Wisconsin cop charged with kneeling on girl’s neck: Report

Washington, March 22 (IANS): An off-duty police officer accused of putting his knee on a 12-year-old girl’s neck to restrain her during a lunchtime fight in the US state of Wisconsin is being investigated , the media said on Tuesday.

Surveillance footage released March 19 by the Kenosha Unified School District shows Officer Shawn Guetschow, who worked as a security guard at the school, intervened in a fight March 4 by placing his knee on the neck of the girl for half a minute to subdue her, Xinhua News Agency quoted the NBC News report as saying.

Jerrel Perez, the girl’s father, has called for criminal charges against Guetschow for using a type of restraint that was banned for law enforcement officers in Wisconsin last year.

Perez said her daughter was in therapy and seeing a neurologist for her injuries.

Guetschow resigned as a security guard at the school on Tuesday, but remains employed by city police, the Kenosha Police Department tweeted.

In a similar incident that led to widespread protests over the brutal killings in police custody, African-American man George Floyd died on May 25, 2020, after now ousted police officer Derek Chauvin knelt on the neck of the victim nine minutes and 29 seconds.