QUAKERTOWN, Pa. (KYW Newsradio) — Community members at a Quakertown Borough council meeting Wednesday night continued to call for the resignation or termination of the police chief for his role in the recent anti-ICE protest, where five students were arrested.
Many in attendance during the two-hour meeting wanted council to act to hold Police Chief and Borough Manager Scott McElree accountable for the police response to the Feb. 20 protest. Dozens of high schoolers walked out of class and hit the streets to protest ICE. There were confrontations between protesters and officers and cellphone video shows McElree, in plain clothes, putting a girl in what appeared to be a chokehold.
“It was very upsetting because that’s our right. Our freedom of speech,” one student said to our newsgathering partners at NBC10. “And then all of a sudden, Scott McElree comes barreling through the crowd, grabbing anyone he could reach. He shoved me, and he was the reason it turned to violence.”
“It was excessive force. I don’t really care what that teenage girl or those other kids did or what they were doing,” one man said during public comment.
Council did not take action at the meeting as the Bucks County District Attorney’s Office continues to investigate the incident. Officials said the borough, including the police department, was cooperating.
“All of borough council is very disturbed by the circumstances surrounding this incident, and we do not condone the actions of anyone who breaks the law,” said Council President Donald Rosenberger.
McElree, who is also the borough manager, is out on workers’ compensation leave and has not spoken publicly about the matter.
On Tuesday night, the Quakertown Community School District voted to accept Superintendent Dr. Matthew Friedman’s resignation and appointed Assistant Superintendent Dr. Lisa Hoffman as interim leadership.