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Former school resource officer gets probation after tackling student to ground

A former school resource officer at Kissimmee Middle School who tackled a 13-year-old student to the floor was sentenced Friday to serve probation.

KISSIMMEE, Fla. — A judge said Friday that Mario Badia used poor judgment when he put his hands on the student during the incident last year.

Officials said the school's secretary had called Badia to the office to help diffuse an argument between the victim and his mother.

"I was talking to the officer the whole entire time telling my son to calm down, don't do anything, don't move while the officer was cursing my son out, telling him he was nothing," Alexis Richmond, the victim's mother said.

Badia said he was only responding to the boy’s aggressive actions.
Badia told investigators the boy “squared up to him” and he responded by tackling the youth. Interviews with numerous witnesses paint a much different picture.
Witnesses said they did not see the student act aggressively toward Badia, and said the student only fought back after Badia got physical with him.
Internal affairs investigators determined that the student “did not make any movements toward Badia, nor did he say anything to indicate he was aggressing.”
The investigation ultimately determined there was no reason the boy should have been taken to the ground in the first place, saying Badia misinterpreted and overreacted to the boy's nonviolent body language.
The boy's mother said she is glad Badia will never work as a police officer again.
Richmond said Badia twisted her son's wrist and cursed at him as Badia was trying to defuse a situation between her and her son.

"When Officer Badia did that towards me during the moment I feared for my life," the victim said in a letter he wrote.

Badia was fired later that year. He faced abuse and misdemeanor battery charges. 
Badia accepted a deal with the state and pleaded no contest. A judge sentenced him to 12 months on probation and he must attend anger management classes.
The student no longer goes to Kissimmee Middle School and lives up north.
“The officer really went overboard. So today, at least some kind of justice was served for my son,” Richmond said.
Badia’s attorney did not comment to Channel 9 about the case.

Cox Media Group

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