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.
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“It really is one of those options of last resort, if you will,” Willie Painter, spokesman for Franklin-Pierce Schools, explained to KING.
“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.
#1: A K A Stone To: Deckard (#0)
A K A Stone posted on 2017-03-06 09:17:21 Reply Private Reply
#2: Deckard To: A K A Stone (#1)
And the insanity coming from you continues.
Never bothered to check the link to a MSM source, did you?
Cowards like you would never fight back against a bully.
Deckard posted on 2017-03-06 09:22:01 Reply Private Reply
#3: A K A Stone To: Deckard (#2)
Nope. Your source for the article has been proven unreliable over and over.
But I did say maybe true maybe not.
A K A Stone posted on 2017-03-06 09:26:17 Reply Private Reply
#4: A K A Stone To: Deckard (#2)
lol.
Just making stuff up now that you have no idea if true or not.
Is it part of your drug paradigm by which you live your life? I mean to lash out when someone points out they disagree with you or that you were wrong. Or maybe your source doesn't have that good of a reputation.
A K A Stone posted on 2017-03-06 09:28:09 Reply Private Reply
#5: Deckard To: A K A Stone (#4)
Look asshole - I am not going to keep repeating nyself to you.
I am against the WOD and the effect it has on ALL citizens, not just druggies.
We tried the same thing with prohibition in the 20's - how did that work out by the way?
Idiots like you can never seem to learn from history.
As far as my source - anything I post from there is backed up by other sources.
Deckard posted on 2017-03-06 09:34:16 Reply Private Reply
#6: Deckard To: A K A Stone (#3)
Deckard posted on 2017-03-06 09:34:58 Reply Private Reply
#7: Tooconservative 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.
Tooconservative posted on 2017-03-06 10:06:58 Reply Private Reply
#8: A K A Stone To: Deckard (#6)
You posted from that source in the past. Several people pointed out gaps and omissions in their reporting. So I made a mental note of it to not blindly trust that site. Blind trust is a fools errand.
A K A Stone posted on 2017-03-06 10:12:13 Reply Private Reply
#9: Gatlin To: Deckard, A K A Stone (#8)
You completely ignore that TFP publishes information from a left biased position with an advocacy for liberal causes. They strive to get attention by loading their editorial content often with strong words to appeal to the emotions of stereotypes and gullible people….such as you.
TFP is known to publish misleading reports and cite unverified sources, while referencing bogus reports that omit information….that would shed the light of truth and destroy their agenda.
Any intelligent person, which you are obviously not, should regard anything TFP puts out as speculative opinion and/or propaganda because it is among the most untrustworthy sources in the media.
Anybody can publish anything on the internet and you continually consult really shaky sources to use as reference to promote your beliefs.
You could greatly improve the stature of Stone’s site if you would cease with your atrocious posting routine….to support YOUR personal agenda.
Why don’t you do that? Starting now …
Gatlin posted on 2017-03-06 11:13:10 Reply Private Reply
#10: misterwhite To: Deckard (#0)
Well, that explains the handcuffs.
misterwhite posted on 2017-03-06 11:29:59 Reply Private Reply
#11: misterwhite To: Gatlin (#9)
Which is why it is Deckard's go-to source.
misterwhite posted on 2017-03-06 11:32:16 Reply Private Reply
#12: Gatlin To: Deckard, A K A Stone (#5)
There is a conflicting point to show difference is what you are saying here …
Anything you post is “backed” up by other sources….but it is ONLY true in that the “other sources” are sources with the same agenda as those you select to post form. They all post fake news and yellow journalism articles.
The fact that the incident happened is reported by “other sources,” in many cases. And posters here have continually used those “other sources” to shoot holes in your articles and prove them to be lies.
See the difference …
You have adults trying to set you straight….it is time for you to start listening.
Gatlin posted on 2017-03-06 11:32:32 Reply Private Reply
#13: Gatlin To: misterwhite (#11)
It is absolutely amazing how that poor lost soul's brain functions ...
Gatlin posted on 2017-03-06 12:28:27 Reply Private Reply
#14: goldilucky To: A K A Stone (#1)
www.king5.com/news/local/...uffed-at-school/417113744
Perhaps this kid being the subject of someone else torment and bullying, had enough and elected to stand up and fight for himself. At least he didn't use guns. The article ends with "what other options are there?"
Well, let's just say that this kid, the subject of someone else's bullying, is autistic. In a case like this, the kid is a protected class under the ADA and the school could be subject to a lawsuit including the parents of the tormentors, and the police who cuffed and unlawfully detained him.
goldilucky posted on 2017-03-06 13:10:06 Reply Private Reply
#15: Pinguinite To: Tooconservative (#7)
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.
Pinguinite posted on 2017-03-06 14:23:30 Reply Private Reply
#16: Hondo68 To: Gatlin, SPLC, Subverted Nazi Nation, Jihad Johnny ISIS McCain, Log Cabin Canary Graham (#12)
Your sources are the Southern Poverty Law Center, Subverted Nation nazis, and Senator ISIS McCains's Log Cabin Muslim Republicans.
You love your FAKE NEWS!
Hondo68 posted on 2017-03-06 14:42:52 Reply Private Reply
#17: Tooconservative To: Pinguinite (#15)
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.
Tooconservative posted on 2017-03-06 14:44:12 Reply Private Reply
#18: Pinguinite To: Tooconservative (#17)
When I was growing up, there was none of this. I never saw police called to school property, even in my 6-7th grade where there was about 1 fight a day. Thankfully those were the worst years for me, and the years before and after were much better. But things were handled without handcuffs, police, or any forced restraints. So I remain reluctant to believe these new protocols -- and they are new in my timeframe -- are necessary.
Pinguinite posted on 2017-03-06 15:01:54 Reply Private Reply
#19: goldilucky To: Tooconservative (#17)
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.
goldilucky posted on 2017-03-06 22:04:13 Reply Private Reply