{"id":124069,"date":"2026-02-26T12:47:24","date_gmt":"2026-02-26T12:47:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/124069\/"},"modified":"2026-02-26T12:47:24","modified_gmt":"2026-02-26T12:47:24","slug":"quakertown-ice-arrests-students-demand-police-chief-resign","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/124069\/","title":{"rendered":"Quakertown ICE arrests: Students demand police chief resign"},"content":{"rendered":"

Students demand accountability from Quakertown police, high school<\/p>\n

Students and community members demanded answers from the borough council during a lengthy period of public comments on Monday.\n<\/p>\n

Quakertown High School student Inarah Menhart was at the protest. She said the borough needs to focus on protecting the arrested students.\n<\/p>\n

\u201cI had to witness my best friend and fellow classmates choked, punched, tackled and held with their faces to the pavement unrightfully, which is beyond obscene and inexcusable,\u201d Menhart said. \u201cHow could we students stand back as our friends had their dignity and rights ripped away?\u201d\n<\/p>\n

Laura Foster, cofounder of Upper Bucks United<\/a>, called for McElree\u2019s immediate suspension and raised concerns over his tactics. She questioned why he was at a student protest wearing plain clothes.\n <\/p>\n

\u201cWhy did he insert himself into a situation involving children without first identifying himself or assessing the circumstances?\u201d Foster asked.\n<\/p>\n

Foster said every law enforcement officer at the protest should be investigated, and that everyone had the responsibility to intervene and stop McElree.\n<\/p>\n

Colin Hancock said he stood in the back of the protest as the chief of police assaulted a 15-year-old student. Shortly after the confrontation between demonstrators and law enforcement, Hancock ran to his friend\u2019s house.\n<\/p>\n

He did not feel safe going back to his own home, he said.\n<\/p>\n

\u201cI do not feel safe going back to school tomorrow,\u201d Hancock said. \u201cI do not feel safe having to walk to school tomorrow.\u201d\n<\/p>\n

The Quakertown student also criticized his school, saying it should be held responsible for \u201cblatantly lying about the actions that happened that day.\u201d\n<\/p>\n

Hancock\u2019s older sister Desiree Craft said the incident made her question the school district she used to take pride in and asked why the arrested students haven\u2019t been released.\n<\/p>\n

\u201cHow am I supposed to expect my child to grow up in this community safe?\u201d Craft said.\n<\/p>\n

Quakertown council members under fire<\/p>\n

Council President Donald Rosenberger said the borough has requested that the district attorney investigate the incident.\n<\/p>\n

\u201cThe council is very disturbed by the circumstances surrounding this incident,\u201d Rosenberger said. \u201cWe do not condone the actions of anyone who breaks the law.\u201d\n<\/p>\n

Foster criticized the council\u2019s lack of comment on the incident.\n<\/p>\n

\u201cI know that you see the videos,\u201d Foster said. \u201cWe\u2019ve all seen the atrocities of what happened to these children.\u201d\n<\/p>\n

Councilmember Jonathan Sell played an explicit voicemail message he received from a community member, demanding that he work to release the arrested students.\n<\/p>\n

What happens now?<\/p>\n

\u201cTo ensure a thorough and transparent review,\u201d the district attorney\u2019s office is requesting that anyone with information, photos or videos contact Bucks County detectives at 215-348-6354.\n<\/p>\n

Superintendent Lisa Hoffman, in a statement<\/a> issued Sunday, said the school is working with the Bucks County Intermediate Unit to develop a \u201ccounseling support plan\u201d for both students and staff.\n<\/p>\n

Police will also be present at Quakertown High School this week to assist with the return to class following the walkout and arrests.\n<\/p>\n

\u201cRegardless of differing perspectives about what occurred, we are committed to listening, supporting students and staff who may need to process what happened, and ensuring that everyone feels safe within our schools,\u201d Hoffman said.\n<\/p>\n

Quarkertown police did not immediately respond to WHYY News\u2019 request for comment.\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Students demand accountability from Quakertown police, high school Students and community members demanded answers from the borough council…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":124070,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[6635,28,30,29,5758],"class_list":{"0":"post-124069","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-pennsylvania","8":"tag-aclu","9":"tag-pennsylvania","10":"tag-pennsylvania-headlines","11":"tag-pennsylvania-news","12":"tag-quakertown"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/124069","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=124069"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/124069\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/124070"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=124069"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=124069"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=124069"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}