Attorneys threaten suit after girl’s arrest at Manatee school. ‘Stripped of her dignity’

Standing outside of the downtown Manatee County School District building on Thursday morning, flanked by two attorneys, the mother of a 12-year-old girl called for justice after her daughter left school in handcuffs last year.

Rawsi Williams, a Miami-based attorney, said she wanted leaders at the sheriff’s office and school district to be held accountable for the girl’s arrest at Palm View K-8 School in Palmetto. Otherwise, she plans to file a lawsuit with help from co-counsel Frank Allen, of The Allen Firm in Orlando.

“She was not just deprived of her rights — she was stripped of her dignity,” Williams said during a press conference outside of the school district offices on Manatee Avenue West.

As first reported by the Bradenton Herald, seventh-grader Ja’Quyla Jones used her phone to video record a fight at Palm View K-8 in September.

In order to protect her privacy, the Herald did not name Ja’Quyla in the initial story, but on Thursday she stood with her mother and attorneys at the press conference.

In body camera footage captured by the school resource officer, school administrators falsely accused Ja’Quyla of committing a felony by video-recording the fight and school employees.

They demanded she give up her phone and delete the video. And when Ja’Quyla tried to push past the assistant principal and deputy George Schrenk, he forced her to the ground and charged her with battery on a law enforcement officer, battery on a school employee and resisting arrest without violence.

“For some unreasonable, asinine reason, instead of focusing more on the two kids who were fighting, the administration here and the educators, as well as the police, turned their actions and targeted the innocent bystander,” Williams said.

The State Attorney’s Office formally charged Ja’Quyla with battery on a law enforcement officer less than two weeks after her arrest. But four days after the Herald’s reporting on the arrest, that case was dropped, Assistant State Attorney Gregory Hrebinko confirmed.

On Thursday morning, Williams called for the firing of everyone involved in the girl’s arrest, and both Williams and Allen have sent a legal notice to the school district and the sheriff’s office.

The letter, dated Dec. 30, said the deputies and Palm View administrators violated the civil rights of Ja’Quyla, who is Black, via “false arrest, false imprisonment, excessive force, assault, battery, targeting, negligence, racial discrimination, and infliction of emotional and physical distress occurring.”

They said a lawsuit would be filed in federal court if all involved were not held accountable, and if the Jones family was not compensated for damages. The amount was not specified.

School district training

Shortly after Thursday’s news conference, school district spokesman Mike Barber provided a written statement and said “the ultimate outcome of those events did not have to occur as it unfolded.”

He said Superintendent Cynthia Saunders arranged a meeting between leaders from the district and sheriff’s office. They reviewed the student’s arrest and shared their findings with school resource officers, school guardians and school administrators throughout Manatee County.

“One of the key aspects of those talks included defining the difference between school disciplinary matters that should be handled primarily by school administrators, and legal or criminal acts that require the active involvement of sworn law enforcement officers,” Barber said.

The school district, he said, also held a training session for principals on Wednesday, reviewing the procedures for student discipline, along with “how and when law enforcement plays a role in those matters.”

Sheriff’s reaction

In a similar statement last month, Sheriff Rick Wells said the school resource officer, deputy Schrenk, followed the lead of Principal Kaththea Johnson and then-Assistant Principal Michelle Clark, who were adamant about securing the students’ phone after she video recorded the fight.

The assistant principal has since moved from Palm View K-8 to King Middle School, though the school district said her transfer had no connection to the September incident.

Wells said the cellphone video was a school matter, and that all resource officers have since been warned to not get involved in school policy.

“We have no basis to take action on such policies,” the sheriff said. “That’s not why we are there.”

On Thursday, Wells declined to comment on a possible lawsuit saying, “Since we have been put on notice, we are not going to comment. We will respond to the lawsuit whenever we receive it.”

‘Heinous behavior’

Justice was still a long way off, attorney Williams said at Thursday’s press conference.

Ja’Quyla, the 12-year-old student, has an Individualized Educational Plan, or IEP, for her attention deficit hyperactivity disorder and behavioral struggles. She also has a behavioral plan that outlines de-escalation strategies.

The girl tried to push past a school administrator and the sheriff’s deputy during the incident on Sep. 22, they said in the body camera footage. But her mother, Cecelia Jones, said the young student felt overwhelmed by the adults who secluded her in a classroom for over an hour and constantly demanded her phone.

“They wanted the cellphone video of the fight. And we heard their reasoning. It was not to protect any children. More so, it was to protect the reputation of the school,” Williams said, referencing a comment by one of the school administrators, who can be heard in the body camera video saying “if that gets out on social media.”

Williams also pointed to a comment by the school counselor, who urged the deputy to use the girl “as an example”

“No parent, regardless of race, should have to worry that their child would be the victim of such heinous behavior, but that is why we’re here today in Manatee County,” Williams said.

Her co-counsel, attorney Allen, then referenced statements made by a second deputy, Judd Beckwith, who arrived after the girl’s arrest. The deputy can be heard in the body camera video cursing at the student as she sits in a corner, handcuffed and crying for her mother.

“I think that was some of the most horrendous and gut-wrenching parts of this entire episode,” Allen said.

Standing alongside the attorneys was Eddie Hundley, the ousted principal of Lincoln Memorial Academy, who spoke on behalf of Manatee Concerned Citizens For Justice; and Robert Powell, president of the Manatee NAACP.

“It’s definitely a sad day here in Manatee County, no question about it, to have to defend a 12-year-old child whose rights were violated in one of the places she’s supposed to be safe — at school,” Powell said.

Herald reporter Jessica De Leon contributed to this report.

This story was originally published January 6, 2022 at 4:06 PM.