DEKALB COUNTY, Ga. — A DeKalb County school resource officer is on administrative leave while the district investigates allegations of excessive force involving a special needs student.
Channel 2's Amy Napier Viteri talked exclusively with the parent of the teenage girl who says the officer hurt her child.
That student attends Elizabeth Andrews High School and was arrested in an incident last month. That student still has bruises from the arrest so her mother filed a complaint.
"My concern is that he has a pattern of being violent," the mother said, asking not to be identified for privacy reasons for herself and her daughter.
The mother says Willie Patterson, the school resource officer at Elizabeth Andrews in Stone Mountain, arrested her daughter on March 4.
The special needs student was upset after a bad grade and threw papers on the floor.
The 17-year-old has Erbs palsy, which limits the range of motion in her left arm -- the arm she says Patterson yanked behind her back to cuff her.
"He twisted it and I felt it like it's hurting," the teen said.
The teen showed Viteri the large bruise she still has after the arrest.
The mother showed Viteri a letter she wrote to Gov. Nathan Deal, copying DeKalb County Superintendent Michael Thurmond alleging excessive force.
In a statement, a school representative said "SRO Patterson was placed on administrative leave pending the outcome of an investigation by the DeKalb County School District."
"I feel that he's been allowed to do these things in the past. I feel that the agency has not actually investigated him," the mother said.
Viteri looked into Patterson's background and learned that since 2003, he's had six prior complaints of excessive force.
He was found at fault in one case and received a written reprimand.
Documents Viteri obtained show before that, DeKalb County police fired Patterson following several charges involving a domestic dispute with his ex-wife, which were later dismissed.
For that, the state Peace Officers Standards Training put him on two years' probation.
"It makes me angry that the people that are supposed to protect our children are not actually doing that. They're harming our kids," the mother said.
That mother said she doesn't feel Patterson should be an officer with the district. She also says she'd like to see more training for officers on how to handle special needs students.
WSBTV
