Boy, 16, punched by Fairfield officer speaks out
Boy, 16, punched by officer at Fairfield High speaks out
Maurice Williams, 16, says the officer who repeatedly punched him while he was on the ground should be fired.
FAIRFIELD, Calif. - A 16-year-old boy seen on video being repeatedly punched by a police officer at Fairfield High School told KTVU on Thursday the officer should be fired.
"They said I was resisting, but the way she came in, she had no reason to do what she did," said Maurice Williams, a sophomore at the school.
Teen discusses incident caught on video
What they're saying:
Cell phone and police body-camera video show Maurice on the ground shielding himself with his hands as he's being hit by Officer Bianca Camacho, who also goes by Bianca Brown.
Holding his hands over his face, Maurice said, "I'm just like this as she's hitting me, like on the hands, through the hands, on my face."
The officer has since been reassigned within the department. Police say the teenager was aggressive and resisted being handcuffed after a campus fight, which prompted the officer to deliver the department called "distraction strikes."
"I don't know what she was trying to distract me from. I don't think I was distracted by anything except for the hits," Maurice said.
New video shows officer admitting to punching teen, family says
What they're saying:
His family provided video to KTVU in which his stepmother asked the officer about hitting Maurice in the face, and the officer apparently admitting to it.
"I'm just talking about the part where you punch him in the face," the stepmother says.
"I know," the officer said. "I punched him in the face, yes. I did."
"But he was not resisting, like why were you punching him in the face?" the stepmother said.
After some back-and-forth, the officer says, "OK, I'm not going to have this conversation with you guys, OK?"
Later, the family asks why Maurice is being arrested.
The officer responded, "He's arrested for resisting and for injuring a staff member."
Message to police
On Thursday, Maurice had this message for the police.
"I wonder what they would think if it happened to them or a kid or somebody that they care about?"
Maurice and his family says another video showing the same officer pulling an 18-year-old woman out of her car by her hair last year is proof that the officer is unfit to serve.
"I want her to be disciplined, be fired, and not be able to be a police officer no more," Maurice said.
Attorney weighs in
What they're saying:
Asked for his initial reaction to what happened to Maurice, the family's attorney, Ben Nisenbaum, said, "Honestly, I was both outraged and disgusted."
"Officers are expected to encounter people who don't always do what they tell them to do," Nisenbaum said. "It's not a basis, necessarily, to use any force, and certainly not a basis to use unreasonable force, or excessive force."
Henry Lee is a KTVU crime reporter. E-mail Henry at Henry.Lee@fox.com and follow him on X @henrykleeKTVU and www.facebook.com/henrykleefan
The Source: KTVU reporting, Fairfield police
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Dozens of people packed a Fairfield City Council meeting Tuesday afternoon, voicing outrage after a police officer seen on video repeatedly striking a 16-year-old boy on a high school campus was also captured on video last year pulling an 18-year-old woman from a car by her hair.