Screenshot of Bodycam Footage provided by Fairfield (Ca.) Police Department Vimeo page

The Fairfield officer has been reassigned as the teen’s family calls for accountability and answers.

A California police officer has been reassigned and an independent investigation launched after video of her repeatedly punching a 16-year-old Black student at Fairfield High School spread widely on social media.

As theGrio previously reported, police brutality against Black people caught on video continues to force institutional responses only after footage goes viral, and families in communities across the country are organizing press conferences and demanding investigations when video evidence contradicts official police accounts. SFGATE, citing Bay City News, reported that the incident occurred May 20 when Officer Bianca Camacho responded to a reported fight on the campus.

Video of the confrontation shows Camacho seizing teenager and student Maurice Williams, throwing him to the ground and striking him in the head at least seven times while he is pinned down and held by his dreadlocks. Camacho can be heard shouting “Give me your f—king hands.” Fairfield Police Chief Dan Marshall said that the officer had been “administratively reassigned” and that an outside organization would conduct an independent review.

“I am sorry this incident occurred,” Marshall said. He also clarified circulating rumors about the teen’s status during the incident. “I want to clarify that the student was not handcuffed during the incident,” Marshall said, adding that his department had referred to the blows as “distraction strikes” made after Camacho was “unable to overcome his resistance.”

Campus monitor Will Bible raised a direct challenge to that framing. “It wasn’t a fight — that’s what’s puzzling me,” he said, describing what preceded the confrontation as a verbal dispute between Williams and another student. Bible said in his years on campus he had never seen additional police called to intervene in a student altercation. “I just wonder what would happen if nobody was filming,” he said.

Williams’ family held a press conference at the school on Friday (May 22) alongside community organizer Berry Accius, founder of Sacramento organization Voice of the Youth. Williams’ parents said he suffered headaches and “dizzy spells” after the incident. They called for a full investigation into both the Fairfield Police Department and Officer Camacho specifically. The chief said the department is working with the school district and community leaders to organize a public meeting.