Deputy charged for assaulting middle school student in South Carolina, police say
A school resource officer in Marlboro County, South Carolina slammed a middle school student’s head into his patrol car and then lied in an incident report to cover up the “excessive force,” police say.
State investigators arrested a Marlboro County Sheriff’s Office deputy Wednesday on charges of assault and battery and misconduct in office, according to the South Carolina Law Enforcement Division.
The now-former Deputy James Patrick Legette, 30, assaulted the student at Blenheim Middle School in rural Marlboro County on Aug. 30, SLED said.
According to the charges, Legette was caught on video “unlawfully grabbing a non-resistant juvenile victim and, with force, throwing him against his patrol vehicle, causing the juvenile victim to strike his head and neck area.”
Legette then lied in the incident report, saying the student resisted him even though video shows otherwise, SLED said.
