The Cayce Police Department and Lexington County School District 2 are at odds over the recent arrest of Brookland-Cayce High Assistant Principal Leon Brunson.

Brunson is accused of taking a student to the ground on May 25. According to the department, that student alleges that Brunson pushed him several times. Cayce Police say the incident took place after the student and another student were separated following an altercation.

Brunson turned himself in after being given the opportunity by Cayce Police and was subsequently released on a $3,000 personal recognizance bond. He is charged with third-degree assault and unlawful conduct towards a child.

Jake Moore, general counsel for District 2, told the Chronicle he believes Cayce Police arrested Brunson after “a less than full investigation” and that he never should have been arrested in the first place.

“We have done a thorough investigation as opposed to what the City of Cayce Police Department did and we don't think that the assistant principal has done anything wrong,” he said. “Administrators have the right to use reasonable restraint to stop fighting and to stop our children from being harmed. This administrator was in a bad situation and did the best he could under what appears to be very adverse circumstances which he nor anyone at the school district created.

“Our job is to protect our students from harm. And we expect our administrators to do that.”

Moore said Brunson was suspended for a day or two while the district reviewed the situation, including looking at video, and he is now back at work.

The lawyer also took issue with Cayce Police sending out a press release about the charges.

“Their job is to provide criminal defendants with a fair day in court instead of trying their cases in the press,” Moore said.

Citing privacy concerns, he declined to comment on whether Brunson took the student to the ground or whether the altercation took place after the two students who needed to be broken up were separated.

Asked about the previous incident with Brunson that Cayce Police mentioned in their release, Moore said, “We have no idea what a previous incident would have to do with the incident in question.”

The department provided video of both the 2022 and 2020 incidents to the Chronicle.

In the video of the May 25 incident, shot from far away by a camera atop the Brookland-Cayce football stadium, two people walk out of the school. 

Cayce Police identified the two people in the May 25 video as the student followed by Brunson, though they are too far away for the Chronicle to visually identify them.

The figure Cayce Police identified as the student appears to turn and say something to Brunson, at which point the figure they identified as Brunson shoves the student who stumbles briefly to the ground before standing back up.

The Chronicle relayed Moore’s comments to the Cayce Police.

“After a thorough investigation which included interviews with students, teachers and eyewitnesses, Brunson was arrested,” the department said in a statement. “ also reviewed video footage.”

“ that Brunson lunges toward the student and slams him to the ground long after the fight was over and the two students were separated,” the department added. “The students had left the building and were walking away from each other at the time Brunson assaulted the student.

“As we do under normal investigative procedures, Brunson was afforded the opportunity to provide a voluntary statement. He declined.”

The department said it has a zero tolerance policy for violence in schools under its jurisdiction.

“The charge of Unlawful Conduct Towards a Child stems from Brunson not protecting the mental, physical health or safety of a student,” the statement said.

Cayce Police emphasized that body slamming a child is not a reasonable action to stop a fight and that the body slam did not occur during the fight between the students.

The department and the district were also at odds over the principal of Cayce Elementary School taking four days to investigate an alleged May 20 assault by a teacher’s assistant against a special needs student before reporting it to the school resource officer.

Cayce Police said its vital for the officer to be informed right away about such an incident, while the district emphasized maintaining its own independent review process while maintaining working relationships with local law enforcement.