Pennsylvania residents question police response to student ICE protesters after 5 juveniles detained
PHILADELPHIA (AP) — Some residents in the Philadelphia suburb of Quakertown are calling for the police chief to resign after a scuffle between police and high school students protesting immigration enforcement policies left several juveniles in custody for four days.
Video circulating online shows an older man in street clothes approach a group of young protesters outside a delicatessen and put his arm around the neck of a teenage girl as other teens swing at him and they both fall to the ground.
Some residents have identified the man as 72-year-old Police Chief Scott McElree, who also serves as borough manager. The man can be seen talking to other officers on the scene after the scuffle before getting into a vehicle. McElree did not return messages left Tuesday by The Associated Press at his home and workplace.
The Quakertown Police Department, in a statement Friday, said five or six demonstrators were taken into custody after the group became disruptive while protesting Immigration and Custody Enforcement actions across the country. The group had staged a walkout from Quakertown Community High School.
“Some participants began engaging in disruptive behavior, including throwing snowballs at vehicles, kicking cars, and damaging property, such as tearing a side mirror from a car. Officers issued additional warnings to maintain civil,” the police statement said.
The students — who were detained throughout the weekend and again Monday when a snowstorm closed county offices – were due in juvenile court Tuesday for bail hearings, according to the Bucks County District Attorney’s Office. The hearings are closed to the public, and no further information was immediately available.
District Attorney Joe Khan, a former federal prosecutor, is investigating the series of events. Calls left Tuesday for other borough officials and the Quakertown Community School District were not immediately returned.
The superintendent, in a statement issued Sunday, said school officials had been meeting with students on a planned walkout near campus, but then asked them to cancel it out of safety concerns. Instead, about 35 students left campus and walked into town, beyond their jurisdiction, acting Superintendent Lisa Hoffman said.
Speakers at a borough council meeting Monday evening called for the students’ release, and more than 9,000 people have signed an online petition calling for the chief’s resignation. Quakertown, about 35 miles north of Philadelphia, has about 9,300 residents.