Montgomery Co. officer accused of using excessive force on female student at school's prom

SANDY SPRING, Md. - A Montgomery County police officer is facing allegations of excessive force at a high school prom. FOX 5 has learned Officer Mauricio Veiga has been removed from his assignment as a school resource officer at Sherwood High School following the outcome of an investigation.

Montgomery County police are looking into the allegations and reviewing surveillance video from the prom held at a local hotel two weeks ago, which allegedly shows an altercation between the officer and a female senior student.

Teachers at the high school who were present at prom filed the complaint against Officer Veiga, a 12-year veteran with the department, claiming he placed a female student in a headlock, tackled her to the ground and then holding her arms behind her back as if he was going to arrest her following a verbal altercation between the teenager and a fellow student.

The father of the high schooler told FOX 5 that he has seen the video of his daughter being restrained by the officer and he agrees that excessive force was used.

He said the video was recorded by a camera in the lobby of the Bethesda Marriott where the prom was held. The victims father does not want to be identified, but says the officer was also wearing a body camera but for reasons unknown, the incident did not get recorded.

Teachers claim Veiga has used questionable judgment before. In one instance, a picture shows him with school faculty pointing a Taser-like weapon towards a teacher's head.

Officer Veiga has been charged with harassment in the past and was also arrested back in 2012 for DUI. Those charges were adjudicated.

Then in 2014, he was charged again with DUI - this time while driving his police cruiser. He was found guilty and ordered to supervised probation. Veiga was subsequently taken off patrol and reassigned as a school resource officer at Sherwood High School.

A few months afterwards, Officer Veiga spoke at a drug and alcohol awareness seminar at Sherwood.

FOX 5 went to Veiga's home on Monday for comment, but no one answered the door.