Student Says Security Officer Beat Him

Lonnie Holman, 16, needed 10 stitches to close the gash in his eye

School officials in Gary, Ind., on Wednesday said they were investigating a scuffle that left a student and an off-duty police officer injured.

Lonnie Holman, 16, needed 10 stitches to close the gash in his eye, has cuts to his arms and head, and a fractured eye socket following the Tuesday afternoon incident at Lew Wallace High School. The officer, who was working as a security officer for the school, had cuts to his hands and a wrist injury.

According to the Gary Police Department, school officials ordered students back into the gymnasium after an incident during the school's lunch hour. Holman said a security officer who was escorting his sister to the office socked him after Holman refused to go back to the gym.

"I will always protect my brother and siter. They're all I have," the teen said Wednesday evening. "They're the only family I have."

Holman's mother, Esmerelda Hernandez, said she's been told nothing about why her son was punched.

"I want the officer and the school to be held responsible for what they've done to my child," she said. "It could have easily been anyone else's child."
 
Holman, a transfer student whose only attended the school for nine days, spent Tuesday evening in juvenile detention and remains under house arrest, charged with assaulting a peace officer and resisting arrest.

A school spokeswoman said only that an investigation was ongoing.

"Their [SIC] was an incident where a student was involved in an altercation with a police officer and as a result the student was arrested. It is under investigation and we have no further information to offer at this time," said Charmella Greer.

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