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A disturbing incident caught on video at a south suburban Richton Park high school showed a student in an altercation, a security guard who tried to intervene, and dozens of classmates watching.
Kamora Chiles and her family shared a cell phone video and their account of what occurred on Feb. 20 inside the halls of Rich Township High School’s Fine Arts and Communications Campus.
The junior said she got in a fight with a senior after a field trip, and when they got back to school, she was assaulted by the security guard.
“I hit her, and security came and started choking me,” Chiles said. “He pulled my hair out in the back. He swung me to the floor. He hit me in my face. I got a bruise on my shoulder. He could have went a different way with breaking it up.”
Her 18-year-old sister and friend were there.
“He used an excessive amount of force,” Praise Djansi, a friend and witness, said.
NBC Chicago obtained surveillance video from the building – the school’s version of what happened. It also appeared to show the adult security guard getting hit.
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Rich Township High School District 227 said it was “made aware of an altercation between two female students (sisters) and another female student. A sworn police officer working for the district intervened in attempts to secure the situation. The matter is under review and pending investigation.”
“My kid showed me a video, and I just saw a man with his arm around my daughter’s neck, and that was unacceptable,” Jonathon Chiles, Kamora’s father, said.
Kamora’s family and friends explained that putting her into a chokehold sent her into “fight or flight” mode as she tried to get out of it.
Kamora’s parents received a “battery” citation from the Richton Park Police Department. Her older sister is facing charges; she’ll also answer next month.
“I’d like to see the security guard get fired, or he needs to take classes on how to restrain some kids,” Kamora’s father said.
The family said they’ve contacted a lawyer and plan to file their own police report.
“Nobody should experience what I experienced that day,” Kamora said.
