ORLANDO, Fla. — An Orange County school deputy was fired Friday in the wake of a viral video circulating that appears to show an "inappropriate amount of force" being used on a female middle school student, Sheriff John Mina says.
- Social media video shows Orange deputies taking girl into custody
- One of the deputies grabs the girl's hair, yanks her head back
- After putting her in patrol car, he yells at gathered crowd, "You're stupid"
The video posted to social media shows two deputies taking a screaming girl into custody as a frenzied crowd of students watch. Standing behind her, the deputies hold the girl's arms behind her back. That's when one of the deputies grabs her hair and yanks her head back. They escort her to a patrol car and put her inside.
After the girl is put into the car, the deputy who pulled the girl's hair turns to the crowd and yells, "This is because you're silly. You're all stupid little children."
It's unknown at this time when the incident happened. Mina confirmed Friday that the school resource deputy in question worked at Westridge Middle School.
The Sheriff's Office said Mina was made aware of the video Friday morning.
"I am very upset by what I saw on that video," Mina said in a statement released by the Sheriff's Office. "The actions of this deputy appear to violate some of the most important values and expectations that I have set as sheriff. The type of behavior I witnessed on the video and on body worn camera video will not be tolerated."
The child has not been arrested. She was detained but released to a parent, the agency said.
The deputy, identified as Harry Reid, had been with the Sheriff’s Office since February 2019. According to the school board, Reid previously was a deputy with the Orange County Sheriff’s Office from 2000-2004. He worked as a law enforcement officer in North Carolina from 2005-2016.
Last week, another video posted to social media led to the arrest of a Broward County school resource officer on a child abuse charge. Surveillance video showed a deputy grabbing a girl by her neck and throwing her to the ground.