BY EMILY MIBACH
Daily Post Staff Writer
A famed Oakland civil rights attorney, John Burris, is representing a teenager who was seen in a viral video being taken to the ground by an Atherton police officer following an incident at Menlo-Atherton High School.
The teen had been participating in a game called “senior assassin” with other students, which involved using water guns that look like pool noodles, according to the teen’s attorney, Christopher Dean, with well-known civil rights law firm Burris Nisenbaum Curry & Lacy.
The water guns were confiscated by the school, but on April 28, some students got their water guns back. The teenager went to the front office to retrieve his toy and although the school’s secretary was about to give him his water gun, Vice Principal Stephen Emmi denied his request, according to the claim.
When the student tried to get his water gun, Emmi allegedly blocked the student, causing the student to “bump into” Emmi, the claim says.
The student has a “mental impairment,” according to the claim, and became distressed, causing him to shout at Emmi, the claim says. Police have said they arrested the teen for pushing a school administrator against a wall and yelling homophobic slurs at him.
The student went to the bus stop in front of the school when shortly thereafter Atherton Police Officers arrived and approached him. One officer allegedly said “hey, you, stop,” but the student did not realize he was being spoken to, and did not look at the officer. The officer then stepped in front of the student and told everyone but him to leave.
The student, who doesn’t like being touched, backed away with his hands up from an officer after being touched on the shoulder, the claim says. The teen was then allegedly taken to the ground by the officer, who ends up kneeling on his back while handcuffing him.
Atherton police Cmdr. Dan Larsen said in a previously issued statement that the teen had pulled away from the officer and fell to the ground.
The teen screamed that due to a recent surgery, his stomach hurt, asking the officer to stop.
The claim says three officers picked up the teenager and put him face-first into a police car, took him to the police station and only read him his rights when his grandmother arrived about 15 minutes after he got to the station.
The claim states that the teenager has an Individualized Education Plan, or IEP, which takes any potential “emotional disturbances” into account. In the IEP, school employees are instructed to get a counselor to help calm the teenager down and check on him.
The Atherton City Council will meet tomorrow at 2:45 p.m. to discuss the claim. The council will have to vote in a public session to deny the claim. The town’s attorneys recommend the council reject the claim, according to a report from Deputy City Manager Anthony Suber.
In May, the Post learned there is a recording of the incident, and seeking a fuller story as to what occurred at M-A on April 28, requested it from the district. But Assistant Superintendent Todd Beal sent the Post a letter denying the request, listing a number of reasons why the recording is not public record. One reason was that releasing the recording would identify the youth, which would violate the federal Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act.
“Even with names redacted or faces blurred, other information contained in any such records” it would still be easy to identify the student, Beal wrote.
The school district’s board is set to discuss a series of claims and legal threats at its board meeting today but did not post on its agendas what the claims are regarding.