6 year old arrested at school. Florida, of course.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Only kicked someone. Gosh... that’s good to hear?

Seriously, WTF? We now expect our teachers to put up with physical abuse from their students? Come on. Let the teachers teach. This kid needs some sort of serious intervention and if her parent/guardian isn't providing it then maybe it needs to be court ordered.

So you think a kindergartner or first grader kicking someone means they should be arrested. I find that appalling.

Once a child was bothering my DD in first grade so she bit her. I guess we should have brought back the electric chair.

I trust that the teacher and the rest of the school staff attempted to bring the girl under control before they brought the officer in to handle the situation.

This is one of those you had to see it to believe it I'm sure. There is probably some sort of security footage showing what the school/the officer were dealing with.

If Dulce *just* kicked a teacher, had settled down and the officer was just trying to put the fear of God into her by arresting her - that is another story entirely.

Even if she weren’t behaving and didn’t settle down, how is arresting her the right answer? Officers are supposed to de escalate situations. How is this child helped by being sent to a juvenile detention center for having a tantrum at school? And the officer has done it twice in a week, plus he has a history of excessive force. This isn’t how we’re supposed to treat our kids.

I don't know. Apparently the school felt it was necessary to bring the resource officer into the situation? I'm sure that there is more to this story. It would be great to get the big picture as to why this happened.

Was this a first time or one of many? Did the girl calm down or was she actively defying the adults trying to settle her down? Whatever the situation was, I hope her parent/guardian takes this very seriously and gets this little girl the help that she so desperately needs.

Schools have disciplinary procedures in place, which include suspension or expulsion for extreme cases. Does your elementary school student handbook include cuffing and arresting children who don’t behave? My kids’ schools never listed that as an option. Even if she were behaving very poorly, adults breaking rules about discipline haven’t resulted in any of them getting arrested. The officer is suspended I believe, which seems entirely appropriate while the incident is investigated. It’s more courtesy than he gave the children.

I know I shouldn’t be so bothered by someone on the internet disagreeing with me, but the fact that some people think this is okay is troubling to me. You could be teachers or officers dealing with my kids or their friends, shaping their lives. I know everyone can’t be on the same page always, but arresting kindergarteners and first graders really shouldn’t be an option.

I agree with you that I hope she gets help for whatever issues she had or may arise from this.

What makes you think that the school didn't follow the procedures available to them? If they suspended the kid and the parent/guardian refused to pick her up what then?

I honestly don't know what the school would do in that situation. Call child protective services and allow the social work to get kicked by the kid? What do you do?

NP but it's in every single story I've read covering this that he violated procedure by cuffing someone under 12 without approval from his supervisor. It's bizarre how hard you're caping for this nutjob. If you have to go 8 levels into hypotheticals that didn't happen to justify what happened, maybe consider ... it wasn't justified.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I am equally disturbed as other posters that some posters seem to think that there are any circumstances in which arresting a 6 YEAR OLD would be justified. Because the child is 6. I don't care if the child is the brattiest brat that ever bratted, it's not ok.

What are the alternatives if she's having an uncontrollable meltdown where she's kicking people? Call an ambulance to take her to the hospital for a medical crisis?

I'm not the one calling this kid a brat, btw. I think she probably does need some sort of help.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Only kicked someone. Gosh... that’s good to hear?

Seriously, WTF? We now expect our teachers to put up with physical abuse from their students? Come on. Let the teachers teach. This kid needs some sort of serious intervention and if her parent/guardian isn't providing it then maybe it needs to be court ordered.

So you think a kindergartner or first grader kicking someone means they should be arrested. I find that appalling.

Once a child was bothering my DD in first grade so she bit her. I guess we should have brought back the electric chair.

I trust that the teacher and the rest of the school staff attempted to bring the girl under control before they brought the officer in to handle the situation.

This is one of those you had to see it to believe it I'm sure. There is probably some sort of security footage showing what the school/the officer were dealing with.

If Dulce *just* kicked a teacher, had settled down and the officer was just trying to put the fear of God into her by arresting her - that is another story entirely.

Even if she weren’t behaving and didn’t settle down, how is arresting her the right answer? Officers are supposed to de escalate situations. How is this child helped by being sent to a juvenile detention center for having a tantrum at school? And the officer has done it twice in a week, plus he has a history of excessive force. This isn’t how we’re supposed to treat our kids.

I don't know. Apparently the school felt it was necessary to bring the resource officer into the situation? I'm sure that there is more to this story. It would be great to get the big picture as to why this happened.

Was this a first time or one of many? Did the girl calm down or was she actively defying the adults trying to settle her down? Whatever the situation was, I hope her parent/guardian takes this very seriously and gets this little girl the help that she so desperately needs.

Schools have disciplinary procedures in place, which include suspension or expulsion for extreme cases. Does your elementary school student handbook include cuffing and arresting children who don’t behave? My kids’ schools never listed that as an option. Even if she were behaving very poorly, adults breaking rules about discipline haven’t resulted in any of them getting arrested. The officer is suspended I believe, which seems entirely appropriate while the incident is investigated. It’s more courtesy than he gave the children.

I know I shouldn’t be so bothered by someone on the internet disagreeing with me, but the fact that some people think this is okay is troubling to me. You could be teachers or officers dealing with my kids or their friends, shaping their lives. I know everyone can’t be on the same page always, but arresting kindergarteners and first graders really shouldn’t be an option.

I agree with you that I hope she gets help for whatever issues she had or may arise from this.

What makes you think that the school didn't follow the procedures available to them? If they suspended the kid and the parent/guardian refused to pick her up what then?

I honestly don't know what the school would do in that situation. Call child protective services and allow the social work to get kicked by the kid? What do you do?

NP but it's in every single story I've read covering this that he violated procedure by cuffing someone under 12 without approval from his supervisor. It's bizarre how hard you're caping for this nutjob. If you have to go 8 levels into hypotheticals that didn't happen to justify what happened, maybe consider ... it wasn't justified.

Yes. The resource officer DID NOT follow procedure and that is why he got fired. That does not mean that the school did not follow procedure. No one at the school has been disciplined as far as I'm aware.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I am equally disturbed as other posters that some posters seem to think that there are any circumstances in which arresting a 6 YEAR OLD would be justified. Because the child is 6. I don't care if the child is the brattiest brat that ever bratted, it's not ok.

What are the alternatives if she's having an uncontrollable meltdown where she's kicking people? Call an ambulance to take her to the hospital for a medical crisis?

I'm not the one calling this kid a brat, btw. I think she probably does need some sort of help.

There are different restraint methods for children who are at risk of harming themselves or others that can be applied by people who are trained to do so. Child beating, excessive force using police officers are not qualified to do that. At a minimum, he could’ve called his supervisor to get approval for using handcuffs.

Schools have procedures to handle these things. Just because you don’t know them doesn’t mean they don’t exist. If a group of knowledgeable people in this field has deemed that an ambulance ride should be best practice for this situation, I’ll accept it even if I think it’s excessive. Handcuffing and arresting a 6yo the way he did for what that child did isn’t acceptable. It’s not proper procedure, not to mention it’s ridiculously excessive and bad for the child.

[Anonymous]

In that situation either the classroom would be evacuated or two adults would carry the first-grader and to a safe space where the child can de-escalate. Now the kid is going to have PTSD thanks to being arrested on top of whatever other diagnosis resulted in the behavior. Awful. The parents should consider legal action.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I am equally disturbed as other posters that some posters seem to think that there are any circumstances in which arresting a 6 YEAR OLD would be justified. Because the child is 6. I don't care if the child is the brattiest brat that ever bratted, it's not ok.

What are the alternatives if she's having an uncontrollable meltdown where she's kicking people? Call an ambulance to take her to the hospital for a medical crisis?

I'm not the one calling this kid a brat, btw. I think she probably does need some sort of help.

There are different restraint methods for children who are at risk of harming themselves or others that can be applied by people who are trained to do so. Child beating, excessive force using police officers are not qualified to do that. At a minimum, he could’ve called his supervisor to get approval for using handcuffs.

Schools have procedures to handle these things. Just because you don’t know them doesn’t mean they don’t exist. If a group of knowledgeable people in this field has deemed that an ambulance ride should be best practice for this situation, I’ll accept it even if I think it’s excessive. Handcuffing and arresting a 6yo the way he did for what that child did isn’t acceptable. It’s not proper procedure, not to mention it’s ridiculously excessive and bad for the child.

The school brought in the resource officer so maybe the school was unsuccessful in restraining the girl or felt that they could not restrain her for much longer and maybe the parent/guardian was not available to pick the child up? I just get the sense that the parent/guardian wasn't working with the school to deal with this so the school brought in law enforcement. The officer then did not get proper approval to proceed with bringing the child in to juvenile hall. What would police supervisors instructed him to do instead?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:And an 8 year old in the same week.

This is sickening and absolutely a racial thing. School to Prison Pipeline right here.

I live in Orlando and it's very much in the news in a WTAF sort of way, so it's not like everyone down here is "what, what's the problem." The officer was suspended and the prosecutor refused to do jack about it, so the "system" is at least working there. Despite the fact that the system never should have been invoked.

The officer is black.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:In that situation either the classroom would be evacuated or two adults would carry the first-grader and to a safe space where the child can de-escalate. Now the kid is going to have PTSD thanks to being arrested on top of whatever other diagnosis resulted in the behavior. Awful. The parents should consider legal action.

Oh, I am sure that the parent/guardian is considering legal action. That's about guaranteed.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:In that situation either the classroom would be evacuated or two adults would carry the first-grader and to a safe space where the child can de-escalate. Now the kid is going to have PTSD thanks to being arrested on top of whatever other diagnosis resulted in the behavior. Awful. The parents should consider legal action.

What if the kid had already had 4 episodes like this within the past 2 weeks. The parent/guardian could not be located to assist and the child's behavior was only escalating.

How many hours can a school keep a child properly restrained in a safe space? 1 hour? Half a day? All day?

The little girl in question looks adorable btw and it's hard to imagine her being so out of control. I do wonder what exactly happened because A LOT does not make sense.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:A sleep disorders does not cause a 6yo to throw a tantrum at school and then kick an adult. These kids seem to have no idea how to behave.. I'd be livid if my kid did this.

So, a kid who has sleep apnea and doesn't rest wouldn't possibly be prone to tantrums?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:A sleep disorders does not cause a 6yo to throw a tantrum at school and then kick an adult. These kids seem to have no idea how to behave.. I'd be livid if my kid did this.

So, a kid who has sleep apnea and doesn't rest wouldn't possibly be prone to tantrums?

The ignorance is astonishing isn’t it?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:And an 8 year old in the same week.

This is sickening and absolutely a racial thing. School to Prison Pipeline right here.

I live in Orlando and it's very much in the news in a WTAF sort of way, so it's not like everyone down here is "what, what's the problem." The officer was suspended and the prosecutor refused to do jack about it, so the "system" is at least working there. Despite the fact that the system never should have been invoked.

The officer is black.

DP but officers of every color feel much freer to arrest and mistreat black children than white. A racial thing doesn't necessarily mean personal animus - most racism is societal. Society will bring the hammer down on a cop that arrests a little white girl, regardless of context. Meanwhile society, as expressed by DCUM, will go give us countless logical contortions about the vicious kicking beast that had to be controlled when the story is about a black girl.

[Anonymous]

Would it have been better to call an ambulance and have the paramedics restrain her in some sort of a straight jacket?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I am equally disturbed as other posters that some posters seem to think that there are any circumstances in which arresting a 6 YEAR OLD would be justified. Because the child is 6. I don't care if the child is the brattiest brat that ever bratted, it's not ok.

What are the alternatives if she's having an uncontrollable meltdown where she's kicking people? Call an ambulance to take her to the hospital for a medical crisis?

I'm not the one calling this kid a brat, btw. I think she probably does need some sort of help.

There are different restraint methods for children who are at risk of harming themselves or others that can be applied by people who are trained to do so. Child beating, excessive force using police officers are not qualified to do that. At a minimum, he could’ve called his supervisor to get approval for using handcuffs.

Schools have procedures to handle these things. Just because you don’t know them doesn’t mean they don’t exist. If a group of knowledgeable people in this field has deemed that an ambulance ride should be best practice for this situation, I’ll accept it even if I think it’s excessive. Handcuffing and arresting a 6yo the way he did for what that child did isn’t acceptable. It’s not proper procedure, not to mention it’s ridiculously excessive and bad for the child.

The school brought in the resource officer so maybe the school was unsuccessful in restraining the girl or felt that they could not restrain her for much longer and maybe the parent/guardian was not available to pick the child up? I just get the sense that the parent/guardian wasn't working with the school to deal with this so the school brought in law enforcement. The officer then did not get proper approval to proceed with bringing the child in to juvenile hall. What would police supervisors instructed him to do instead?

There are studies that show having “resource officers” in schools increased the criminalization of bad behavior at school.
Problem behavior that would have resulted in a trip to the office and a call to parents now gets kids arrested.
It is a real problem.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I am equally disturbed as other posters that some posters seem to think that there are any circumstances in which arresting a 6 YEAR OLD would be justified. Because the child is 6. I don't care if the child is the brattiest brat that ever bratted, it's not ok.

What are the alternatives if she's having an uncontrollable meltdown where she's kicking people? Call an ambulance to take her to the hospital for a medical crisis?

I'm not the one calling this kid a brat, btw. I think she probably does need some sort of help.

There are different restraint methods for children who are at risk of harming themselves or others that can be applied by people who are trained to do so. Child beating, excessive force using police officers are not qualified to do that. At a minimum, he could’ve called his supervisor to get approval for using handcuffs.

Schools have procedures to handle these things. Just because you don’t know them doesn’t mean they don’t exist. If a group of knowledgeable people in this field has deemed that an ambulance ride should be best practice for this situation, I’ll accept it even if I think it’s excessive. Handcuffing and arresting a 6yo the way he did for what that child did isn’t acceptable. It’s not proper procedure, not to mention it’s ridiculously excessive and bad for the child.

The school brought in the resource officer so maybe the school was unsuccessful in restraining the girl or felt that they could not restrain her for much longer and maybe the parent/guardian was not available to pick the child up? I just get the sense that the parent/guardian wasn't working with the school to deal with this so the school brought in law enforcement. The officer then did not get proper approval to proceed with bringing the child in to juvenile hall. What would police supervisors instructed him to do instead?

You "get the sense" based on what, exactly? If there wasn't a resource officer already in the school, would the teacher have called 911 for the tantrum or did they use police intervention because it's certainly easier and more convenient than anything more constructive? And, if the idea was to remove the child from the situation because the school couldn't handle her, what's your reasoning for them to fingerprint her and take mug shots?

The people justifying a 6 year old being handcuffed, taken to a juvenile facility, fingerprinted, and mug shots are ridiculous. I can't imagine any of you would be ok with it happening to a child that you love.