Police hand-cuff 5 year old girl at school (1 Viewer)

[MarkHastings]

Oh please! - If it weren't for most Americans who are so damn 'sue happy', then maybe the school could have handled the children without bringing in the cops, or for fear of being sued by the parents.

I'm not saying that I am happy about handcuffing a child, but considering how violent the child was (i.e. to herself), how else are you supposed to protect yourself from the child getting hurt?

It sucks that we now have to do these kinds of things for fear of being sued. The school system has NO authority in these situations. They can not discipline the child for fear of angry parents and they also can't restrain the child for fear of angry parents, and to top it off, they also have to fear the child hurting himself/herself and having to deal with angry parents.

I ask, how else was the school system (and police) SUPPOSED to act? If it were YOU who were in this situation, not restraining the child will eventually result in the child hurting themselves, then where would you be? I'll tell you, unfortunately you'd be in court and you'd have angry parents wanting you fired for harming their child! :frowning:

 

[Paul_Medenwaldt]

Obviously there is something mentally wrong with the little girl. But it is obvious that she knew what she was doing was wrong because she started crying when the cops were in the room and she was placed in handcuffs.

The thing is, the situtation should not of gotten that far without her realizing that what she was doing is wrong. If a parent is not going to be strict and handle the situation, if even an adult in authority as such with the lady that was in the room cannot control this girl's behavior then drastic measures have to come into play.

Should a taser or pepper spray be used? No, but when schools have no legal authority to detain this child or even repremand, you have to begin to think outside the box and figure out how to deal with this child.

And by the mother of this child suing the school is just another example why it costs so much money to run public schools these days.

Paul

 

[Holadem]

I am still waiting to hear the better alternative solution from naysayers.

--
H

 

[Micheal]

I have a daughter and I live in Canada, if that matters.

I just watched the tape and have to agree with the police. They really had no choice in the matter. The girl wrecks the office and flails away at the teacher for quite some time.

In the old days the teacher would have been allowed to discipline the girl. As you can see in the video the teacher has to be VERY careful in the way that she even touches this child. Even though she is just trying to keep the girl from falling off a table and hurting herself. This would have NEVER happened in my school when I was growing up. Now kids can get away with just about anything and teachers have to resort to calling the police to restrain the girl.

She only sat down because she was aware what was about to take place and knew that she was in big trouble. The police will not allow her to punch and kick them regardless of her age. She is old enough to know better.

She also has a history of this behaviour. The Mother is the one that should be responsible for her child. I say take the child away from her until she can prove that she can control her. If this child has some sort of "condition" then she should be put in a place that can handle her for this type of situation.

 

[MarkHastings]

Also, she knew very well that the school can not touch her, so she was able to do whatever she wanted without discipline. Since she stopped when the cops came, this is a good indication that she is not going to respect any school authority and harsh measures are the only course of action.

This is like a friend of my moms. This woman has a difficult child (I think he's 16) and the step father has a hard time with him. The step father can't touch the kid or the kid calls the cops on him. The kid knows the step dad can't touch him, so he eggs the guy on. The kid constantly harasses his mother and the step dad just has to bite his tongue and stay away. One day, the kid was mouthing off and the step dad shoved the kid (just barely). The kid fell and cut his lip. Needless to say, the step dad spent a night in jail. :rolleyes

These kids know what they are doing and know when they can act out without consequences. Handcuffing may be excessive for most kids, but in some cases, it's the only thing that sinks in. Maybe if this girl gets handcuffed enough times, the school will only need to mention the cops and she'd stop her tantrums.

 

[Micheal]

I disagree. It is possible that her Mother lets her away with everything and when she doesn't get her way... WATCH OUT!

I have seen shows on kids like this, all they needed was proper discipline and there was nothing "mentally wrong" with them. If anything most of them were very bright and intelligent.

 

[Dennis*G]

It's sad that the schools hands are tied these days. The teacher could do nothing to stop the girl. The parents were alerted and the response was they cannot leave work??

If my kids behave like this in school, I would hope the school puts the fear of God into them so they wont do it again, and you better believe they will hear about it at home.

Handcuffs at that point were the only option, unless schools start putting in solitary confinement rooms.

Bring back the hickory sticks

 

[Sami Kallio]

It's time to bring in the Super Nanny.

 

[Shayne Lebrun]

Drew,

What ages are your children? Out of curiosity.

Mine are 7, 5, and 3. And if any one of them was acting like that, I'd have no problems with the cuffs going on. Action -> consequence, done.

OF COURSE she started behaving when the authority figures showed up! Standard tactic for a young child. But, by that time, the damage had been done, so to speak, and she *needed* to have some sort of consequence.

If the teachers were able to do anything other than ask nicely for some calm, she'd not have started up, and kept going for an hour, in the first place.

 

[Micheal]

My daughter is almost 20 months old. Girls tend to start testing well ahead of boys in my experience. When she is doing something wrong and I tell her to stop she will occasionally test me. 9 out of 10 times I just have to stand up or gesture as if I am going to approach her. 9 out of ten times she falls in line immediately. I have never hit her and I occasionally raise my voice to her if she isn't listening. I have never yelled at her.

The one out of ten times that I have to take action results in me stopping her from doing what she was doing and placing her in a different area. Once and a while she throws a 1 minute tantrum that I ignore. Crocodile tears insue. It never lasts long and she gets over it amazingly fast. Especially when she doesn't get any attention for it.

She has already learned (to some degree) that I will not take her nonsense. I see other children that get warning, after warning, after warning, with no repercussions.
These children KNOW they can get away with anything around certain individuals.

 

[Dave_Brown]

I think the parents of the other kids in the class room should sue that girls mother. If she can sue the school/police, then the other parents should be able to sue her for creating a hostile or dangerous environment for their children by having such a little brat of a kid.

 

[MarkHastings]

and the teachers should sue the mother for not allowing them to do their jobs at ALL!

 

[Jeff Ulmer]

I also have no issue with the handcuffing, which was preauthorized by the parent.

Let the mother sue. Hopefully the court will recognize the frivolous nature of the suit, and not only refuse to award damages, but force the parent to pay for every cent of the expenses the school has to put up in the defense.

I also agree that the other parents have a case for a suit against the mother if the child is not being disciplined at home, and as a result their children are not getting the education they deserve and their parents have paid for.

While some feel that youngsters should be exempt from punishment when they misbehave, what about the rights of the teachers and other students? What gives this girl the right to disrupt the school and behave this way without repercussions? In my day, that kid would have gotten the strap long before she got all carried away, and would probably have thought twice about acting up again.

 

[Kevin T]

nope. just poor parenting. of course, i don't know the child abuse laws in that state, but i'm pretty sure "letting her act that way" does not come close to constituting abuse.

kevin t

 

[Casey Trowbridg]

I don't have any objection to what the police did at all. They did what needed to be done, and if the girl had known at least one of those officers from prior dealings, then she probably knew what was coming next.

Whether a person is 5 or 50 if they know what there doing and I personally think that she did, if you make your bed you'd damn well better lie in it.

 

[Joe Szott]

If that was my child and I saw the videotape, they would be begging for the cuffs vs. the alternative from me. I think I would have to buy the teacher/principal a bouqet of flowers as an apology as well, not a lawsuit.

Whether she has special needs or not I don't know. I suspect she has a long overdue prescription for a heaping helping of discipline administered parentally for a few solid weeks.

In the end, those who get it, get it. Those who don't can't be told and they get pissed off when their 'angels' require handcuffs to act like a normal human kid. The police absolutely did what they had to do. What if they didn't handcuff her and she starts flailing and runs into traffic outside the school? You bet your ass they would have gotten sued over that. This kid needed to be subdued, the handcuffs were the quickest and easiest option they had available.

 

[Rich Romero]

I agree with cuffing her. She needed some discipline.

 

[Chris Derby]

I think they had to use plastic restraints since the cuffs would not fit her wrists.

 

[Chris]

More info on this case this morning.

http://sptimes.com/2005/04/28/Florid...antrum_o.shtml

 

[MarkHastings]

Is this guy SERIOUS!?!?!?! :rolleyes