A former Berkeley Technology Academy student and his mother are suing the Berkeley Unified School District and the Berkeley Police Department after a school resource officer allegedly assaulted and falsely arrested the student at Berkeley High School last year.<\/p>\n
Filed last Wednesday at the Alameda County Superior Court, the lawsuit claims BUSD and BPD violated the student\u2019s civil rights when the officer detained the student without probable cause, inflicting physical and mental injuries.<\/p>\n
The suit alleges the former student \u2014 who is Black and was on an Independent Educational Plan at the time of the incident \u2014 was denied substantive due process and equal protection under the law on the basis of his race and disability.<\/p>\n
BUSD\u2019s Public Information Office said it could not comment on the specifics of any ongoing litigation, but said the emotional and physical safety of every student is \u201ca top priority\u201d for the district.<\/p>\n
In 2025, the student attended BTA \u2014 the district\u2019s continuation school \u2014 which occasionally sends some of its students to Berkeley High for classes or access to services such as counseling.<\/p>\n
The student was leaving one of his regularly scheduled therapy sessions at Berkeley High when he was approached by the school resource officer.<\/p>\n
The officer allegedly attacked him without provocation, slamming him into the ground and continuing the assault after moving the student to an off-campus location away from security cameras.<\/p>\n
The student was arrested, though the lawsuit argues that the resource officer lacked probable cause.<\/p>\n
It also alleges the district and police department later failed to report the incident as required under California child abuse laws.<\/p>\n
School resource officers within BUSD are sworn officers with BPD, and they have the authority to detain and arrest students on school property. Officer Byron White said BPD could not comment on cases pending litigation.<\/p>\n
The day after the initial incident, teachers and students urged the district to take immediate action at the school board\u2019s regular Wednesday meeting.<\/p>\n
In a prepared statement, Amanda Cardno, a special education teacher at BTA who helped coordinate the therapy session at Berkeley High, said she, BTA principal Vincent Toan and the student\u2019s counselor had given him permission to be there. A colleague read the statement aloud during public comment.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis was a student in emotional crisis looking for help. They were met with aggression \u2026 their disability was ignored and they \u2014 a child \u2014 were treated like a threat,\u201d Cardno\u2019s statement said.<\/p>\n
Cardno\u2019s statement also called for BTA students to be \u201ctreated with respect and dignity,\u201d claiming that they are viewed as \u201ctrespassers\u201d while at Berkeley High.<\/p>\n
Nina Camerino, a former student at Berkeley High who transferred to BTA her junior year, said she feels some staff at Berkeley High \u201clook down upon\u201d those from the continuation school. She also claimed that those caught on campus face \u201ca huge punishment.\u201d<\/p>\n
During the 2024-25 school year, the small continuation school had only 54 students, and more than half of them were Black, according to data submitted to the California Department of Education.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have to have systems in place to ensure students safely attend counseling sessions and feel like valued members of the community, not like trespassers,\u201d Cardno\u2019s statement read.<\/p>\n
According to the lawsuit, the former student and his mother are seeking a minimum of $35,000 in damages, in addition to attorney fees, and they are demanding a jury trial.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A former Berkeley Technology Academy student and his mother are suing the Berkeley Unified School District and the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":216367,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[34],"tags":[21725,99308,9688,7872,80411,99307,6765,21382,99306,99309,143,145,144],"class_list":["post-216366","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-oakland","tag-alameda-county-superior-court","tag-amanda-cardno","tag-berkeley-high-school","tag-berkeley-police-department","tag-berkeley-technology-academy","tag-berkeley-unified-public-information-office","tag-berkeley-unified-school-district","tag-byron-white","tag-independent-educational-plan","tag-nina-camerino","tag-oakland","tag-oakland-headlines","tag-oakland-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/216366","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=216366"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/216366\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/216367"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=216366"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=216366"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=216366"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}