FALL RIVER — A video that appears to show a Fall River police officer punching a high school student in the area of his head and neck led to a Fall River Police investigation into whether the officer’s use of force was justified.

In the about 10-second video clip shared to social media Thursday, two officers are seen struggling with the male student near an entryway to Resiliency Preparatory Academy, the public school that provides extra behavioral and social support for students. One officer said, “Get your hands behind your back, do it now!”

The juvenile was struggling with officers on his knees when an officer to the student’s left appears to punch the student at least three times before pushing him to the ground, where he was restrained by both officers.

Sgt. J.T. Hoar said he is investigating the officers’ use of force. He said the initial facts show the student was “having an issue with staff” when he became “unruly” and destroyed school property.

He described the student’s behavior as “tumultuous” and said the student was “throwing things around the room and smashing things.”

The student is in the 9th grade, said Superintendent Matthew Malone, who could not immediately provide the student’s age. The student was asked to leave the school but refused, according to Hoar.

The officers were attempting to remove the student from the school when the student “became assaultive” with one officer, said Hoar.

The video captures moments when the officers, who Hoar declined to identify, tried to put the student in handcuffs, according to Hoar. Malone said in a statement the officers on video were school resource officers.

“While officers were trying to escort him out of school he became aggressive toward one of the officers,” Hoar said.

Hoar said he will review surveillance footage from the school that captured the events that led up to those captured in the clip, noting that the bulk of the interaction has not been seen publicly. The use of force will be reviewed by “several supervisors,” the deputy chief and the Office of Professional Standards.

Charges were pressed against the student, according to Hoar.

Hoar said the juvenile will be summonsed to court on charges of assault and battery on a police officer and vandalizing property. The juvenile left school Thursday with his father.

Hoar said, “I have no final judgment on the use of force,” but added that as of Thursday afternoon he’d seen no evidence suggesting the officer’s use of force was not justified.

“Given the facts and circumstances that were reported to us, it does not seem that these officers acted out of policy,” said Hoar.

Malone said the Fall River Public School District is investigating with police. He said “an incident” between the student and administrators “escalated into a situation involving the Fall River Police Department School Resource Officers.”

District and police officials will interview witnesses, review surveillance footage and “analyze all available associated evidence to more fully understand the entirety of this specific incident,” Malone said in a statement.

Hoar said security camera footage would be released pending the investigation.

In an interview Thursday, Malone said he was angry about the incident. He is trying to figure out whether something could have been done to calm the situation, which he said unfolded after the student was told he received a suspension for a separate issue.

“This interaction is troubling. I’m the superintendent of schools and we try to do our best to work with students to de-escalate and keep them calm, and clearly we weren’t successful in this situation,” he said.

He said several of the student’s peers went to his office Thursday upset about the interaction between their classmate and the officers.

“They’re clearly not happy because force was used against a person in school,” said Malone.

Malone said he is “trying to determine whether there was an assault on the officer that warranted this response.”

The district is working closely with the police department to make that determination, said Malone, adding that he takes responsibility for the incident.

“This is not a good day. It’s a black eye on our district and I’m going to make sure I do everything in my power to make sure these things don’t happen,” Malone said.