Surveillance video from Olmsted Academy North, where a resource officer was accused of strangling a student in January, appears to show the student knocking the officer to the ground before the officer puts the boy in a chokehold, raising him off the ground and causing the student to apparently lose consciousness.
At a probable cause hearing on Thursday, Sgt. Arnold Rivera, with the Louisville Metro Police Department's Public Integrity Unit, testified that the video was consistent with claims of strangulation. He said the video from Jan. 27 showed the 13-year-old boy going limp and falling to the ground as Officer Jonathan Hardin tried to put him down.
"He didn't move for maybe 20 seconds," Rivera said. The student continued lying on the ground for about five minutes before Hardin put him in handcuffs and led him out of the camera's view.
Rivera testified that the student said he was trying to chest bump the officer, calling it horseplay, when he knocked Hardin off balance.
Rivera said, after reviewing the video, that he believed Hardin's response was excessive.
A defense attorney for Hardin, who was removed from his position at the school and suspended without pay from LMPD, argued that incident didn't warrant a felony assault charge for the former resource officer because there was no evidence of any serious physical injury and no evidence that the student sought or needed medical treatment. Rivera testified the he did not observe any obvious signs of injury when he met with the student several days later on Feb. 2.
The prosecutor argued that strangulation carries a risk of death, justifying the first-degree charge. Judge Eric J. Haner concurred that the definition of serious physical injury includes a risk of death.
Haner ruled there was enough evidence to refer the case to the grand jury, which will meet during the week of April 20 and will decide whether Hardin will be indicted on the felony charge.
