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

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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.

Wow, that is an iron clad excuse of all excuses if you ask me. Well done!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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.

It reminds me of that saying that when all you have is a hammer, everything looks like a nail...

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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.

O.k....so the school's procedure is to turn defiant 6 year olds over to the resource officers? If so, I was not aware of that.

Doesn't sound like the school had much of a procedure at all.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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.

Hahahahaha. No.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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.

Wow, that is an iron clad excuse of all excuses if you ask me. Well done!

I'm sorry you don't understand structural racism. There are approximately infinity studies on the topic showing that black people get arrested for things white people get warnings for; that black children's misbehavior is criminalized while white children get timeouts. Reality isn't usually seen as an "excuse," but I guess if you really don't want reality acknowledged you might be a tad miffed.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Not sure what happened (link not working) but if the teacher/guidance/admin felt that the situation warranted an officer being brought in to handle it, I would imagine that the little girl's behavior was a danger to herself, her classmates and the staff.

I don't know if she needs medication, counseling or some other sort of intervention. Hopefully she'll get the help she needs.

She kicked someone. That's it.
Then handcuffed, put in the back of a car, finger printed, and mug shot taken. 6 years old.

On the bright side, I bet she won't kick anyone again.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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.

The resource officers aren't really inventing crimes to charge kids with are they? It just happens that if a kid punches their teacher in the nose, a resource officer will call that an assault while a forgiving teacher might call it a mistake.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Not sure what happened (link not working) but if the teacher/guidance/admin felt that the situation warranted an officer being brought in to handle it, I would imagine that the little girl's behavior was a danger to herself, her classmates and the staff.

I don't know if she needs medication, counseling or some other sort of intervention. Hopefully she'll get the help she needs.

She kicked someone. That's it.
Then handcuffed, put in the back of a car, finger printed, and mug shot taken. 6 years old.

On the bright side, I bet she won't kick anyone again.

I would imagine that was the goal! I hope you're right!

[Anonymous]

I'm stunned by how many folks are coming out of the woodwork to invent fiction about what could have justified this officer's actions.

Of course, even now that the police department (not a bunch of hippie do-gooders) have let this guy go, the same folks will be crying over the poor officer's bright future.

What about this? He did the wrong thing, and he did the wrong thing because the entire premise of US LEO training is to escalate the situation until the "perp" demonstrates "respect" for the authority of the officer.

If the perp does not, G-d help them, because it may just be a bullet in the back. Or a young child in handcuffs.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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.

Lack of sleep definitely causes poor behavior, as well as exacerbating mental health issues and physical health problems. Don’t you feel at least a little grouchy when you don’t sleep well? Isn’t it worse after several nights? Now imagine feeling like that with the mental abilities and impulse control of a 6 year old. It could definitely lead to a tantrum, and tantruming kids sometimes kick.

It’s not a good situation. It’s not okay behavior. But it’s not arrest-worthy.

O.k....if the parent/guardian *knows* that the kid is suffering from sleep apnea why isn't the condition being treated? Isn't sleep apnea potentially life threatening?

It takes a while to diagnose and treat issues. We (DH, pediatrician, and me) strongly suspect that sleep apnea is what’s causing my DD to feel tired all the time, her school performance to suffer, some balance issues, worsening anxiety, and a few other less worrisome symptoms. We have great insurance. It’s still going to take about 4 months from me noticing the symptoms worsening and needing intervention to getting a CPAP, assuming sleep apnea is the problem. That’s with educated, middle class, involved parents following up with doctors and staying on top of the situation. First we had to rule out a few obvious concerns, wait for a referral, wait longer for an appointment, then we’ll have to wait for them to diagnose her, wait for another appointment for a cpap machine, then wait for symptoms to improve. I don’t know the circumstances of the child in the background, but if they have a less than stellar insurance or financial situation, or if the parents have trouble getting off work for appointments, the process could take longer.

Why is it so hard to show compassion to the child and her family instead of blaming them for everything? Why is it so hard to blame the overzealous officer who didn’t follow procedures?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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.

Wow, that is an iron clad excuse of all excuses if you ask me. Well done!

I'm sorry you don't understand structural racism. There are approximately infinity studies on the topic showing that black people get arrested for things white people get warnings for; that black children's misbehavior is criminalized while white children get timeouts. Reality isn't usually seen as an "excuse," but I guess if you really don't want reality acknowledged you might be a tad miffed.

O.k. so the answer is to allow a little girl suffering from behavioral issues caused by sleep apnea to continue to kick the crap out of her teacher, disrupt her classroom and defy authority? You know that's crazy, right?

[Anonymous]

I don't think arrest is justified, but as a school-based professional, there has been an increase in extreme behavior which schools are not equipped to deal with. We need more trained personnel and good research into what strategies work.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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.

Lack of sleep definitely causes poor behavior, as well as exacerbating mental health issues and physical health problems. Don’t you feel at least a little grouchy when you don’t sleep well? Isn’t it worse after several nights? Now imagine feeling like that with the mental abilities and impulse control of a 6 year old. It could definitely lead to a tantrum, and tantruming kids sometimes kick.

It’s not a good situation. It’s not okay behavior. But it’s not arrest-worthy.

O.k....if the parent/guardian *knows* that the kid is suffering from sleep apnea why isn't the condition being treated? Isn't sleep apnea potentially life threatening?

It takes a while to diagnose and treat issues. We (DH, pediatrician, and me) strongly suspect that sleep apnea is what’s causing my DD to feel tired all the time, her school performance to suffer, some balance issues, worsening anxiety, and a few other less worrisome symptoms. We have great insurance. It’s still going to take about 4 months from me noticing the symptoms worsening and needing intervention to getting a CPAP, assuming sleep apnea is the problem. That’s with educated, middle class, involved parents following up with doctors and staying on top of the situation. First we had to rule out a few obvious concerns, wait for a referral, wait longer for an appointment, then we’ll have to wait for them to diagnose her, wait for another appointment for a cpap machine, then wait for symptoms to improve. I don’t know the circumstances of the child in the background, but if they have a less than stellar insurance or financial situation, or if the parents have trouble getting off work for appointments, the process could take longer.

Why is it so hard to show compassion to the child and her family instead of blaming them for everything? Why is it so hard to blame the overzealous officer who didn’t follow procedures?

Well, in this case...sleep apnea was brought up as the reason for the girl's behavior issues. The parent/guardian was aware that the child had this potentially deadly health condition.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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.

Wow, that is an iron clad excuse of all excuses if you ask me. Well done!

I'm sorry you don't understand structural racism. There are approximately infinity studies on the topic showing that black people get arrested for things white people get warnings for; that black children's misbehavior is criminalized while white children get timeouts. Reality isn't usually seen as an "excuse," but I guess if you really don't want reality acknowledged you might be a tad miffed.

O.k. so the answer is to allow a little girl suffering from behavioral issues caused by sleep apnea to continue to kick the crap out of her teacher, disrupt her classroom and defy authority? You know that's crazy, right?

She didn't kick her teacher, she kicked a staffer in the principal's office. And even then, she didn't "kick the crap out of" anyone, she kicked someone once, and only after they grabbed her arms. But keep up the "vicious kicking beast" narrative. It's a great look. You're not on the wrong side of this narrative at all, with all your made up facts and demands for complete obeisance from first graders.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Not sure what happened (link not working) but if the teacher/guidance/admin felt that the situation warranted an officer being brought in to handle it, I would imagine that the little girl's behavior was a danger to herself, her classmates and the staff.

I don't know if she needs medication, counseling or some other sort of intervention. Hopefully she'll get the help she needs.

She kicked someone. That's it.
Then handcuffed, put in the back of a car, finger printed, and mug shot taken. 6 years old.

The officer took her to juvenile detention where they handle juvenile offenders. It's not like he took her to prison.

Oh please. Yeah, a 6 year old in handcuffs knows that distinction.