Every once in a while, a video appears that serves as a sort of litmus test of one’s perspective toward police, teens, school and the use of force. The video of School Resource Officer Tyler McRae and 18-year-old high school student Tauris Sledge is one such video.
JUST IN: Body camera footage from an incident involving an SRO arresting a student at East Ridge High School has been released by the Hamilton County Sheriff's Office.
WARNING FOUL LANGUAGE: Here's a clip from the footage that's over an hour long. More: https://t.co/eP0zQopQon pic.twitter.com/n2TgxwNsM1
— WTVC NewsChannel 9 (@newschannelnine) September 22, 2022
This is the short vid. The full video is over an hour and, as one would expect, provides far greater context. It begins with the SRO entering the gym, where he was called by the school staff.
The affidavit says the school’s gym coach contacted the SRO, Tyler McRae, to assist with an aggressive student identified as Tauris Sledge.
The coach had planned for a kickball game but the affidavit says Sledge refused to participate and said he was not feeling well.
But when it was free time Sledge started playing basketball.
When the coach addressed him about this, the affidavit says Sledge “puffed out his chest” and called the coach racist and other names.
The affidavit says McRae showed up while Sledge was ‘loudly and aggressively’ arguing with the coach in front of students and other administrators.
To many, the characterization of what followed was a child being beaten and pepper sprayed because he didn’t want to play kickball. And while it may be correct that this incident began because Sledge didn’t want to play kickball, there were numerous intervening factors that changed it from being about kickball to being about Sledge’s belligerence, disrespect and refusal to do as he was asked or told.
To be clear, none of these things, Sledge’s child-like replies notwithstanding, involved the use of force so as to justify the SRO’s elevating his recalcitrant target into a forcible seizure. This was a school. This was a student. This was a student behaving badly. It’s not the first time this happened in the history of schools, and it’s been addressed in the past without teachers or administrators calling in the SRO to make their problem go away.
Two notable points here, that had there been no SRO in the school, it would have been left to the teachers and staff to deal with Sledge’s bad attitude and big mouth. That they called in the SRO to handle it is on the school’s shoulders, not the SRO’s. He became involved at their request. And he’s an SRO, not a teacher, mother or therapist. After the persuasive clout of his uniform falls short, he’s got few tools in his bag other than to seize a non-compliant student. Had the SRO let it go, let Sledge take to the bleachers after defying the teacher and him, would other students comply with his orders knowing that they can tell him to get lost and he will?
Whether the SRO should have been called in, and should have used fairly significant force in a school against a non-compliant, but non-violent, student is one issue. I’m of the view that regardless of the SRO’s lacking any other cop-tools in his bag, force was the wrong way to deal with the problem and the force employed was excessive. While the justification was not, as some see it, that Sledge didn’t want to play kickball, his resistance to the SRO’s commands, particularly in a school setting, was not an appropriate justification for force. There is a caveat, if there was some history of Sledge having used force in resisting the direction of his teachers, school staff or the SRO in the past, but since there are no facts to suggest this was the case, it cannot be assumed.
Yet, what can a school do? When I posed this question, the responses were largely unavailing.
- Call Sledge’s parents and have them come to school and deal with their child.
- Give him a failing grade, either for the day’s participation or in the class.
- Give him detention.
- Suspend or expel him.
- Take him to a place to calm down (even though that seems to be what Sledge resisted).
- Have the principal or school disciplinarian deal with him.
- Run through the ordinary panoply of school disciplinary measures, but don’t use force.
To some extent, these “solutions” rely on assumptions that the usual school disciplinary measures, and those who address and impose them, would have accomplished anything. Some would have simply let it go if there was no viable solution short of force. Would Sledge’s parents come and address their child’s conduct, or would they have either failed to show or taken their child’s side against the teacher and staff? Would an F for the day or the class have mattered to Sledge?
Given that Sledge’s reaction to the teacher was to call him racist, and his reaction to the SRO putting his hand on his arm to issue an ultimatum suggesting that Sledge would do something if the SRO failed to remove his hand at Sledge’s demand, was there any mechanism by which the situation could be diffused and de-escalated short of the teacher, staff and SRO acquiescing to Sledge?
And if so, would it have undermined school discipline and control of its students to let Sledge get his way and make the school appear impotent in dealing with a non-compliant student? And what was the impact of this disruption on the education of other students? As it turned out, they walked out of school and protested.
NEW IMAGES: East Ridge High School student Nesh Holly, who took part in this morning's protest on the football field, shared these photos with us: pic.twitter.com/LQmS62FMax
— WTVC NewsChannel 9 (@newschannelnine) September 23, 2022
Calling in the SRO certainly exacerbated the situation and made a fairly mundane school disciplinary problem into a far larger, worse and more violent encounter. That cannot be a good solution for anyone, even if you’re of the view that the SRO was right to seize an 18-year-old student in school. But what is a serious solution that doesn’t rely on the behavioral fantasies that there was some easy magic fix that would have caused Sledge to be respectful and compliant in school? Or is the best answer to shrug and let Sledge have his way because big deal? For many, it appears that this last option was preferable, but then, can schools function if they have no meaningful way to control student behavior?
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“The affidavit says McRae showed up while Sledge was ‘loudly and aggressively’ arguing with the coach in front of students and other administrators.”
This isn’t correct and it’s strange to suggest so when the body cam footage runs contrary to the statement. The SRO shows up and a discussion is had with him present before he starts arguing with the coach again.
“Given that Sledge’s reaction to the teacher was to call him racist, and his reaction to the SRO putting his hand on his arm to issue an ultimatum suggesting that Sledge would do something if the SRO failed to remove his hand at Sledge’s demand, was there any mechanism by which the situation could be diffused and de-escalated short of the teacher, staff and SRO acquiescing to Sledge?”
By the time the SRO showed up and Sledge was shooting baskets, it seemed pretty de-escalated. But then shortly thereafter the gym teacher needed to interject and start escalating again. Should they let the students do whatever they want? Probably not. Should 3-4 adults be able to control their emotions better than a high school teenager when having a discussion? I would hope so.
The only reason for the SRO to put his hand on him at that point was control. Someone already defensive is off course going to take issue with additional attempts to control. And the response by the SRO of “what the fuck are you going to do” was needless antagonizing.
Having said all this, there still probably is no good way of handling students like this. Seeing the replies to your tweet suggesting that *this* disciplinary measure will just cause him to submit and listen is pretty humorous.
Did you watch the same video as me? Well, believing is seeing, I guess.
I mean it would be nice if you could elaborate a little, but yes. I watched both the short video and the long video.
When you say “serious solution that doesn’t rely on the behavioral fantasies”, are you limiting the response to Sledge or are you referring to the greater problem of undisciplined young men in school? My comments would be different depending on the question.
The SRO is in a no-win situation.
He does nothing, things will get worst and no one will get an education. He enforces the rules, he’s a racist oppressor. No wonder police are leaving the force.
The solution is simple. Three strikes and you are expelled for the year. Let the children that want to learn, learn.
Will the expelled become collateral damage? Probably. So what. You make life choices. At 18, you can vote and join the military so you can live with the consequences of your choices.
That would indeed be a simple solution. Not a useful one, but definitely simple.
Strikes won’t matter to this kid. Suspend him right now and tell his dad he can come back when he’s prepared to participate in class.
Agree that cops in schools is a bad idea.
Gym teacher: I’m concerned about the undermining of authority.
SRO: Hold my beer.
Samuel Jackson: People skills motherfucker. Do you have them?
Give the kid an F in kickball. Let him care about it or not. If the concern after that is about reinforcing authority, they’ve done a bang up job of doing it. Comes off more like an aggrieved alpha male showdown.
The hour long video is actually short on preceding context but long on aftermath. A couple of highlights are the SRO pitching his side of the story to the kid’s dad (after pepper spraying the kid) when he shows up at about 33:00, and the kid’s complete cooperation once his dad is brought into the scene at 43:30. Somebody buy that man a drink. It seems he understands this is all going to have to be sorted out later, and he should also take everything he hears with a huge grain of salt.
Sequence matters, Pepe.
It’s a suggestion that loses relevance as things go downstream from the initial incident. But at that earlier point if the kid doesn’t care about an F it can still be the appropriate example to set for the kids who do care, and is probably less counterproductive than trying to pin him down for a debate about it. Not that an F in kickball isn’t its own kind of fantasy consequence, but then shooting hoops when you said you weren’t feeling well is a relatively low stakes offense. We could check the videos where a scenario like that was handled productively but probably won’t find them because they didn’t go viral.
You’ve misapprehended the meaning of sequence. It happens and makes me sad.
I took a wild stab. If it was about the dialogue order, Sam Jackson isn’t a participant, he’s an ironic Greek Chorus going after everybody. Pardon the mess.
You know, Peepee, the point isn’t just about the kid who doesn’t give a flying shit about the F (after all, he has a lawyer and plans to make his fortune through impact litigation), but the only students whose future won’t be as profitable suing under Title IX, Title VII and 42 U.S.C. § 1983.
The worst drawback to inner city schools isn’t money, but the difficulty teachers have with the disrespectful and disruptive kids who make it impossible for the students who want to learn. What about them?
There may be better hills to fight that proxy war on and better ways to fight it. We didn’t see how it initially went down but based on the video above there probably isn’t anyone whose version would fully explain it. By the time things got to video it’s hard to even tell what outcome these authority figures are seeking, beyond fulfilling their own escalatory policy. If it was “promote order” it seemed to backfire.
Assume (suffer my assumption, please) that 90% of the time, bringing in the SRO would be sufficient to convince a disruptive student that he’s gone too far and shit’s about to get real, and so he backs down and order is restored. Assume 10% of the time, it fails, as here. How does the school know in advance whether this time will be that 9 times or that 1 time?
See the problem of basing your view on outcome rather than input?
This incident highlights a predictable problem with putting cops in schools. Those of us who oppose the use of SROs in schools point out that there are vanishingly few situations where outcomes are improved by adding an armed stranger with a license to use force in the mix. And there are plenty where the likely outcomes are worse.
But this incident also shows another downside to putting cops in schools that I’d never considered before—it allows school teachers and administrators to avoid dealing with a kid of who is being difficult simply by calling the SRO. Gym teachers have dealt with truculent students who did not want to participate in the day’s activity since the invention of gym class. But maybe they don’t anymore, or at least not personally, if you can foist that task on the SRO.
Dealing with a difficult child is a skill, and like all skills, you need practice in order to get better. Are we failing our teachers and administrators by putting SROs in schools?
I can’t see my HS gym teacher surviving more than a half day in the current climate.
I had a similar thought… and can’t decide how I feel about that.
The difference is that when we were in school teachers had disciplinary options, and weren’t afraid to use them. And, IIRC, they certainly included force when necessary. They don’t anymore so all they can do is call the sro. The fact that these options existed and the kids knew they would be used meant they didn’t have to be as often.
Sledge is not a child. He’s an adult, and an aggressive adult at that, one who the recording shows was threatening the cop. His behavior certainly seems to me to justify arresting him for dis con. Allowing that, what aspect of the arrest rises to the level of excessive force? What am I missing here?
18 is the legal age of maturity, but few 18-year-olds possess the maturity to make wise decision, and too often make rather foolish. childish choices. It looks different from the old man seats.
If it could only be like the movies…. Sidney Poitier agreeing to box with one of the inner city London tough schoolboy. after the youth challenged the gym teacher _”To sir with love”…
There is no single or simple solution. What might work in this situation might not in another. Perhaps I’m being naive but to somehow convince students/teens that their years in high school will likely seem unimportant when looked back on years later and incidents like this are pointless
Lastly SRO a euphemism if I understand the definition of the word. Here in Ann Arbor there has always been a Police officer in the high school since at least the mid 60s.
If only life was like the movies.
In the 70s and 80s, one substitute teacher (I presume others as well) was an ‘enforcer’. He was brought in after a teacher had been attacked by a student. His job was to re-instate order in that classroom. Generally with physical violence. It was a crude way to re-gain order…but it worked. He didn’t have many ‘off days’ in his time as a substitute. Whether or not you feel this is a good way to maintain order in inner-city classrooms, it’s something to think about. No police, and generally no complaints. (And if there were, the ‘substitute’ could be transferred to another inner city school.)
You went to a very different school than I did.
I was present in a 1980 gym class in which a young girl ran out of the girl’s locker room crying. She explained that she had been raped and the boy she accused had run out the back door. The gym teacher enlisted the help of all of the boys in the gym class to search the woods behind the school and subdued the accused. I’m fairly certain that there were no significant consequences for the gym reacher because he was working the next day.
A horrifying video on so many levels. I feel awful for everyone involved in the video. As a former HS teacher this kid reminds me of a young woman who would consistently mouth off, refuse direction, and disrupt the class. I had a conference with her mother who was clearly overwhelmed. I recommended counseling and her transfer to the continuation school, which happened but within a month of her transfer the student was arrested for attempting to strangle her mother. This was back in 1996, despite being an outlier, the strong feeling of impotence when dealing with students like this sent me off to another profession at the end of the following school year. Working with kids who refuse to cooperate is a tough job—deescalating so that one avoids ultimatums that are either awful or not enforceable, bonding with kids so they cooperate, and keeping kids engaged are the tricks of the trade but really difficult or impossible in these cases. At this point in the video the cause is lost but I still hope the student finds a mentor that can guide him to a better place.
I think you speak for a lot of former HS teachers.
Call Sledge’s parents and have them come to school and deal with their child.
-Parent was on the way
Give him a failing grade, either for the day’s participation or in the class.
-Could’ve been done if he didn’t get aggressive with the coach to the point where he had to call the SRO
Give him detention.
-Didn’t want to get out of the gym
Suspend or expel him.
-Didn’t want to get out of the gym
Take him to a place to calm down (even though that seems to be what Sledge resisted).
-Resisted that
Have the principal or school disciplinarian deal with him.
-They were already there before the SRO
Run through the ordinary panoply of school disciplinary measures, but don’t use force.
-Everything was tried with him, sometimes force is the only way