COLORADO SPRINGS — A Colorado Springs police officer punched a Coronado High School student to break up a fight because he feared the situation would escalate if he did not act quickly, according to an incident report about the situation.
School Resource Officer Adam Romine, who is assigned to Coronado, hit Kaosha Neal, 15, on Nov. 20 when his initial efforts to end a fight between Neal and Precious Davis, 17, were unsuccessful.
The report — which The Gazette obtained under an open-records request — gives the first glimpse of the officer’s perspective of the fight, but Sgt. Lisa Cintron, who supervises school resource officers, said Friday that an internal investigation into Romine’s action is ongoing.
Police file reports and investigate after an officer makes any kind of physical contact with anyone, she said.
She would not release additional information, saying the matter was an internal affairs issue and not public information.
Earlier in the day, a police spokeswoman said the officer had done nothing wrong.
“He acted in a manner consistent with his training and duties,” police spokeswoman Lt. Catherine Buckley said.
Initial reports after students’ cellphone videos of the fight went viral indicated the officer punched the girl in the jaw. In Romine’s report, he wrote that he struck the girl with a “closed right fist” because he feared the situation could escalate if it weren’t resolved quickly.
“I feared that either the students or I were more likely to be hurt the longer the confrontation continued, and that I was alone and surrounded by a large crowd,” Romine wrote. “Due to that and that (redacted) physical combativeness was escalating, I struck her with a closed right fist on her left collar bone area.”
The fight stopped immediately after he hit the girl, he wrote.
Both girls were cited for fighting and were suspended from school for three days.
