A 17-year-old in Florida ran into all sorts of trouble when he attempted to leave the school parking lot on the way to an orthodontist appointment.
From the driver's seat of his pickup truck, the teen sat through a standoff with a police officer and school employee that escalated almost immediately.
William Miller, a student at River Ridge High School, in New Port Richey, Florida hit a human roadblock while he traversed the campus' exit lane. As the police officer's body cam footage shows, his path was obstructed by a golf cart, the police officer and the River Ridge Discipline Assistant, Cathy Bond.
Miller claimed he ought to be free to go, that he had a legitimate excuse to leave school grounds. Both adults claimed he was truant.
The video has exploded since Miller's mother, Nedra Miller, obtained the recording from the Pasco County Sheriff's Department and posted it on her Facebook page in late January 2020.
At time of writing, the video has been viewed over 85,000 times and beckoned over 1500 comments.
The video begins in the middle of the argument. Presumably, the police officer turned his body cam on when things initially escalated.
Upon beginning the recording, it only took about 16 seconds for the police officer to make the profane threats.
"You're gonna get shot you come another fu**ing foot closer to me. You run into me, you'll get fu**ing shot."
Nedra Miller told The Tampa Bay Timesthat she called the school weeks in advance to notify them of his impending absence.
The 3 minute long video features no diplomacy from any party. Neither the teen nor the adults accept any compromise.
All dig their heels in, Miller claiming he's free to go, Bond and the police officer deciding how he'll be punished.
Nedra Miller went on to tell The Tampa Bay Timesthat her son clearly wasn't an angel, but the adults should be held to a different standard than the 17-year-old.
"All three were acting like children and all three are wrong."
"But the cop more so. He's just flat out not okay to be around children. I was shocked that an officer of the law working with children would speak to my son that way."
Facebook comments on the video were split about her take, but leaned toward Miller's side.
Michael Hurley, Alicia Braun/Facebook
Savannah Worthington/Facebook
Mark Steiner/Facebook
Angie Sewell/Facebook
Angelica D Xenos-Vervitas/Facebook
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Nedra Miller explained to The Tampa Bay Times that William wasn't originally supposed to appear at school that day, but drove in a friend who missed the bus.
The issue in question occurred after he dropped the friend off and turned around to leave.
Eventually, William did yield to the adults, parked the car, and went inside the school building. The video ends before this occurs.
He was originally suspended from 12/17/19 to 1/9/20 then expelled and sent to a specific school with a more reformative mission:
"For students who...have a behavior pattern which has not been improved by a continuum of positive behavior and academic intervention strategies."
According to Pasco Schools spokesperson Linda Cobbe, Ms. Bond—the Discipline Officer in the video—met with the principal to discuss the incident, but there is no district investigation of the incident.
A spokesman for the Sherrif's Office said there is an internal investigation being conducted, but the police officer is still actively working at the school.
Ms. Miller has appealed the district's decision to not investigate.
"I just feel like if they were all acting like children and my son received that level of discipline, they should, too."
"They should both be removed from their jobs."
