GRAPHIC: Knoxville parents report body cam video proves excessive force claims at middle school

[xocetaceans]

7. In watching the video, the kid refused to be searched and decided to struggle against it.

None of this situation had to happen except by the kid's choice to resist being searched. The use of force seems completely justified, and the officer seems to have used minimal force to gain compliance.

It is reasonable to attempt to maintain a drug-free environment in a school system. Cooperation is necessary for that, and there is a public interest in that. Maintaining such a drug-free environment is analogous to maintaining safety in an airport.

The lawsuit seems frivolous in this case, and the document seems to be written to exaggerate; i.e., "...slight frame face-first...", etc. That's alliterative poetic license run logically amok.

However, the problem is that this could in principle be a good kid who had a bad day. This incident might well determine much of what his future is and in our society probably will. A few temporary bad choices should not irrevocably destroy someone's future chances to have a good life. He should not be defined by his worst moment.

I hope things work out well for him in the near and long terms but fear that in our system things will not work out well.