Video of San Antonio middle school officer slamming female student on concrete sparks investigation 
 
 SAN ANTONIO — The San Antonio Independent School District has launched an investigation into a possible case of excessive force after the release of a video showing one of its police officers throwing a student to the ground at Rhodes Middle School last week. 
 
 Officer Joshua Kehm intervened after two female students became verbally aggressive toward each other about 4 p.m. March 29 at the West Side campus, SAISD spokeswoman Leslie Price said. 
 
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 The video, which was posted to YouTube on Tuesday, shows the officer struggling to restrain a female student, identified by her mother as 12-year-old Janissa Valdez, as other students stand on either side of the pathway, some frowning, others smiling and laughing, using cellphones to record the incident. Some students can be heard urging the girl to "chill," then the officer suddenly throws her down. 
 
 Several students' startled exclamations can be heard and then there's silence as he handcuffs her while she's on the ground. He then helps her get on her feet and walks her away. 
 
 One student asks repeatedly whether the girl is OK, reaching out to touch her shoulder. Crying can be heard. 
 
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 "I guess we're still both kind of shocked," said Janissa's mother, Gloria Valdez. "We still can't believe it happened." 
 
 Kehm was put on paid administrative leave, Price said, and the administration as well as the district's police department are investigating. 
 
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 "This video is very concerning, and we are working to get all of the details," Price said. "We certainly want to understand what all occurred, and we are not going to tolerate excessive force in our district." 
 
 Gloria Valdez said her daughter initially had swelling on her upper right temple but that it has since gone away. The mother said her daughter has had previous encounters with the other student. Asked whether her daughter had been in fights before, Gloria Valdez answered, "She has. I won't lie. 
 
 "She had been bullied at the beginning of the school year," the mother said. "I talked to a counselor, the vice principal and principal, and they said they'd look into it. Finally, the other student started attacking her and got into a fight, and it led to my daughter getting suspended (for three days). 
 
 "Supposedly the other little girl wanted to argue with my daughter, but I honestly don't know the reason why," she added. "I told her she wasn't allowed to get in fights anymore because the administrators told her, 'next time you'll go to jail and mom gets a fine.' They (told her) next time make sure the administrator knows before anything else happens." 
 
 The mother said her daughter was given a two-day suspension after last week's incident. She said she will wait for the outcome of the investigations before deciding whether to take action. 
 
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 "I just want something done," she said of the incident with the officer. "Because he could go back and do it again to my daughter or another student." 
 
 Kehm's LinkedIn page said he previously worked as a "non-lethal weapons instructor" for the U.S. Air Force. He enlisted in the Air Force in 2007, according to his LinkedIn. 
 
 The video had been viewed more than 16,000 times as of Wednesday night. 
 
 mdwilson@express-news.net 
 
 Twitter: @MDWilsonSA ||||| SAN ANTONIO - A police officer for the San Antonio Independent School District was placed on paid administrative leave Wednesday after cellphone video emerged of the officer slamming a 12-year-old female student to the ground. 
 
 The incident happened March 29 at Rhodes Middle School. 
 
 In the 33-second video, posted online by ghost-0.com, Officer Joshua Kehm is seen slamming sixth-grader Janissa Valdez to the ground. 
 
 Students can be heard in the video shouting and asking the girl if she is OK. 
 
 Gloria Valdez, Janissa's mother, said she arrived at the school to pick up her daughter just moments after the incident. 
 
 Gloria Valdez has now seen the video several times of her daughter being body-slammed. 
 
 "I was upset. I was angry, because I still couldn't believe that he had done that to her," she said. "And then she told me 'Mom, I wasn't fighting. Why would he do that?'" 
 
 Gloria Valdez asked school officials about what happened but said she was given few answers. 
 
 Janissa was suspended for two days after the incident but has yet to return to school because she, and her mother, say they're nervous about what fellow classmates may say to her. 
 
 According to Janissa, she and another student planned to meet up March 29 after school to talk after Janissa heard the other student was saying bad things about her. 
 
 "I was walking toward her, telling her, 'Let's go somewhere else,' because there was a lot of people," she said. "Then that's when other people came over and the officer thought we were going to fight, so that's whenever he came and did that." 
 
 In the video, you can hear Janissa's body hit a brick pathway, which left her with a swollen bruise near her right eye. 
 
 Although she said a fight did not take place, Janissa said a vice principal had asked the girls to separate. 
 
 Leslie Price, a spokewoman for SAISD, said the district was made aware of the incident Tuesday. Later that night, the SAISD police chief received a link to the video posted on ghost-0.com. 
 
 "We've launched a formal investigation both within our police department and also at the administrative level," Price said. "We need to find out the details as to what occurred, but I can say that we will not tolerate excessive force in this district." 
 
 The district released the following statement on Thursday: 
 
 "The District launched an investigation (Wednesday) into the incident shown on the video that occurred at Rhodes Middle School. It's important that the investigation be done appropriately and in a timely manner. 
 
 Texas state law requires an investigation to be conducted following a complaint filed against an officer, before that officer can be subject to any disciplinary action. The officer was placed on leave Wednesday morning, pending the outcome of the investigation. We are working to interview as many witnesses as possible, to ensure we take the appropriate action. 
 
 We have no other details about the incident to provide at this time." 
 
 A group of Rhodes Middle School students told KSAT 12 off-camera Tuesday that they witnessed Kehm listening to the girls and trying to try to break up the confrontation peacefully. 
 
 The group of students also claimed they saw the officer get kicked several times. 
 
 Janissa denies she kicked the officer. 
 
 "You could actually hear her head hit the concrete. That's what hurt me the most," Gloria Valdez said. "And he didn't even seem like it bothered him. And he still handcuffed her after she was unconscious." 
 
 Copyright 2016 by KSAT - All rights reserved.
– A school police officer is on paid leave after a video surfaced showing him body-slamming a 12-year-old girl, apparently knocking her unconscious. The video recorded March 29 opens showing San Antonio Independent School District Police Officer Joshua Kehm with his arms around sixth-grader Janissa Valdez at Rhodes Middle School. "Janissa, chill!" a bystander says before Kehm throws the girl to the ground. She doesn't move as Kehm handcuffs her hands behind her back. He then lifts her to her feet and leads her away. Janissa tells WOAI that students thought she was going to fight another girl. "I was going up to her to tell her let's go somewhere else so we could talk, but that's when the cop thought I was going at her," she says. She doesn't remember what happened next. "You could just hear where she hits the ground. And it's nothing but concrete, cement," her mother says. "She wasn't moving. She was just knocked out." Kehm said "he did what he had to do at the moment—those were his words," she adds. A district rep says, "It's very concerning. It's alarming to see this. And while we want to get all the details, I want people to know that excessive force will not be tolerated in this district." The San Antonio Express-News reports the two girls had fought previously and were told to separate. Students tell KSAT that Kehm tried to diffuse the situation peacefully but was kicked several times. Janissa, who denies she kicked the officer, was suspended for two days, while Kehm was placed on paid leave on Wednesday. School officials and police are investigating.