A Louisiana grand jury has indicted two former Brusly, La., police officers accused of using excessive force on a student, but the boy’s family believes the charges aren’t harsh enough, reports The Advocate. Former officer Anthony “Kip” Dupre was charged with malfeasance in office and former officer Dan Cipriano with a count of simple battery. The case came to light in November, after video footage leaked to the media showed Dupre apparently beating a student in a school office on Oct. 5. Dupre can be seen wrestling the student and slamming him to the ground in an office twice. There is no audio in the video, but it appears that Dupre rapidly thrusts his arm and shoulder up and down toward the youth, as if punching him, while school staff nervously look on.
Cipriano arrived toward the end of the struggle to get the student in handcuffs and escort him out of the office. Dupre said the student reached for a gun during the encounter, and the video appears to show him handing the gun to a staff member while he was on the ground. The 14-year-old student’s attorney, Kwame Asante, said the family initially was happy that the grand jury found enough evidence to charge the officers, but after reviewing the charges themselves they felt the decision was a “slap on the wrist.” Both officers were placed on leave immediately following the alleged assault and resigned in November. Asante said the problems started that morning because the boy was assigned to detention for cursing on the playground, then he got into an argument with an administrator over how long he was to be in detention.