Huh?? The SRO has the kid under control, and has kept him under control for 5 minutes. The SRO has not indicated there is any problem, and in fact has indicated just the opposite. The kid has not gotten away, has not gotten the upper hand, has not hurt anyone. Don't confuse "doesn't have them in cuffs" with "doesn't have them under control."
What???
Read it again....
Seemed like the SRO fought for 5 minutes to subue the kid. All the kids from surrounding classrooms were out in the hallway -- the kid was doing push ups with the SRO on his back trying to cuff him. I kept asking to help but was clearly told to stay clear since the SRO was clearly trying to get his mace and spray the kid (for a second I thought he was going for his gun -- thought oh no with all the kids around). Before he could mace the kid 2 male teachers came flying out of the classroom and jumped into the fight without saying a word.
About 5 minutes of fighting...
A hallway full of other kids...
The SRO was "trying to get his mace" and trying to cuff him at the same time...
The kid was under so much "control" that he was doing push-ups with the SRO on his back...
And all the while, the SRO refusing any help from a school staff member who is standing right there...
The SRO definitely showed poor decision making skills.
Who knows what would have happened had the two male teachers had not intervened.
Maybe he would has maced the kid....
Maybe he would have maced other kids in the hallway...
Maybe he would have had the mace taken from him and had been maced himself...
Maybe some friends of the kid might have attacked the SRO...
There's simply no way of telling what might have happened.
But one thing is for sure...
The SRO did NOT have things under control.
If he did then he would not have been trying to get to his mace.
There's no shame in admitting that you need help.
And it's often stupid and prideful to refuse help.
And the SRO should give a big thanks to the teachers who intervened and brought the ordeal to a quicker conclusion, without the SRO using mace in a hallway full of other innocent kids.