In November, the principal of Woodland Hills High School was investigated for allegedly threatening to knock a student’s teeth down his throat.
On Wednesday, an attorney for a student at the same school accused the school resource officer of doing just that — striking a boy so hard that his front right tooth had to be sewn back into his mouth.
“Too much has happened at Woodland Hills High School in the past six months for this to be ignored,” said attorney Todd Hollis, who is representing the student he identified as Queshawn Wade, 14.
At a press conference Wednesday at his office downtown, Mr. Hollis sat next to the boy — who had a bruise on his face that he said was a remnant of Monday afternoon’s altercation — and outlined his version of events.
The teen was questioned by Officer Steve Shaulis, a Churchill police officer stationed at the school, about a missing cell phone, Mr. Hollis said. The officer told the teen that the matter “would end up in court,” and the student exited the school office and walked back into the hallway. Officer Shaulis followed the student and used a derogatory term to describe him, Mr. Hollis said. The boy “responded in kind,” he said, and the officer then pulled him back into the office where he threw him against the wall and knocked him to the floor, striking him multiple times before eventually handcuffing him.
Mr. Hollis said he doesn’t know what the student was ultimately charged with, but that he was taken by ambulance from the school to UPMC Presbyterian, where his tooth was sewn back into his mouth. The boy, whose face was still swollen Wednesday, will need four more surgeries, he said.
“How hard does a person have to hit a child to knock their teeth completely out of their mouth?” Mr. Hollis said. “What does a child have to do to justify that response?”
“I don’t care about the phone,” he added. “This is a 14-year-old child. This is not a grown man. This is a school where we send our kids to.”
Churchill Interim Police Chief Roch Kujava referred all questions to the Allegheny County District Attorney’s Office, which is investigating the incident. He did not say whether Officer Shaulis remains on duty and would not outline what charges the student faces.
Mike Manko, spokesman for District Attorney Stephen A. Zappala Jr., also declined to detail any charges against the student because he is a juvenile.
“Our office is in receipt of the initial report from Churchill Police concerning this incident,” he said in a statement. “As is always the case when there is police use of force to effectuate an arrest, our office will review this incident and share that review with the FBI.”
Woodland Hills Superintendent Alan Johnson said he will also be conducting his own investigation into what happened.
“We certainly regret that the student was injured — that’s not what we want to ever see happen,” Mr. Johnson said. “Mr. Hollis made some serious allegations and I need to investigate them, and when we’ve done that we’ll have a statement to issue.”
In addition to accusing Officer Shaulis, Mr. Hollis said another unnamed officer and Principal Kevin Murray were present during the incident and did not intervene.
Mr. Murray was reinstated from paid leave in January, after the district attorney’s office declined to press charges after an audio recording surfaced of him threatening to punch a student and telling him he would “knock his ... teeth down his throat” during an incident in April 2016. Later, Mr. Murray told the student that if the matter were to go to court, his word would be believed over the student’s “every time.”
Attorney Phil DiLucente, who represents Mr. Murray, said his client was not aware of the altercation between Officer Shaulis and the student until after it happened.
“My client was not involved in the incident and casting his name in this light with respect to the alleged incident is not only inflammatory, but completely unnecessary and only done to damage his reputation,” Mr. DiLucente said in a statement.
But Mr. Hollis said both Officer Shaulis and the principal need to be permanently removed from the school because of their behavior.
“Where there’s smoke, there’s fire,” he said. “This tells me there’a problem at Woodland Hills High School that needs to be corrected.”
Elizabeth Behrman: Lbehrman@post-gazette.com or 412-263-1590.
First Published: April 6, 2017, 4:00 a.m.
