For the first time, we are seeing inside Brainerd High School the day an unlicensed, private security guard was accused of hitting a student. And, we're hearing what some school staff told police in the moments immediately after.
While the videos show differing accounts about whether security guard Joe Reed hit a student, or the student pushed Reed, they also reveal more about what is perhaps the bigger issue here: How an unlicensed security guard ended up in a Hamilton County school without district approval.
We obtained these videos from the Hamilton County Sheriff's Office (HCSO) through an open records request. Hamilton County Schools has told us they will not release surveillance video of the actual incident, out of respect for the privacy of other students in the video.
On January 5th, Reed was working private security at the front doors of the high school. Emails we first obtained early this year show Principal Crystal Sorrells brought Reed in for that job without getting district approval. She later kept her job but was disciplined for doing so.
As we've already reported, Reed told officers he was outside the school when student Jermaine Fleetwood walked up wearing a hoodie, which violated the school's dress code.
Reed says he told Fleetwood to take the hood off his head, and Fleetwood says he replied that he would when he got inside the school.
The two then got in a physical confrontation that ended with Fleetwood being led to a patrol car, where he spent the next few hours. Later that night, his family says doctors diagnosed him with a concussion.
Deputies interviewed Reed in the days that followed.
Reed told them that he grabbed the back of Fleetwood's hoodie and removed it.
'Did you ever strike him?' investigators are heard asking.
"No, no," Reed replied.
"Because on the video it looks like you maybe shoved him back?" the investigators continued.
"Yeah, yeah,' Reed replied.
But Jermaine Fleetwood told officers a different story.
"We were face to face.. (inaudible).. he hit me in my lip," the student told investigators. 'The teacher tried to grab me, I threw a wild punch and the teacher said I hit her.
The 'teacher' Fleetwood is referring to is actually Principal Sorrells. She and a school resource officer intervened immediately after the confrontation between Reed and Fleetwood.
The body camera video we obtained includes deputies interviewing her about what happened.
'He started swinging and pushing me,' Sorrells is heard telling investigators.
'Did he hit you?' a deputy asks.
'Yes,' she replies.
The footage also reveals more details about Sorrells decision to hire third-party security guards on her own.
Reed is heard telling investigators he was hired to help with a problem of guns at the school.
Sorrells confirmed that in her interview, saying
We have the metal detectors, one of the biggest requests we've had from teachers is to actually utilize them, of course, utilize in the meantime, in manpower to be able to manage it.'
But Sorrells hired those third-party guards without getting approval from her higher-ups first.
In the body camera video we just obtained, Sorrells can be heard telling investigators she paid for the guards with her own money.
Officers then spoke to Dr. Robert Sharpe, Chief Operating Officer of Hamilton County Schools. You can hear him on body camera video telling officers what he told the principal when he found out about the security.
We gotta shut this down. You know, we're happy to talk to you about it. But you know, they don't need to be back on campus until we are able to thoroughly vet this group.
During that vetting process, the district might have discovered, as we did, that Reed was not licensed by the state of Tennessee to practice security. We discovered he lied to the state on his license application about a previous conviction.
But in the bodycam, officers asked if he was licensed and bonded and he said he had "my LLC and insurance on everything.'
After a suspension, Principal Sorrells returned to the job in March. Despite her discipline for this incident, Superintendent Dr. Justin Robertson said Dr. Sorrells has a long history of being an "outstanding administrator" and that she is a "proven and valued asset" in the district.
Fleetwood's family now has an attorney and is considering a lawsuit.
We continue to dig deeper in this story. Depend on us for continuing coverage.