Peach County officer cleared of criminal wrongdoing after altercation with student

A sergeant at the Peach County Sheriff’s Office who served as an officer at a local school has been reassigned after a verbal altercation with a student which was caught on video.

Despite the reassignment, the sheriff’s office has cleared the officer of any criminal wrongdoing.

“The Peach County Sheriff’s Office, after reviewing the incident, we have determined Sgt. Perry committed no crime,” Sheriff Robert “Buck” Shannon said in a statement.

The decision to reassign the officer was made after coordinating with school district officials, including Peach County Schools Superintendent Jesse Davis, Shannon said.

“We have agreed to the transfer of Sgt. Perry from the school system,” he added.

The sheriff’s office oversees the district’s school resource officers.

Shannon did not respond to additional requests for comment prior to publication, and did not provide Perry’s first name.

The inciden occurred on Dec. 3, when a 16-year-old Peach County Schools student was detained on a school bus following an encounter with a school resource officer, according to social media posts and the mother of the student. The student’s behavior during the incident was classified and charged as disorderly conduct, according to his mother, who shared footage of the encounter online.

Taalor Wiggins, the mother of the minor, said the incident began with students passing around a vape on the bus. By the time law enforcement arrived, her son had it.

Wiggins recently shared a longer follow-up video online detailing events prior to the officer’s arrival and showing the student being placed in handcuffs. In the video, students could be heard telling the officer the vape did not belong to Wiggins’ son.

Perry can be heard telling her son, “I know you from the incident at the high school,” to which the student responded, “you don’t know a damn thing about what happened at the high school.”

The officer, whose back was facing the camera, used multiple expletives toward the student and told him to shut his mouth “before I put my hands on your ass” during the argument, the video showed.

Wiggins said the situation is bigger than her son and emphasized that her priority is ensuring school-based officers meet professional standards when working with students.

“There’s a certain demeanor that you need to adhere yourself to,” she said. “You’re working with kids. At the end of the day, there was no threatening that should have happened. In situations like that, if you feel yourself being worked up, especially with other people’s children around witnessing your behavior, you should rethink it all.”

Wiggins said her family has struggled to get updates from the sheriff’s office prior to its released statement Friday evening.

“Until the time comes for a proper investigation, we are just happy to know that Sgt. Perry will not be working around any other children,” Wiggins told The Telegraph.

Student may face expulsion, family says

Wiggins said her son is waiting on a tribunal hearing to determine whether he will be expelled or allowed to return to school. Wiggins said she is concerned about the impact on his mental health.

“He’s doing work online because he still hasn’t been able to go back to school through this whole thing. So, it’s just him being isolated,” she said, adding that he has not been officially suspended but was told by school officials to remain at home.

“He has made statements that he’s hesitant to return to school because he doesn’t want any retaliation after bringing this incident public,” she said.

Wiggins said her son’s rights were not respected and that the family still intends to pursue charges against Perry.