16-year-old hit with taser outside Long Island high school

COPIAGUE, Long Island (WABC) -- A shocking scene outside a high school on Long Island was caught on camera Wednesday, as a 16-year-old student was tasered by police.

Cell video obtained by Eyewitness News shows a Suffolk County officer hitting Kenneth Renville with a stun gun on the grounds of Copiague High School.

Police say the officer did nothing wrong based upon what happened leading up to the Taser's deployment. Officers were called to the school for a rowdy group of kids out front.

"At that time, they asked group to disperse," police spokesperson Justin Meyers said. "Most of the group did disperse. One individual in particular they identified as potentially smoking marijuana. That's when that individuals fled on foot onto school property."

Meyers said not only did Renville resist arrest, he also attacked an officer.

"The individual struck one of the officers in the face and fled into the high school," he said. "The other officer went into high school. The other officer followed him into the high school. School officials identified the suspect and brought the officer to the suspect."

Prosecutors said that's when Renville pushed and fought the officer before trying to flee on foot. And that is when he was tased.

Renville's brother, who is his legal guardian, was in court Thursday for Renville's arraignment on harassment and resisting arrest charges, but he declined to comment.

"There's no indication that anything was done improperly," Meyers said. "This is an individual who fled police officers, not once, not twice, but three times, and engaged officers not once, but twice, and was unwilling to listen to any officer commands."