A felony charge was withdrawn against a teen girl who was seen in a video placed in an apparent chokehold by the police chief of Quakertown during an anti-ICE protest by high school students in February, her lawyer said Tuesday.
The 15-year-old girl still faces lesser charges of simple assault and disorderly conduct and is expected to proceed to trial next month unless those charges are also withdrawn, said Timothy Prendergast, the girl’s lawyer.
“I don’t believe she engaged in any criminal behavior,” Prendergast said.
The borough has been embroiled in controversy since Feb. 20, when students from Quakertown Community High School participated in a walkout to protest federal immigration enforcement.
During the continuing protest outside the high school, Quakertown Police Chief Scott McElree rushed into the crowd.
Videos recorded by bystanders and reviewed by The Inquirer show McElree grappling with several students, at one point wrapping his arm around a teenage girl’s neck before taking her to the ground. McElree, who was not in uniform at the time, left the scene bleeding, the videos showed.
Five teenagers were initially charged with aggravated assault, a felony, and related offenses. And the Bucks County District Attorney’s Office is investigating the entire incident, including McElree’s role.
In March, one of the teens agreed to a consent decree with the District Attorney’s Office to have felony charges dismissed and, after six months of supervisory probation, to have the lesser charges expunged, Prendergast said.
In the affidavit of probable cause for the arrest of one of the teenagers, officers wrote that McElree had been attempting to take a student into custody when the encounter escalated. A teenage boy struck him in the ear, the affidavit said, and others hit him in the shoulder and ribs.
The document does not mention a chokehold.
McElree, though he was not in uniform, claims he was nearby conducting traffic control when he engaged with the protest, according to Prendergast.
McElree claims he identified himself as a police officer to the teens, but Predergast disputes that.
“None of these kids knew who this guy was,” Prendergast said.
According to the affidavit, McElree sought medical treatment for undisclosed injuries.
More than a week later, McElree, 72, who also serves as borough manager, began a workers’ compensation leave, the borough’s attorney said.