Incident Date and Time: Friday, April 28th, 2023, at approximately 3:21PM.
Location: Bus Stop in the 500 block of Middlefield Road in Atherton.
Type of Crime/Incident: Threatening a School Official, Hate Crime, Battery on a School Official, and Assault.
Summary:
On Friday, April 28th, 2023, at approximately 3:21PM, Atherton Police Department Communications received several 9-1-1 calls from Menlo Atherton High School in Atherton reporting a violent reaction from a student towards an administrator. The student had a water gun taken away from him earlier in the week and was in the school office demanding the water gun be returned. The student then physically assaulted a school administrator by pushing them into a cubicle wall, tried to push the administrator’s glasses off their face, spit on them, and called them derogatory homophobic slurs.
Prior to police arrival, the student left the campus and went to a bus stop in the 500 block of Middlefield Road. Communications updated responding officers that the student left the school office, was at a bus stop in the 500 block of Middlefield Road and provided the officers with a description of the student.
When officers arrived on scene, they located the student in a crowd of people at the bus stop. Rather than cooperate with the officer’s directives that he was being detained, the student refused to comply and instead started backing away. An officer tried to grab the student’s arm to prevent him from leaving but was only able to grab the front of his shirt. The student continued to pull away from the officer’s hold on his shirt and fell to the ground. Once on the ground, officers rolled the student onto his stomach and placed him into handcuffs. Officers used the least amount of force to detain the student.
The student was transported to the Atherton Police Department and later released to a guardian.
The Juvenile District Attorney’s Office will be reviewing this case for the filing of charges against the student for threatening a school official, a hate crime, battery on a school official, and assault.
This incident is being reviewed to ensure the involved officers’ actions were lawful and in compliance with Police Department policy and procedures.
Anyone who may have witnessed or has video of this incident is asked to contact the Atherton Police Department Detective Bureau at detectivebureau@ci.atherton.ca.us or upload digital files to https://athertonpd.evidence.com/axon/community-request/public/middlefield.
Steven D McCulley
Chief of Police
