policing Osceola County schools.
Attorneys for Taylor and activists want legislators to repeal a state law that requires SROs at every public school in the state. It was enacted after the mass shooting at Marjorie Stoneman Douglas High School in South Florida in 2018.
“The motivation is not just the incident at Liberty High, it’s the entire Black Lives Matter movement,” Meléndez said, according to the Sentinel.
On Friday night, Solid Rock Church of God in Kissimmee, organized "See us-Hear us," a forum for youth to discuss the incident. The church’s pastor was among the activists who addressed the School Board earlier in the week.
“We are not against the police. We are against police brutality,” pastor Matthew Quainoo told the School Board. “We need to call for the immediate removal of police from our schools. Let’s do better for our dear sister Taylor Bracey.”
Meanwhile, the mother of two of Taylor’s classmates have reportedly filed for injunctions seeking protection from Taylor for their daughters.
“As she was running full force to our daughters, that’s when the officer intervened, and only at that time is when, that’s when she was taken down, and she was running at full force,” one of the moms told WKMG news.
In a Facebook post linking to the WKMG article, the Osceola County sheriff’s union said the other parents’ accounts vindicate Fournier.
“The truth will come out, and those who have vilified Deputy Fournier who is incredibly dedicated to not only his job, but the students at Liberty H.S. will have to retract their harmful and dangerous words,” the Facebook post said. “It is time parents in this generation hold their kids accountable for their actions. Stop making excuses for them, and start parenting.”
Taylor’s attorneys, parents, activists and some Liberty High students said nothing justifies Fournier’s actions and that he should be fired and charged with assault.
