Uproar as video of Bay Area police officer punching teen goes viral

A Fairfield police officer has been reassigned, and an independent investigation will be conducted into the beating of a 16-year-old high school student, the city's police chief said. The moves follow circulation of a video that shows Officer Bianca Camacho striking the teen when responding to a fight at Fairfield High School on Tuesday.

"In the interest of transparency, an outside organization will conduct an independent investigation of the incident," Chief Dan Marshall said on social media Friday. "The officer has been administratively reassigned in the department as we navigate this emotional and challenging time."

"I am sorry this incident occurred," Marshall said. He didn't identify what outside body would conduct the review or when it would be completed.

In the video, Camacho appears to strike high school student Maurice Williams in the head at least seven times while he is pinned to the ground and held by his dreadlocks. A press release issued by Fairfield police on Thursday referred to the blows as "distraction strikes" made by the officer after she was "unable to overcome his resistance."

"One of the videos that has circulated depicts an officer striking a male student in the head, and there have been rumors that the student was already handcuffed at the time," Marshall said. "I want to clarify that the student was not handcuffed during the incident."

Bystander footage showed Williams being restrained by School Resource Officer James Lewis when Camacho seizes the student and throws him to the ground, punching him while shouting, "Give me your f—king hands."

In a press conference Friday, the family of Maurice Williams said he suffered from headaches and "dizzy spells" afterward. The press conference, called at the school, included Barry Accius, founder of Sacramento organization Voice of the Youth. Williams' mother, Rhamesha Stevenson, stepmother, Sequoia Williams, and father, Will Williams Jr. Accius and supporters called for an investigation into Fairfield Police Department and into Officer Camacho.

Lewis was at the school filling in for Fairfield High School's regular resource officer, who is on paternity leave. Lewis called on Fairfield police for backup, which included Camacho. If the normal resource officer had been working, the fight wouldn't have escalated, said Will Bible, a campus monitor who assists him in breaking up fights at the school. Usually, when a fight breaks out, Bible said, the resource officer "would grab one, I would grab one and we'd separate them." Bible said he had never seen additional police called to intervene.

Bible said he was working at the school Tuesday when a verbal dispute broke out between Williams and another boy. "It wasn't a fight — that's what's puzzling me," Bible said.

"I just wonder what would happen if nobody was filming," he said.

The police chief said his department is working with the Fairfield-Suisun Unified School District and community leaders to organize a community meeting.

"I want to acknowledge the hurt, concern, and trauma many people have felt after watching the video circulating on social media," Marshall said on social media.

"I understand that incidents like this can be especially emotional given the history of events across the nation, and I recognize why members of our community are asking questions and expressing concerns about this occurring with a young man on a high school campus."

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