Apopka school resource officer accused of falsely arresting parent hasn't faced discipline

APOPKA, Fla. — An Apopka police officer accused of falsely arresting a man at Apopka High School has not faced discipline, according to personnel records.

Earlier this year, Channel 9 reported that 10 percent of the department's officers were under internal investigations at one point in 2019.

In September 2017, the Apopka Police Department highlighted Officer Robert Campbell for his work as a school resource officer.

But a year later, an incident at a school had the department reprimanding Campbell for unprofessional conduct toward a student.

Origin Call, the student's mother, said her daughter had been at a football game last October when Campbell got in the teen's face and yelled.

"My daughter was afraid. Her friends were afraid," said the mother on a call.

She filed a complaint with Apopka police.

"I just felt that the approach was just inappropriate for that behavior and I wanted it to be addressed as such," she said.

Campbell's disciplinary file contains no details of the incident, only saying he received a verbal warning for unprofessional conduct.

"This was just one of those things that was swept under, dealt with him because they knew some of the public was involved, but not dealt with in the manner which it should have been," the student's mother said.

But as the investigation into that behavior concluded, another incident occurred in which the Police Department said Campbell falsely arrested a parent.

Tony Nelson complained to the department after he said he went to pick up his child at Apopka Elementary School.

The internal investigation said there was some confusion over custody paperwork and the school resource officer got involved.

Nelson said that he and Campbell exchanged words and Nelson told Apopka police he was then "slammed into the wall."

He said he was calm until he was handcuffed and then he "lost it" and was "embarrassed, humiliated and violated."

Call's ex-husband was a captain at the department of the time of the first investigation.

He was recently under investigation for his time sheet and is no longer at the department.

The department has not said why Campbell hasn't faced any discipline for the false arrest.

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