The Texas school officer who body-slammed a 12-year-old student has been fired.
On April 11, the San Antonio Independent School District (SAISD) announced its termination of Officer Joshua Kehm’s employment with the district.
Kehm’s termination comes six days after a video surfaced of the SAISD officer forcefully slamming Rhodes Middle School student Janissa Valdez into a brick pavement. Kehm had previously been placed on paid leave.
Valdez’s mother, Gloria Valdez, told News 4 San Antonio, that in the video “you could just hear where she hits the ground. And it’s nothing but concrete, cement.”
“She wasn’t moving. She was just knocked out. I wanted answers and nobody could give me answers,” said Gloria, “I contacted the vice-principal. I talked to the officer. He did what he had to do at the moment—those were his words.”
Both the district police and the district administration have been conducting an investigation of the incident. The law enforcement portion of the investigation has been deferred to a “third part law enforcement agency.”
“We all want to make sure this kind of incident does not occur again, and we will seek to identify areas where improvement may be needed,” he said.
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