A Lowell, Massachusetts, police officer has been suspended for six months without pay for using unnecessary force against a 16-year-old student at a city high school last fall.
The city manager tells The Sun that Patrolman David Pender must also complete anger management training and has been barred from serving as a school resource officer.
The 28-year department veteran handcuffed the student at Lowell High School Career Academy, a school for behaviorally challenged students. An investigation found that Pender ordered a room cleared of potential witnesses, grabbed the boy by the neck, struck him in the head and threatened to spray him with Mace. The officer suspected the student was in possession of marijuana.
The student suffered bruises.
Pender was not criminally charged. He declined comment through his union.
