Family of teen put in chokehold at ICE protest wants justice and accountability
By Liz Crawford, Will Kenworthy
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QUAKERTOWN, Pennsylvania (KYW) — It’s been more than three weeks since a peaceful protest in Quakertown, Pennsylvania, turned into a violent altercation when students clashed with police and five teenagers were arrested.
In the last few weeks, numerous students and witnesses have told CBS News Philadelphia that everything took a turn when Police Chief Scott McElree charged into the crowd. He was caught on video putting a 15-year-old girl in what appears to be a chokehold.
CBS News Philadelphia is not using her name, but her family sat down with investigative reporter Liz Crawford in their first-ever interview about what happened that day and their fight for justice.
Roughly 40 students walked out of Quakertown Community High School on Feb. 20, protesting ICE. Allison Reynolds said she had talked with her stepdaughter ahead of time about participating in the school walkout.
“We talked about safety, right? If you’re going to leave, please be safe.” Reynolds said.
Later that afternoon, Reynolds said, she found out things had gone terribly wrong from a neighbor’s text, including a picture of her stepdaughter being choked by a man.
According to video and witness accounts, when the students got about a half mile from the high school, the protest took a turn. At the time, Quakertown police said some of the teenagers started throwing snowballs and kicking cars.
Students told CBS News Philadelphia that was in response to counter-protesters who were following them in vehicles, and then a man dressed in regular clothes charged into the crowd of students.
The family said later that night, they found out that man was McElree, who is both police chief and borough manager in Quakertown.
“Somebody had messaged me and said, ‘Do you know who that was?’ and I said, ‘No,’ and they told me it was the chief of police and I was — shocked is not even the word,” Reynolds said.
The girl told her family that McElree was wearing ordinary clothes, arrived in a regular vehicle and never identified himself as an officer. She says she was defending a friend from the man before she was put in a chokehold.
Their daughter, who was not hurt, was in custody for four nights before a judge granted her release. Four other teenagers were also detained. They’ve become known as the “Quakertown 5” and many groups and community members have spoken out against their arrests and have called on the police chief to resign. McElree appeared to be bleeding in videos and has gone on workers’ compensation leave.
“Who was the aggressor? Clearly, it was the chief. Clearly, the chief incited any reaction that came after that,” said Timothy Prendergast, the attorney representing the girl. “Certainly his actions were that of a counter-protester and not of an officer de-escalating or under crowd control.”
The teens have been charged with felony aggravated assault. All of their attorneys are calling on the district attorney to drop the charges.
CBS News Philadelphia reached out to McElree’s attorney and has not heard back.
The Quakertown Police Department says it is cooperating with the Bucks County District Attorney’s office, which is conducting its own investigation into the police response at the protest.
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