Glennville, GA – A Glennville police officer single-handedly detained three unruly teenage suspects during an altercation outside a Glennville school on Aug. 23 (videos below).
At least two of the teens assaulted the officer during the encounter.
The incident began after two students got off of a bus outside Glennville Elementary School, WTOC reported.
In a series of videos posted to Facebook by user Carlos Coley, two males were seen arguing near a white van.
One of the males, who was wearing a white backpack, repeatedly tried to walk away from the second male, who followed after him and pushed him when while his back was turned.
A woman stepped between them, and appeared to quell the argument as the teen with the white backpack got into the backseat of her vehicle.
But the second male continued to move towards him, then stood in the doorway and shoved the van door. The male with the white backpack suddenly jumped back out to confront him.
The verbal altercation quickly escalated into a physical fight just before the video ended.
When the Glennville police officer arrived in the area, he “confronted” one suspect involved in the altercation, Glennville Police Captain Wes Kicklighter told Blue Lives Matter.
“The others engaged themselves, and it escalated from there,” Capt. Kicklighter explained.
A second video showed the lone officer as he escorted two males onto a grassy area.
One of the individuals, who appeared to be the same teen seen throwing punches in the earlier video, then reared back and kicked the officer in the leg, the video showed.
The officer tossed both suspects to the ground, and wrestled them to a position beneath him in order to maintain control.
As the officer struggled to subdue the teens, a girl in a purple shirt walked into the frame and kicked the officer in the left hip.
When the officer ignored her, she grabbed him by the arm, and began pulling his hand away from the two individuals he was holding down.
In one swift movement, the officer snapped his attention to the girl and grabbed her by the wrist, but she was able to pull away.
Undeterred, she stepped back towards the melee a moment later. The officer raised his hand towards her to stop her advance, and she swatted him away while taking a brief step backwards.
As she argued with the officer, the girl reached out her hand and pointed towards him, giving the officer just the leverage he needed.
The officer quickly reached out and grabbed the girl by the arm, and pulled her down on top of the other suspects.
He kept all three of the juveniles pinned to the ground until backup officers arrived, WTOC reported.
City officials refused to provide further details of the incident due to the suspects’ ages, but said they were looking into the circumstances of the altercation, WTOC reported.
“We can't release any information about them other than to say they're juveniles," City Attorney Hugh McCullough told WTOC. “The matter has been turned over to the department of juvenile justice for handling. The officer was interfered with and that constitutes obstruction of an officer."
The city was also investigating whether the officer’s actions during the arrests were appropriate, McCullough added.
You can watch cell phone footage of the incident in the videos below. (Multiple videos, scroll down for more):
