Anti-Police Protest in Ohio After Cop Shoves 12 Year Old Kid to The Ground During Fight

An anti-police protest is being organized Friday at the Middletown, Ohio police headquarters to protest against a school resource cop who shoved a 12-year-old boy to the ground in an attempt to break up a fist fight this week.

According to the Facebook page “Peaceful Protest of Unlawful Use of Force,” protesters will be gathering at Smith Park at 11 a.m., then, at 11:50 a.m., they will make the short walk to the police station in the Middletown City Building at One Donham Plaza. The protest will go until 4 p.m., according to the Facebook page.

Middletown, Ohio police officer Trey Porter

Maj. Mark Hoffman, assistant chief of the Middletown Division of Police, said Officer Trey Porter tried to break up a fist fight between a 12-year-old boy and 13-year-old boy Monday afternoon during lunch period at Middletown Middle School. As he intervened, Porter pushed one of the students to the ground, he said.

Hoffman said an investigation into Porter’s use of force should be complete in a few days, but he doesn’t expect it to result in discipline for the four-year veteran officer. However, police officials are acknowledging there were “other things” Porter could have done to stop the fight and he has been transferred from being a school resource officer at the school back to his regular night shift.

But Vanessa Maree, the mother of the 12-year-old boy who was shoved, wants Porter fired, not returned to his regular shift in the Middletown police department.

“If I used that much unlawful force, they would have put me in jail,” said Maree, 31. “What he did was wrong.”

Maree said she has contacted several attorneys, but hasn’t retained a lawyer for services.

“I want what’s best for my child,” she said.

Hoffman said unless something “earth-shattering” or “out of left field” comes out of the investigation, there will be no reason to discipline Porter.

“She can wish all she wants,” he said.

The altercation, which was captured on cellphone video and went viral on the Internet, created a stir among viewers, many of whom questioned the amount of force exerted by the officer on the student. Hoffman said after reading the “quite pointed” comments on social media and meeting with Porter and Middletown City School District officials, it was decided that moving the officer back to his regular midnight shift was the best option.

Porter had been on temporary assignment at the middle school the past two weeks, filling in for another school resource officer who was on medical leave, Hoffman said.

After watching the video numerous times, Hoffman said instead of shoving the student, there were “other things” the officer could have done to stop the fight. He said officers are trained to use the least amount of force possible to stop a situation.

Hoffman called Porter “a good officer” during a news conference Tuesday, but also noted that Maree had called Porter “a racist.” Her son is white, the boy he was fighting and officer Porter are both black.

Hoffman called the mother’s accusations “ridiculous” because Porter “doesn’t have a racist bone in his body.”

The Facebook page says Friday’s scheduled protest “is not to become about race nor will it at anytime. This protest is about the obvious disregard for state and federal law.”

The page says 15 people have been invited, and three have confirmed they’re attending the protest so far.

Maree denied Wednesday making comments to Hoffman about Porter being racist, adding the situation had nothing to do with race. Maree said some of her best friends are black, and she was only upset only by the amount of force the officer used.

Three students — the two fighters and the student who shot the video — were disciplined after the fight, according to the school’s principal Michael Valenti.

School officials have declined to say what discipline the two male students involved in the fight faced, but Maree said her son was placed on in-school suspension, meaning he’s supposed to attend school from 8:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. She said her son wouldn’t attend Middletown Middle School as long as Porter was a school resource officer.

“It’s not his fault that he was attacked by a police officer, an adult,” she said. “He should have protected him.”