On a Friday morning last September, a Tolleson Union High School student walked out the back doors of the school’s main student services building and into the outside courtyard. He’d just had a heated argument with his ex-girlfriend and was experiencing tunnel vision, he later said.
Upon exiting, he took a few steps to avoid the figure on the other side of the double doors: one of the school resource officers on duty, Tolleson police officer Eric Hendrix. Hendrix was escorting the ex-girlfriend to the office. He told the ex-boyfriend to stop to talk. But the student didn’t stop.
Hendrix then physically attacked the student in an “unwarranted” and “excessive” way, according to a third-party investigative report released this week by Tolleson Union High School District. The officer’s actions ultimately cost him his position at the school. The report, crafted by attorney Deanna Rader of Rader Mayrose LLP, offered new details on the incident, which was the subject of news coverage earlier this year…