Texas City Honor Student Slammed To Floor Over $13 Doorbell Days Before Graduation

Newly released bodycam footage is shining an unforgiving light on how a $13 plastic doorbell turned into a criminal case for a Texas City teenager just days before graduation.

The video shows Galveston County deputies wrestling 17-year-old honor student Anabelle Jaramillo to the floor at Texas City High School after she rang a $13 plastic doorbell that came loose. She is handcuffed while hyperventilating and later briefly loses consciousness. The clip, recorded on a deputy's body camera in May 2024, has resurfaced as part of a broader investigation into school policing across Texas.

Bodycam Shows The Takedown

The San Antonio Express-News describes footage that shows deputies flipping Anabelle onto her stomach, gripping her neck and placing handcuffs on her while an assistant principal remains seated at a desk. According to the outlet, the video captures the moment she struggles for breath as staff call for the school nurse and paramedics. Family members later told reporters they found her on the floor outside the office after the arrest.

KSAT Airs Clip And Teen's Story

KSAT posted the bodycam video along with an interview in which Anabelle says she accidentally knocked the doorbell loose when she rang it, then tucked it into a nearby planter so she would not get in trouble. KSAT reports that school administrators initially assigned her three days of in-school suspension before deputies were called to the office. The station underscores how a cheap classroom prop turned into an arrest that left the student visibly shaken.

From $13 Doorbell To Jail Booking

As the Express-News outlines, the incident began when the plastic bell came off after Anabelle rang it and administrators accused her of theft. She was sent to speak with Assistant Principal Sonia Davis, who extended her suspension for cellphone use and then asked Galveston County deputies to speak with the teenager. That is when the interaction escalated into the takedown captured on camera. Anabelle says that two weeks later she turned herself in at the county jail and experienced another panic attack there.

Part Of A Statewide Pattern

The Texas Tribune republished an investigation that documented thousands of use-of-force incidents in Texas public schools between 2022 and 2025, often involving officers stepping into what started as routine discipline issues. Reporters link that trend to post-Uvalde security policies that placed more officers on campuses and increased school security spending. Advocates say Anabelle's arrest is a textbook example of how a minor classroom dispute can quickly turn into a policing matter.

Legal And Policy Context

A 2023 state law expanded campus policing through a "school marshal" framework that defines training, arrest powers and other duties for district-appointed officers. Those provisions appear in the enrolled text of HB4504. Reporting notes that under current rules, the state licensing commission generally cannot investigate excessive-force complaints unless an officer faces criminal charges, a limitation critics say leaves little room for independent oversight when things go wrong on campus.

Aftermath And Reaction

The Texas Tribune reports that prosecutors dismissed the theft charge after Anabelle completed an online course about stealing. She says the case still cost her a normal end to high school: her mug shot spread online, she finished her classes from home and skipped graduation. National experts and civil-rights advocates who reviewed the case told reporters the incident shows the need for clearer limits on when school police should be brought into student discipline. "Nobody was acting in the best interest of a child," one expert told investigators.

What Officials Said

The Houston Chronicle reports that the Galveston County Sheriff's Office declined to comment and that Texas City ISD told reporters Assistant Principal Davis did not violate district policy. For families in Galveston County, the video serves as a pointed reminder that small conflicts at school can carry outsized consequences, and it has renewed calls for clearer reporting rules and independent review whenever police are called to a campus.