‘I don’t feel safe around cops’

Alicia Cook and daughter, G., stand on the site of the now infamous altercation at a school in Rapid City, in which a RCPD officer struck one of two girls engaged in an after-school fight. The incident has caused strife in the community amongst those who support the officer’s action, versus those who feel he used excessive force against a 13-year-old girl. (Photo by Richie Richards)

RAPID CITY – The slap heard round the world, or at least Indian Country, has caused quite the commotion in Rapid City, and the girl struck by the RCPD police officer has denied the charge of assault in juvenile court.
Since the late October incident in which videos have surfaced showing two 13-year-old girls from South Middle School engaged in a fight, the community has had a wide-range of opinions as to whether or not the officer had used excessive force when he struck one of the girls with an open palm heel strike on the left temple area of her head.
Despite the uproar the fight and strike had caused, one of the girls in the fight whom we will refer to as “G” for the sake of this article, had gone to juvenile court on Thur., November 14 in Rapid City. The teen girl had several community members come to the hearing in support of her; many of the individuals felt like the officer used excessive force when he attempted to break up the fight.
Alicia Cook, 36, the mother of the young girl who made her court appearance, said her daughter is a good kid. Cook is raising three sons, along with G., and another girl she had taken custody of who belonged to her relative. The family has lived on the south side of Rapid City for the last six years.
G. has been attending South Middle School for the past two school years. She claims to love the school and has enjoyed her time there. While she has been at the school, she has had only one other incident involving another girl who wanted to fight G. last school year. Her children attend South Elementary School, South Middle School, and Central High School.
“She hasn’t been in trouble at all. There was a problem with another little girl last year, but I raised my kids to respect teachers and adults, and not to be fighting – to walk away,” she said. “If someone does try to fight her, I taught her how to defend herself. She’s just a good kid.” Other than a few tardy days, G. makes it to school every day. Adjusting to the new school in the previous year was not easy. The mother and daughter claim other girls were trying to ‘start fights with her’. “This year she is really trying hard to stay away from all of that.”
The mother feels her child has been the victim of bullying this school year. She feels that the more G. has walked away from girls wanting to fight her, the more attention she was getting and the more bullying she was receiving. When the videos surfaced of the Nov. 23 fight and subsequent officer’s involvement, Cook learned of the videos from her daughter. One of the videos was taken by G.’s friend during the altercation.
“When I watched it (fight video), it sent a shock through my body because of how the officer handled my daughter. Right then I knew that he was in the wrong. The way he handled the situation,” Cook said. “The school officer, his name is Nick, called me and told me to come to the school and that my daughter had gotten into a fight. I went from work and went there. They had my daughter in the office.”
The mother claims the school resource officer, a school staff member, and a paramedic were in the office with her daughter. “They were asking her questions, if she was hurt anywhere. She had a bloody nose, so they were asking to see if she was hurt. They asked where she got her bloody nose from and she (G.) said, ‘The officer hit me’.”
The officer G. was referring to was Officer Richard Holt of the Rapid City Police Department. According to the teen girl, Officer Holt had just happened to be driving by when the fight had occurred. “What?! You f***ing hit my daughter?”, she claims she said the officer. “I was just so mad. I couldn’t believe he hit my daughter. He just looked at me and he walked out of the room.”
Cook said the officer came back into the room and explained how the incident had started and what led to him having to strike her daughter during the altercation. “He said he had to do that to get her attention, to stop her.” Cook asked if there was no there way to get the girls apart, and she claims to not have received a reply.
It was following this time that a staff member from the school came into the room and informed Cook that her daughter was suspended from school for a total of 10 days. No official document was provided to Cook regarding the suspension or incident from school officials. “The didn’t give me a paper from the school – nothing. To this day, I still haven’t gotten anything.”
Following the 10-day suspension, G. has returned to school at South Middle. “I took her back to school and so far, everything has been okay,” she said. But her incident hasn’t affected the young girl. According to her mother, she has been more reserved and quieter. “I talk to her and she keeps telling me that I could have been dead right now. It hurts me that she thinks like that.”
Cook said her daughter thinks she could have been severely hurt during the officer’s strike and him grabbing her by the hair and twisting her head nearly completely around, as the videos allegedly show.
The mother has put her daughter in counseling to help her deal with the issues surrounding the notoriety of the incident. Social media has been a source of stress and anxiety for the teen girl. She has read the comments left on various news outlets. Many of the comments support the officer’s actions, versus her own. She feels she has been judged without people knowing the facts.
“I have her in counseling at Lutheran Social Services. It’s going pretty good,” Cook said. “She feels like she did nothing wrong, but the way people at school or comments make her feel like she was in the wrong and I don’t believe she was in the wrong.”
The fighting incident is caught up in the juvenile court system and will leave a lasting mark on the G.’s future life.
Native Sun News Today interviewed G. and her mother in Rapid City. Careful not to discuss the fight, or what led up to the fight, G. talked about the emotions and feelings she has had since the incident. “It made my neck feel really tight. It hurt my nose,” G. said. In the videos, it appears that the officer had struck her along the side of the head, but G. said it caught her in the face and this is what made her nose bleed. “It makes me feel sad. People don’t know the full story. I just don’t feel safe around cops.”
G. said the counseling is going good for her. She says that seeing police officers causes her anxiety and stress, but she is coping. “Counseling helps me to let it all out. It feels good to be around my friends. They make sure I’m okay. They got my back,” said the teen. “I want to be in the military. I want to go into the Air Force.”
The young girl wants to go into the military and eventually on to college. She hopes this charge will be dropped and that she is able to continue on the path and accomplish the goals she has set for herself. She feels this assault charge would affect her ability for opportunities in the future.
G. has a second court appearance on Tue., November 26.