York Student With Special Needs 'Engaged in Wrestling Behavior': Cops

ELMHURST, IL – The video made public of Thursday's altercation in a York High School restroom apparently may not have told the entire story.

Late Tuesday afternoon, Elmhurst police released a statement about the incident, which has attracted media attention from as far away as London.

Police said they obtained two phone videos that recorded different time segments of the incident.

The video, police said, indicated five students, including the student with special needs, were "willfully engaging in physical contact while other students observed."

At one point, the student with special needs was pushed and fell to the ground, police said.

The investigation revealed the student with special needs, a member of the wrestling team, engaged in "wrestling behavior" with four other students, two of whom were his teammates, police said.

In the video, a student who is not on the wrestling team appeared to have pushed the student with special needs after physical contact was made, police said.

According to the statement, no students were physically injured in the incident.

Police said a female student aide escorted the student with special needs to the restroom, police said. The aide summoned school administrators when she heard unusual activity in the restroom, police said.

Detectives contacted the parents of the student who was pushed, and the parents declined to request a formal police investigation, according to the statement.

The parents and the school administration decided the matter would be handled through the student disciplinary process, police said.

The Elmhurst Police Department said it offered counseling services to the youths involved.

The youths' names and information on their discipline will not be released because of juvenile confidentiality laws, police said.

When York administrators were first alerted to the incident, they performed a disciplinary investigation, which included contacting the police, the statement said.

In a statement Sunday, Superintendent Keisha Campbell called the video "deeply disturbing." She described the incident as "an aggressive physical altercation by a student toward another student with a disability, while a group of bystanders watched and laughed."