Greenwood Lakes Middle student arrested after attacking SRO, Seminole deputies say
A 13-year-old student at Greenwood Lakes Middle School in Lake Mary was arrested on campus Friday after an “uncontrollable” episode that resulted in a school resource deputy being kicked in the groin, according to the Seminole County Sheriff’s Office.
The teen, who the Orlando Sentinel isn’t naming because he is a minor, is facing charges of battery on a law enforcement officer and resisting arrest without violence, a report obtained Saturday said.
Per the report, Deputy Branden Harford was called by Tasha Smith, the school’s dean who was trying to control the student, though it’s not clear what led to the altercation. An email sent to parents by Greenwood Lakes Principal Breezi Erickson and obtained by WKMG, which first reported the arrest, said the incident stemmed from a “verbal threat towards an adult.”
When Harford arrived, he said the teen bumped into him and shoulder checked him several times as he tried to “figure out what was going on.” After grabbing the student’s wrist and spun him “towards the wall to gain control of him,” the student kneed Harford in the groin but was taken down to the ground by the deputy, the report said.
The Seminole County Fire Department cleared the student of any injuries, Harford wrote in the report.
The deputy recommended the student take part in the Sheriff’s Office’s PAY program, which offers other accountability measures in lieu of prosecution to arrested youth.
