PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — Parents and community members in Quakertown are demanding the suspension or dismissal of the police chief after he allegedly put a teen in a chokehold during an anti-ICE protest last week.
Several students and an adult were taken into custody on Feb. 20 after a student-led walkout at Quakertown Community High School.
The school had tried to cancel the protest due to safety concerns, but about three dozen students walked out that morning and made their way to Front Street, where law enforcement said students threw snowballs at cars, kicked people, and tried to block traffic.
A video circulating on social media shows law enforcement engaging in an aggressive altercation with the students. Upper Bucks United co-founder Laura Foster is one of the community members who alleges the man seen putting a student in a chokehold is Quakertown Police Chief Scott McElree in plain clothes.
“This act that he did now is absolutely egregious, and our community is sickened by it,” she said at a Quakertown Borough Council meeting Monday night. “All of us are just — we’re heartbroken. The trauma that these kids went through is deplorable.”
Many area residents are calling for McElree to be dismissed or suspended.
Community members also said some juveniles who were arrested on Friday remained in custody as of Monday.
The Bucks County District Attorney’s Office said it is investigating the incident, and anyone with photo or video evidence should contact Bucks County detectives.
More community outcry is expected at Thursday’s school board meeting.