An Omaha police school resource officer has been reassigned pending an internal investigation into a fist-fight Thursday at Millard South High.
Students tweeted video of the altercation that police say happened near the high school library just after 1:30 p.m. showing resource officer Nicholas Caniglia punching a student as he broke up the fight.
KMTV obtained a longer version of the video, running slightly more than two minutes. It showed the events leading up the brawl. Teens taunted another teen in the hallway before fists flew. Violence escalated as security guard Tim Kimpson intervened, and the group hit the floor, still punching each other. Eventually Caniglia intervened, pulled one of the students away, and punched him at least five times.
Police say Kimpson was hurt when one of the teens punched him in the left cheek. A police report listed Kimpson as the victim, and said one teen would be prosecuted.
The teen Caniglia punched in the video said he was okay, but shaken Thursday night. In a text messages with KMTV he said he did not remember much from the fight.
His friends said they’ve had prior run-ins with Caniglia. Millard South senior Andreas Dunn stood next to the friend who posted the video to Twitter.
“I'm not the kind of person who hates cops, but he's [Caniglia] not a nice person. And he's always been that way,” Dunn said.
Millard South students and staff also praised the officer. KMTV received several calls on his behalf, students who would not go on the record pointed to the final moments of the video where Caniglia is seen subduing the teen.
OPD confirmed the police investigation Thursday, releasing the following statement:
"The video showed a 15 second snippet of an apparent large fight but failed to capture the situation in its entirety. We are looking into what precipitated the officer's actions and if they were appropriate considering the totality of the circumstances.”
Meanwhile, a Millard School spokesperson said this:
"We are disappointed these students chose to fight. We are grateful no students or staff were seriously hurt. We see the videos you see. We have begun and will continue our investigation."
