Flashback....5 yr old handcuffed in Florida
I originally posted this story on Friday March 18th,2005 but only until recently has it received major attention.Click on title for link to video.
A US lawyer plans legal action against Florida police who handcuffed an unruly five-year-old girl after she acted up in her kindergarten class.A video camera, which was rolling on March 14 as part of a classroom self-improvement exercise, captured images of the girl tearing papers off a bulletin board, climbing on a table and punching an assistant principal before police were called to the Fairmount Park Elementary School in St Petersberg, Florida.Then it shows the child appearing to calm down before three officers approach, pin her arms behind her back and put on handcuffs as she screams, "No!"Largo lawyer John Trevena, who provided the tape to the media after obtaining it from police, says the officers went too far."The image itself will be seared into people's minds when you have three police officers bending a child over a table and forcibly handcuffing her," said Trevena, who represents the girl's mother, Inga Akins."It's incomprehensible ... There was no need for that."
A US lawyer plans legal action against Florida police who handcuffed an unruly five-year-old girl after she acted up in her kindergarten class.A video camera, which was rolling on March 14 as part of a classroom self-improvement exercise, captured images of the girl tearing papers off a bulletin board, climbing on a table and punching an assistant principal before police were called to the Fairmount Park Elementary School in St Petersberg, Florida.Then it shows the child appearing to calm down before three officers approach, pin her arms behind her back and put on handcuffs as she screams, "No!"Largo lawyer John Trevena, who provided the tape to the media after obtaining it from police, says the officers went too far."The image itself will be seared into people's minds when you have three police officers bending a child over a table and forcibly handcuffing her," said Trevena, who represents the girl's mother, Inga Akins."It's incomprehensible ... There was no need for that."
posted by cyouincourt007 at 12:07 AM
10 Comments:
I support the action of calling in reinforcements. I teach in an inner city school. You can't even imagine the terible student behaviors! If you can't touch kids in any way and they won't respond to voice commands to stop misbehaving, then what are we to do??
Michelle,
Do you have kids? A 5-yr old child does not deserve to be handcuffed, for any reason. Yes, she was misbehaving and should have been repremanded, but handcuffing this child was not the answer. The administrative staff could have done more to get this child under control without involving the police. Continously, you see the principal and teacher following the child around the room adding to her fraustration level instead of ingorning the behavior which would have resulted in the child no longer having an audience. You would have known this had you been a parent!
When a child does not respond to your voice commands and won't stop misbehaving you find other effective tactics. You use your common sense in addition to your educational training and develop a plan of action. Most of those "inner city" kids are looking for love. Try that the next time.......
Michelle,
I'me with you and many Americans on this issue. I do have a 4 1/2 yr. old and by golly she knows to never hit anyone much less an adult. As far as them following the girl, ummm, what do you expect. The girl had already destroying things. Were they supposed to just sit down and let this girl have her way? The police were called before and the Mother was warned that they would put handcuffs on her if she acted like that again. After viewing the tapes I'm more convinced that this child is spoiled rotten and knows Mommy will let her get away with anything. Those two women showed great restraint, especially the vice principal after being hit several (not once)times.
You have got to be kidding me! Have we all gone crazy in this country?! Handcuffing a baby!!! We're talking about a FIVE YEAR OLD PEOPLE. A child this young that is acting up clearly has something going on at home or elsewhere in her life. No child this young acts like this for no reason.
Get a child phsiciatrist, or some kind of child specialist. Not do some idiot thing that is going to traumatize her for the rest of her life.
I cannot believe that the police would even do this? What kind of overzealous fools are they?! This child clearly was in need of some kind of help and its a shame that people that obviously have no intelligence or common sense, were able to do something so stupid and reprihensible.
I don't really know what to think of this situation. If the little girl was acting calm when the police were there, then there was no need for the handcuffs. I'm so sure that they couldn't hold on to her rather than hold on to her.
I do know some kids are bad though, and if she was acting irrational towards them too then they had every right to handcuff her. I remember one time this little boy came into the emergency room because he caught his home on fire, and then he kept yelling obscenities at everyone. He had to be restrained, and security had to be outside the door the whole time he was there. HE WAS 5!
As a retired educator and the mother of a school teacher, as well as a mother and grandmother, I fully support the action of the school and police in the situation concerning the 5-yr-old girl. It is difficult enough for educators to work with the number of children in the classroom without having to work with a child who is completely out of control. If the child has problems,it is the responsibility of the mother to see that she gets help. If she is simply without proper adult supervision, the state should see that she is removed from the undesirable environment. She has no chance of growing up to be a responsible adult if she is allowed to behave in such a manner.
There is no reason for a 5-year old child to be put in handcuffs! What reallly upsets me, though, is just how many people agree with this picture. Would the reactions be any different if this were a 5-year-old white kid? But it's not. It's an angry and violent black kid, only 8 years away from being a teenager, so why not jail her and write her off early?
Maybe if she'd been left with a group of adults who had no interest in children this might be how you'd expect them to act or react. But this is not how caregivers are expected to treat a child, any child. Even the police should have known better.
There are other ways to confine and restrain a child, and if the school was not prepared to deal with a 5 year olds behavior, I'd like to know why not? Was there no quiet room that had nothing in it to destroy? If she has a history of misbehaving, then why not just admit that she was beyond their capabilities.
IF (and that's a BIG IF) I were ever going to handcuff a 5 year old, then I would handcuff her to me. And when she stopped struggling we would talk. I'd let her know that she wasn't alone, that I'd heard her anger, but that I could not let her continue doing what she was doing. Why was she angry? Something set her off, but what? Does anybody care? Why should they? She's just another angry black kid, so what do you expect? Now if it were a 5 year-old Olsen twin look alike, well, at the very least SHE wouldn't be fulfilling our expectations.
My wife is an elementary school teacher and contrary to popular belief by many of her students' parents, she is not a caretaker or babysitter. Her job is not to take care of spoiled brats. It is amazing how many parents blame her for their child's behavior issues. My wife is one of the strictest teachers in her school, but even she has certain kids who consistently misbehave and listen to no one. That is the parents' fault plain and simple. This 5-yr old girl surely has problems at home. The mother is the one who should be handcuffed for not raising her child properly.
I hear alot about what should NOT have be done, so what SHOULD HAVE been done here? Let the child destroy everything while we mull over the situation. You cannot touch them, you cannot hit them. What do you do then?
If there is no set guidelines to follow when a child is out of hand like this, then don't complain about the actions taken when it does.
Post a Comment
<< Home