A police officer in Arkansas has been put on leave after a video appeared to show him putting a high school student in a chokehold.
Jake Perry, an officer in Camden, Arkansas, about 100 miles south of Little Rock, was placed on leave pending an investigation of the incident that occurred Monday morning, the police chief, Boyd M. Woody, said in a statement.
In the video that surfaced on social media, Perry appears to put ninth-grade student Dekyrion Ellis at Camden Fairview High School in a chokehold, pulling him slightly backward by his neck, according to NBC affiliate KTVE in El Dorado, Arkansas.
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Ellis told KTVE he had been arguing with a friend when Perry, who was assigned to the high school as a school resource officer, intervened.
“I feared for my life,” Ellis said. “I didn’t know what was going to happen. I blacked out. I really didn’t see anything until he took me back to the office.”
The student said he was embarrassed by the incident.
“He could’ve taken me to the office,” Ellis said of the officer. “He didn’t have to restrain me. It wasn’t like I was trying to get away from him. I wasn’t resisting arrest.”
Ellis’ family took him to the hospital for X-rays after the incident.
Woody wrote in his statement, “As the Police Chief, I will not tolerate misconduct from my officers and this matter will be dealt with accordingly and I will be transparent in doing so.”
NBC News reached out to Perry for comment Tuesday morning but did not immediately hear back.
