United States News
See other United States News Articles
Title: School Cops Force 8-year-old Boy Into Handcuffs After He Fended Off Bully
Source:
Free Thought Project/KING-TV
URL Source: http://thefreethoughtproject.com/sc ... off-bully/#xuZIZWcxJ1bYz0Y6.99
Published: Mar 3, 2017
Author: Claire Bernish
Post Date: 2017-03-06 09:12:38 by Deckard
Keywords: None
Views: 4934
Comments: 19
Parkland, WA — An 8-year-old elementary school student involved in what would have been considered an ordinary playground fight just a decade ago, had his hands pulled behind his back and cuffed by a school resource officer — and the boy’s outraged mother is speaking out. Amanda Bullinger told Seattle NBC affiliate KING she was summoned to Brookdale Elementary School in Parkland on Monday after her son, Ayden, scuffled with an older student who had been bullying the boy for months. “It was like 11:15-ish that I got a call. It was the principal,” Bullinger told the station. “She said she had Ayden in the office and he had an altercation at recess.” Bullinger drove to the school to retrieve Ayden, but had no idea what a disturbing scene awaited. “I get there and I see a police car in the parking lot, and I said, ‘Oh this can’t be good.’ I go into the office and Ayden is sitting in a chair, hands cuffed behind his back and a police officer is holding him down like this,” she explained to KING. “And Ayden is bright red crying, freaking out.” Not even a decade old, the understandably frightened child also struggles with sensory processing disorder, according to Bullinger, which means intense situations can cause Ayden to suffer extreme anxiety or ‘emotional meltdowns.’ According to NBC affiliate KOBI, “Federal privacy laws prohibit the school from discussing details, but a police report about the incident shows Ayden yelling ‘I’m going to kill him’ and became physically combative to the other boy.” Bullinger noted her son had grown tired of months of bullying by the older child and the situation reached a boiling point on the school’s playground. Thanks to the suffocating police state, what would likely have been a bitter student brawl broken up by students and teachers in the past instead saw an 8-year-old child handcuffed by an officer and forcefully restrained — as if a schoolyard fight is no longer typical childhood behavior. READ MORE: How the Govt Used the NY Bombing to Convert Millions of Citizens into Spies -- Literally Overnight “It really is one of those options of last resort, if you will,” “The use of restraint is only used when no other feasible option exists.” Painter did not elaborate on the circumstances involving Ayden or why, specifically, ‘no other feasible option’ existed to deal with an 8-year-old but to cuff him like a violent criminal. In fact, it’s difficult to imagine why a school resource officer would need to handcuff a small 8-year-old child at all — even if the melee turned particularly violent or vengeful, the officer could have restrained the child with assistance from another adult. Handcuffs seem like overkill — particularly considering the officer did not release Ayden’s wrists, even after he arrived in the principal’s office. After arriving on the distressing scene, Bullinger said the resource officer escorted the terrified child to the door. Alarmingly, the handcuffs marked and bruised Ayden’s wrists — but his mother believes the emotional wounds from being forcefully restrained will linger for some time. KING reports: “The Office of the Superintendent of Public Instruction just began collecting data in 2016. In the first 6 months of that year, only eight districts have used handcuffs on students. Franklin-Pierce is one of them. “The other districts are Federal Way, Freeman, Highline, Kelso, Kent, Renton, and Spokane. The state information did not give clear numbers of how many cases of handcuffing happened in elementary schools.” An increase in police presence at public schools has stirred contention for several years, as these officers have been caught treating students from elementary to high school as if they’re full grown adults. In 2016, students were beaten, slammed to the ground and knocked unconscious, put in an ‘arm bar’ submission restraint, locked in a full nelson, assaulted for no reason, and more — and that’s only a cursory glance at what errant school cops almost got away with. Bullinger rightly questioned the choice to handcuff a child of only eight years, asserting, “There could have been other options.” There could have been, except this is what an otherwise ordinary schoolyard fight looks like in a police state. 
Post Comment Private Reply Ignore Thread
Top • Page Up • Full Thread • Page Down • Bottom/Latest
Begin Trace Mode for Comment # 19.
#7. To: Deckard (#0)
There's too much we don't know from this sloppy reporting. This kid may have a habit of throwing tantrums or even self-harming. I'd want a lot more facts before I condemned the school officials.
That's fair, but if the basic fact that the police were called and the child had handcuffs put on him are accurate, then it's hard for me to see how that could have been necessary as a result of a schoolyard scuffle. How is it that cops demand respect and complain about the poor community relations if it's accepted procedure to do things like handcuff an 8-year old? This kid will never forget this incident, and he is one kid that's going to grow into an adult not trusting cops at all. And even his classmates witnessing the handcuffing are going to consider cops to be dangerous and scary. That was probably their big school lesson for the day. As for yelling he was going to kill the other kid.... I don't know how many times while I was growing up I said that about other kids.
If a child is out of control physically, you have few choices. You can lock them in a softwalled confinement room until they calm down. Or you can use an approved restraint hold for use with children. Even that is a bit of a struggle if the kid is going nuts. Here's more info about isolation rooms, basket holds, and takedowns in public schools. You do understand that the public schools must accept every child. And that does mean every child. That includes delusional kids with severe learning problems. And kids that have an IQ of 30 points or less. Every child is admitted. Many schools require mainstreaming even of rather disturbed kids. They don't send them to special ed any more. Or to a "behaviorally challenged" classroom. You can't get into that much in a public report because every student like this has an IEP (Individual Education Plan) and it is strictly confidential. This is federally protected info. So it is quite possible that this kid has an extensive history but it would never show up on the public record (or someone should be prosecuted for it). Maybe the kid was just getting bullied and reacted. But maybe there is more to the story than what we read here.
Kids aren't born delusional. Their environment is what turns them into one. Not all kids with special needs have an IQ of 30; some of them have an IQ of 130. This can be a problem where they clash with their own peers and even teachers. Not all teachers can teach nor do they care to teach but instead judge, classify, and even isolate children they view as peculiar. In stances like these, such children need not be treated as "Special Needs" or "delusional" but instead gifted and transferred to a school for gifted children with possibility of advancement in their studies. Of course, one would also think that law enforcement would be trained to not just read people's body language but also understand that it is not a crime to be "delusional" because a majority of law enforcement operate under delusional mindsets. But for them, they are treated as exceptions to the law and even rewarded whereas a young kid trying to defend himself from years of bullying, gets punished.
There are no replies to Comment # 19. End Trace Mode for Comment # 19.
Top • Page Up • Full Thread • Page Down • Bottom/LatestNot even a decade old, the understandably frightened child also struggles with sensory processing disorder, according to Bullinger, which means intense situations can cause Ayden to suffer extreme anxiety or ‘emotional meltdowns.’
#15. To: Tooconservative (#7)
I'd want a lot more facts before I condemned the school officials.
#17. To: Pinguinite (#15)
That's fair, but if the basic fact that the police were called and the child had handcuffs put on him are accurate, then it's hard for me to see how that could have been necessary as a result of a schoolyard scuffle.
#19. To: Tooconservative (#17)
"...That includes delusional kids with severe learning problems. And kids that have an IQ of 30 points or less. Every child is admitted."
Replies to Comment # 19.
[Home] [Headlines] [Latest Articles] [Latest Comments] [Post] [Mail] [Sign-in] [Setup] [Help] [Register]