OVERREACTION

Deputy ‘Threatened to Shoot Kid’ for Trying to Leave School to Visit Dentist

The 17-year-old was stopped as he was trying to head out of his high school’s campus for an orthodontist appointment, then was subsequently suspended.

A police officer assigned to a Florida high school threatened to shoot a 17-year-old boy for trying to leave his campus to go to an orthodontist appointment, the Tampa Bay Times reports. A video posted by William Miller’s mom shows him trying to drive out of the River Ridge High School parking lot, but being blocked by two adults in a golf cart. The adults—a school resource officer employed by the Pasco County Sheriff’s Office and a school discipline assistant—told him he couldn’t leave. Following an argument, Miller tried to drive his vehicle around the cart and the deputy told him: “You’re gonna get shot, you come another fucking foot closer to me ... You run into me, you’ll get fucking shot.” William’s mother, Nedra Miller, told the newspaper she had called the school in advance to excuse her son’s absence before the December incident. William Miller has reportedly since been suspended by the school. A Sheriff’s Office spokesperson said there’s an internal investigation into the actions of the officer, but added that he’s still working at the school as no criminal complaint has been made.