Teen sues over attack by Oakland school security guard

Video: OAKLAND: Newly obtained video shows attack of student in wheelchair

An Oakland High School student who has cerebral palsy and uses a wheelchair has filed a lawsuit against the school district, saying he was the victim of excessive force when he was attacked last year by a security guard on campus in an incident that was captured on surveillance cameras.

Francisco Martinez, 18, said in the suit filed Wednesday in Alameda County Superior Court in Oakland that he was wrongfully detained on May 19, 2014, by guard Marchell Mitchell, who then handcuffed him, punched him and dumped him from his wheelchair.

When Martinez protested his treatment, and noted that he hoped to be walking — with crutches — in several weeks, Mitchell uttered an expletive and said something to the effect of “I hope you never walk,” according to the complaint.

“Francisco was a completely innocent young man,” said his attorney Julia Sherwin. “When he asserted his rights, he ended up being brutalized. He’s very committed to standing up to this egregious sort of violation of his rights.”

Oakland schools spokesman Troy Flint said Wednesday, “I would say that we are not surprised by the lawsuit. We understand that what occurred in the case of Francisco Martinez was wrong, and the adults acted in an unacceptable manner toward a student and instead of defusing the incident in an adult manner, escalated it.

“As soon as we learned of the incident, we took swift action, because this sort of behavior from employees who are entrusted with protecting children cannot be tolerated.”

Mitchell was fired from his job, and Alameda County prosecutors have charged him with inflicting corporal injury on a child, a felony, after his arrest by Oakland schools police.

The redacted ID card of former Oakland High School security guard Marchell Mitchell, accused of handcuffing, punching and dumping a student out of his wheelchair The redacted ID card of former Oakland High School security guard Marchell Mitchell, accused of handcuffing, punching and dumping a student out of his wheelchair Photo: Oakland Unified School District Photo: Oakland Unified School District Image 1 of / 4 Caption Close Teen sues over attack by Oakland school security guard 1 / 4 Back to Gallery

Mitchell and a second guard, Shalandra Cotton, were urging students who were running late to go to class when they encountered Martinez, officials said.

Mitchell told Martinez to move toward his next class, but the student “either refused to comply or was slow to do so,” Principal Matin Abdel-Qawi wrote in a letter to parents.

“The security officer then struck the student several times before dumping him from his wheelchair onto the floor, at which time another security officer intervened to restrain his partner,” Abdel-Qawi wrote.

An attorney for Mitchell has said that Martinez has a history of discipline problems and bears at least some of the responsibility for spitting on and antagonizing the guard, who the attorney said acted in self-defense.

But Sherwin said, “I think anybody who looks at the video sees who was antagonizing whom.”

The district has released two videos that appear to show Mitchell abusing Martinez.

One apparently shows Martinez slapping the hand of Cotton before Mitchell dumps the student sideways out of his chair and kicks him, authorities said.

Mitchell then drags Martinez into an elevator, where the confrontation continues outside of camera view, authorities said.

After the incident near the elevator, Mitchell handcuffed Martinez and continued to roll him, and the student turned around in his wheelchair and spat in Mitchell’s face, authorities said.

The suit, which seeks unspecified damages, names the Oakland Unified School District, Oakland schools police, and Chief Jeff Godown, Mitchell, Cotton, Abdel-Qawi and former interim Superintendent Gary Yee as defendants.

Henry K. Lee is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. E-mail: hlee@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @henryklee