A Georgia cop grabbed a black student around his throat and body-slammed him for taking a candy bar from a school vending machine, a video circulated online shows.Students at Alcovy High School near Atlanta opened a vending machine inside the school on Dec. 13 and began taking its contents. When teachers couldn’t get the students under control, they called the cops. Police initially thought students were fighting but determined they were raiding a vending machine, according to a news release. After police arrived, 14-year-old Asah Glen said he ran to the machine to take a Snickers bar. Video shows the police officer appearing to put him in a chokehold and slamming him to the ground.
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“It was a blur. I was scared for my life and I didn’t know what was going on,” Asah told WGCK-TV, the CBS affiliate in Atlanta.Another student also said he was choked by a cop: “He choked me, then he let me go and choked me again. Next thing I knew he sprayed mace in both of my eyes,” 15-year-old Keyerrius Reed told the local Fox affiliate.Three students, including Glenn, have been charged as a result of the incident, police said. All three have been charged with theft by taking, two were charged with disorderly conduct, and one 15-year-old received a charge of disrupting a public school.A spokeswoman for the Newton County Sheriff’s Office told VICE News that the incident was still under investigation so she would not be releasing any information to the public, though she did say that no officers have yet been disciplined.The cop in the video has been reassigned pending the outcome of the investigation.Cover image: Screen grab from Fox5 Atlanta