Some residents in the Philadelphia-area suburb of Quakertown are pressing for Police Chief Scott McElree to step down after video posted online showed a confrontation involving high school students protesting immigration enforcement policies. The incident drew anger at a Quakertown Borough Council meeting Monday, with some citizens calling for McElree’s firing. Authorities say several students were arrested and held in custody for four days.
Bucks County District Attorney Joe Khan, the former county solicitor, said his office is investigating the incident. The investigation comes after a walkout from Quakertown Community High School that left students chanting and holding handmade signs before police became involved.
A video clip posted on social media captured a moment when an older man in civilian clothes—later identified as McElree—approached a teenage girl and put his arm around her neck, according to the report. The footage also showed other teens taking swings at McElree after he fell to the ground, and the police chief dragging the girl with him. An adult man appeared to pull McElree away, and the video shows McElree later speaking with officers before getting into a vehicle, the reporting said.
Prior to the confrontation, students could be heard chanting “No more ICE!” as the protest unfolded. In the clip, another officer—who appears to be wearing police identification—told the students the protest “doesn’t need to be in the street,” and a student replied, “It’s a peaceful protest. We’re peacefully protesting!”
The Quakertown Police Department said in a statement Friday that five or six demonstrators were taken into custody after the group became disruptive. The department said some participants began engaging in disruptive behavior, including throwing snowballs at vehicles, kicking cars, and damaging property, such as tearing a side mirror from a car, and that officers issued additional warnings to maintain civil behavior. AP reporting said it was unclear what started the scuffle.
The students were detained throughout the weekend and again Monday when a snowstorm closed county offices, according to the Bucks County District Attorney’s Office. The office said the students were due in juvenile court Tuesday for bail hearings, which are closed to the public, and no additional information was immediately available.
At the borough council meeting, supporters urged officials to release the students and said police should have helped facilitate the protest rather than escalate the situation. Witold Walczak, legal director of the ACLU of Pennsylvania, said in a statement that “In abandoning his job and his mission on Friday afternoon, Chief McElree effectively was acting as a counterprotester, albeit one with the ability to arrest people. Quakertown deserves better.” Walczak also argued that “The police should have been there to facilitate the demonstration, ensuring that the students could safely exercise their rights to assemble and speak out freely as guaranteed by our Constitution,” adding that “They failed.”
The controversy has also spread beyond the council meeting. AP said more than 9,000 people had signed an online petition calling for McElree’s resignation. McElree did not return messages left Tuesday by AP at his home and workplace, the report said, and calls left Tuesday for other borough officials were not immediately returned.