Officials to police: Girl was restrained to protect other Cape students

A police report from 2014 depicts two school officials trying desperately to subdue a student who was enraged, aggressive and insistent on fighting another student.

In the report, the officials, defendants in a lawsuit filed by the 14-year-old student and her mother over the incident, acknowledge they physically restrained the student, including taking the student to the ground more than once and placing a knee on the back of the student so they could secure the area and prevent someone from getting hurt.

Ta'Brea Harris, through attorneys Daniel Statler and Matthew O'Brien and her mother Terri Harris, is suing the Cape Girardeau School District, Central High School principal Chris Kase and athletic director Lance Tollison for damages in excess of $25,000 for medical bills and other injuries, physical and emotional, allegedly sustained from the incident. The amended petition describes the actions of Kase and Tollison as assault and negligence.

A police officer who viewed the surveillance video said Tollison was controlled and restrained during the ordeal.

Kase, who was assistant principal at the time and now is principal, was interviewed Dec. 18, 2014, by Cape Girardeau police officer Joseph Tado, seven days after the incident. Kase said he was tending to another Cape Academy student who was getting off the bus at the time. Crying and visibly upset, she told Kase she had been in a fight.

Lance Tollison

The bus monitor was holding students back because she was worried there would be a fight, Kase told the officer. The monitor waited until students were calm before releasing them from the bus.

"I went back to (the student) to make sure that none of the other students were going to come toward her and that she was physically okay from the fight," Kase wrote in a voluntary statement to police. "She told me she had been hit, but she also hit them back."

Kase noticed Harris saying, "Come on, come on," toward the crying student, according to the statement.

"At this point, I attempted to restrain her and tell her to stop, but she continued to fight me and tumbled into the grass next to the building," Kase wrote of Harris.

Tollison intervened, and Kase said he tried to get other students away from the confrontation.

"During the entire time Ta'Brea was being restrained, she continued to struggle and fight to get loose," Kase wrote. "Even after she was released, she went to the doors of the school in what appeared to be an effort to find the other student."

Harris told patrolman Jaclyn Kelly as she was leaving the bus, a girl was following her, and they were "about to get to fighting."

"The principal was holding me back and then another teacher came and he was grabbing me and threw me on the ground," Harris wrote in a voluntary statement to police. "I was trying to get up, but then I fell down ... he threw me against the wall with my hand in a lock. Then he threw me to the ground." Harris was referring to Tollison.

Harris said Tollison threw her to the ground, and she attempted to stand, Kelly wrote. She fell to the ground when attempting to stand. Harris said Tollison forced her up against a wall and put her hand behind her back. He threw her to the ground a second time, she said. When on the ground, Tollison put his knee on her back to hold her down, Harris said.

Tollison was interviewed Dec. 17, 2014, by Tado. He said he was on bus duty that day and saw Kase trying to restrain a female student who had left the bus.

"I ran to assist him, as several students were in the area as the two female students were attempting to fight," Tollison wrote in a voluntary statement to police.

While he and Kase tried to restrain Harris, another student circled behind them, provoking Harris and trying to engage in a fight. Kase let go to restrain the other student, and Tollison tried to keep Harris away from the other student. Tollison said he restrained Harris to the ground.

"I let her up off the ground, but she ... continued to resist my efforts to calm her down," Tollison wrote. "Restraint went to the ground once more. Mr. Kase returned to assist, and I released the subject as he escorted her to the building, at which time she made another attempt to look for the subject she was fighting with."

Tado reported he watched surveillance video of the incident. Tado wrote it showed Tollison moving toward Harris as Kase tried to restrain her. Kase was moving forward as Harris moved backward, at which point Harris began to trip and took herself and Kase to the ground.

"The video shows all three -- Kase, Tollison and Harris -- getting up from the ground at which point Kase walks away from Tollison and Harris," Tado wrote. "Harris again starts to fight Tollison and struggle to free herself physically at which point Tollison places Harris on the ground and restrains her by placing his knee in the center of her back."

Tado wrote the video shows Tollison acting in a controlled and restrained manner while trying to keep Harris from assaulting other students and school-district staff.

Police obtained a copy of discharge instructions from Saint Francis Medical Center that detailed Harris' injuries -- a neck sprain and chest-wall contusion. The discharge instructions recommended Harris abstain from athletics for one week and take ibuprofen.

Police talked to several witnesses. One student saw the incident after Harris had been restrained.

"But one of the girls kept fighting, the principal was holding her so she couldn't do any more harm to the other girl or anyone else," the student wrote in a voluntary statement to police.

A female student saw more of the incident.

"Mr. Kase was trying to calm them down and break them apart," the student witness wrote in a voluntary statement to police. "He then grabbed her and pulled towards a wall. She wasn't trying to be compliant, so Mr. Tollison came and helped restrain her by putting her head on the grass."

There also were several school employees who were witnesses, one of which was bus driver Brian Sloan. He said the monitor tried to calm down two girls who were having words, but there was a fight on the bus.

"We got to the high school. The principal had a third girl's arms and one of the other guys came running and tackled her like a football player," Sloan wrote.

Central assistant baseball coach Justin Lieser tried to help intervene and saw most of the incident. He wrote in a statement he noticed several students screaming and yelling, and the situation escalated. He saw Kase trying to handle the situation, and he followed Tollison to help. He said Kase and Tollison were separating the students.

"It was at this point (Harris) became combative and needed to be restrained," Lieser wrote in a voluntary statement to police. "As she was being restrained, she began to walk backwards and tripped, taking herself and Mr. Tollison to the ground. ... At no time do I believe Mr. Kase or Mr. Tollison used excessive force in this manner."

Attorney for Cape Girardeau schools Rebecca Cary declined to comment because the case is being litigated. Terri Harris said she and her daughter have been advised by their attorneys to not talk to the media. Statler and O'Brien declined to comment.

School officials, citing ongoing litigation, have declined to release information about training and techniques that are offered to school officials regarding breaking up fights.

A judge has temporarily sealed the surveillance video.

bkleine@semissourian.com

(573) 388-3644

Pertinent address: 1000 Silver Springs Road, Cape Girardeau, MO.