How We Investigated Police Use of Force in Texas Schools

A tip in early 2024 led to a case involving a 17-year-old student in Texas arrested outside a special education classroom after an allegation of hitting a school police officer. Video footage showed the officer dragging the student to the ground, straddling him, and punching him twice in the face. Although the officer reported that the student struck him, the video made the claim difficult to confirm, and prosecutors dismissed the charge for lack of evidence. The case prompted broader research into other Texas school force incidents and into 2023 legislation requiring a police officer at every public school. The investigation was pitched for national support and adapted after a local newsroom closed financially, forming a new partnership.

"A 17-year-old boy in Texas had been arrested outside his special education classroom, the source told me, for allegedly hitting a school police officer. The student wound up in jail. I was then a public safety reporter for Houston Landing, a nonprofit newsroom, and obtained video footage of the incident. It showed the officer dragging the student to the ground, straddling him and punching him twice in the face."

"Though the officer wrote in a report that the boy had struck him, it was hard to tell from the video, and prosecutors ultimately dismissed the charge for lack of evidence. For months, the case stuck with me. I found news articles about officers in other parts of Texas who had also used force in schools, sometimes stemming from students swearing at teachers or arguments between classmates."

"And I knew that the Texas Legislature had passed sweeping legislation in 2023 to station a police officer at every public school in the state. The law, the most ambitious effort to expand school policing in the nation, was a response to the massacre at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde in May 2022. The legislation was intended to protect students. I wondered if it might end up harming some of them, too."

"I pitched an investigation to The New York Times's Local Investigations Fellowship, a program that supports investigative reporting around the country by partnering with local newsrooms. The Times accepted my proposal, but wanted more reporting firepower to support a project in a state as big as Texas. Editors added a second fellow: Kristian Hernandez, a reporter based in Fort Worth and graduate of Texas' public school system. Two months later, Houston Landing closed because of financial pressures. We formed a new partnership with The San Antonio Express-News, which"

Read at www.nytimes.com