5-year old handcuffed by police. Yes, it's FL, AGAIN.

[undergroundrailroad]

5-year old Handcuffed By Police For Tantrum

April 22, 2005 6:38 p.m. EST

JASEN LEE, All Headline News Staff Writer

St. Petersburg, FL (AHN) – An investigation is underway as to whether police officers over-reacted while controlling a kindergarten student who was throwing a temper tantrum.

A videotape of the March 14th incident at Fairmount Park Elementary School is being reviewed by the school district and law enforcement.

The tape shows the child mis-behaving for several minutes, including ripping papers, standing on desks, and defiantly responding to teachers. She is even seen throwing punches at an assistant principal.

It also shows the girl apparently calming down before three police officers approach her, pinning her arms behind her back and handcuffing her as she screams, “No!”

[jmm]

1. This had to be painful for her.

I've been hand cuff trained for my job and because my wrists are small they hurt afterwords and I'm 25. I can't imagine what that felt like for a 5 year old.

[undergroundrailroad]

2. My DU daughter! Hello there!!

Wow! How is everything going?

(To the forum, jmm is my DU daughter and I adopted her in the DU community. She calls me Mom!)

I'm so happy to see you on the boards jmm.

Take care and let me give you a :hug:

Love,

Mom :loveya: :hi:

[jmm]

3. Hi Ma!

:hug:

Between work and a bad computer I haven't been around much but I'm doing fine. Especially since I recently solved that bad computer problem :bounce:.

[fortyfeetunder]

4. My question of the day

Where are the MENTAL HEALTH professionals in this situation?

[fortyfeetunder]

5. My second question of the day...

One poster on the original string suggested that blacks would think the actions taken by the teacher and assistant principal were appropriate. I certainly do not. What do you think of how this was handled?

My first thought is FL can't even handle its health and human services, so perhaps I'm expecting too much for them to handle mental health services.

[msgadget]

6. Okay, UGRR,

I have a rhetorical question that may cause me to be a little unpopular but, here goes:

Have y'all ever been around a truly BAD child? A mean, a God-awful, tantruming, out of control little monster?

And, since I'm sure it wasn't YOUR child you knew you couldn't do that mamma-snatch up and so you just watched the little beast rage and wild all over the place. Let's suppose for one moment - forgetting that it was in Florida even - that this was the case, that the teacher couldn't put hands on the kid or lose her job and resorted to calling for help and that help, after an hour, had to resort to this for the safety of the kid and personnel.

I have seen some truly out of control kids and I saw clips of that little cutie climbing on the table, kicking and punching the adults around her, adults who'd be sued if they'd put hands on her in response. Yes, adults in charge are supposed to be mature enough (certainly professional educators are) to handle kids without resorting to the police (!!) and hand-cuffs but could this not be one bad-ass kid??

[fortyfeetunder]

10. I think there was a lot of misinterpretation

When the mother said not to touch the kid, I think the teachers overreacted to this. What could have been construed as "don't hit, shove, or pinch my child" was probably exaggerated to mean, don't lead her out the classroom to a safe place, don't direct her to something constructive.

[undergroundrailroad]

11. Hi Ms. G.

Well, I come from the generation where you would go outside and pick your switch. Thankfully, my parents never issued those switch spankings to us (siblings). But many of my friends did and we would talk about it.

But in this instance, I have a problem with handcuffing a child especially a toddler. What were the options? They contacted her Mother, she was delayed in getting to the school, but she was in route. Was this little girl a danger to herself and the teachers? Was she armed ? Was she a flight risk? How does a jail accommodate a child this young? Where was she "held"? Did they read her the Miranda rights and did she UNDERSTAND THEM? Did she know her date of birth? If not, did the school have the right to disclose this information to the police. Did they fingerprint her? Did they search her lunch box? What was the legal cause of the arrest? How long were the handcuffs on? And most important, why was this damned thing taped? These are the questions I have.

Perhaps this is naive on my part, but at the young age of 5, you're usually taught that the police is your "friend". WOW!

Yes, FL, again and again and again.

[FrenchieCat]

7. This is a disgusting thing to hear and read about....

what's next....a newborn who cries too long?

[politicasista]

8. Why is it always Florida?

Interesting huh?

[qanda]

9. I have gotten into a lot of trouble over this one

I don't think it should ever be okay to handcuff a five year old for misbehaving.

[Swamp Rat]

12. I saw the video

Those teachers handled the situation COMPLETELY WRONG! I would NEVER let those women around my child (if I had one)! IDIOTS!!! :mad:

[GOPFighter]

13. I only recently saw the videotape

The first thing I thought was, why was there a tape of this? Who started the taping and why? I think the teachers decided to tape her misbehaving to "prove" to her mother what a brat she is and what they have to put up with. This brought me to my second thought, did they intentionally provoke the child to make the tape more convincing and then between the provocation and having a camera stuck in her face, did the little girl lose it, and get seriously out of control? Did the teachers at that point panic and call the cops? (And why did they keep filming while the child was being handcuffed...?)

I wonder how much the camera contributed to her tantrum?

[undergroundrailroad]

14. Another thought. I would like to hear the 911 call to the police.

I noticed (during the filming) one of the teachers held her hands in the air and said 'I'm not touching you' or something to that intent. Perhaps the camera was used to provide "proof" to the parents, authorities, etc. that it's not *US*, it's HER. What was the motive for the camera? What needed to be documented?

[SemperEadem]

16. Did the child come to school amped up on sugar?

did her mother feed her sugary cereal for breakfast and turned her loose on the school? I think the mother needs to answer for some things... I doubt that this is the first time the child has acted that way and felt she could get away with it.

[fortyfeetunder]

17. Consider this:

THe incident occurred close to the end of the school day. I've volunteered in kindergarten classes. Kids at that time should be winding down in preparation for returning home. All I saw was the kid getting wound up. No attempt to take her out of the element and calm her down.

Surely there is a parenting element contributing to this situation, but I don't think it was the only issue. I also think there was an undiagnosed behavioral health issue too, FWIW.

[SemperEadem]

18. My nephew's teacher

turns the tables on parents who send their child to school amped up on sugar... near the end of the day, they'll get sweet treats if they've completed their work and behaved well... and the kids are sent home to the parents as amped up as they were when they came to school---returning the favor.

Sugar.. the gift that keeps on giving.

[blazinjason]

15. I agree UGRR, (FL). This is the "Rodney King" of

black child abuse, by the police. The perception of what you see on the videotape is the perception they scripted. This is their perception of this young girl and her mother. The school even berated the mother who was not tardy in arriving at the school. She has a job in health care and could not leave her patients, the individuals, that were entrusted under her care.

I don't trust any investigation in FL.

Jay