ICAP represented “Z.F.,” a 14-year-old middle school student in Wise County, Virginia, in a Fourth Amendment lawsuit against a school resource officer (SRO) who used violent force during a cell phone investigation. The incident occurred in April 2018, when Deputy Sheriff Ryan Adkins approached Z.F. in the school cafeteria, demanding his phone based on a report that a nude photo was being circulated. When Z.F. asked for more information and attempted to call his father, Officer Adkins led him into a hallway, grabbed and tripped him, “threw him hard against the concrete floor”. The officer then pinned the 14-year-old down for more than twenty seconds.
The litigation yielded a significant victory for student rights and police accountability. In January 2020, a federal judge in the Western District of Virginia denied the officer’s motion for summary judgment, ruling that a middle school student who poses no imminent risk of harm has a clearly established right to be free from such force. Following this ruling, in February 2020, ICAP secured an $86,000 settlement for Z.F. and his family. As part of the resolution, Officer Adkins issued a formal written apology and committed to undergoing specialized training on the proper use of force in schools.
