Police chief handcuffs 7-year-old boy (WV)

[davidinalameda]

http://www.dailymail.com/news/News/2005042622/

A police chief briefly put handcuffs on a 7-year-old boy who had become unruly and kicked at him at an elementary school.

The boy, a student at Bethlehem Elementary School in Ohio County, had been running from teachers both inside and outside the school on Friday. School staff then followed protocol and called police.

"I tried to catch him and talk to him," said Bethlehem Police Chief August Bankey. "He refused to stop."

[all.of.me]

1. is this becoming the norm?! that is a scary thought.

[Roland99]

2. Why? Although, imo, the cops should go arrest the parents

for being negligent.

[all.of.me]

3. home lives of unusually disruptive kids should definitely be looked into.

no argument there.

[antigone382]

7. Yeah, because only bad parents have kids that lose control sometimes.

:eyes:

If you read the article you'll see that the parents talked with the officer and with school administrators to deal with their son's behavior.

[Roland99]

10. They're trying to figure out why he has these tantrums

This just appeared out of thin air? Not typically. If it's happened before, they should be more attuned to their child's behavior and seek counseling, possibly even psychiatric treatment. Ignoring problems don't make them go away.

[antigone382]

12. Almost every kid has tantrums like that.

No, it's not something that parents should ignore or appease, but it isn't something that generally requires psychiatric tratment. I, for one, can remember being a kid, and growing up with five brothers. Thank God no one ever locked my mom up for negligence, or tried to give me or my brothers psychiatric treatment for the occasional outburst.

Now, as to this particular case, I can't judge whether the kids needs treatment or not. The article doesn't mention any previous outbursts, so my guess is that the kid got out of hand and needs a stern talking to.

[name not needed]

4. At least they didn't taser him

Good job! Keep it up and you get a donut!

[antigone382]

5. More of the article:

"He started beating on the door of a classroom," Bankey said. "I told him to come with me. He started to kick at me. I restrained him in handcuffs and sat him in a chair. I told him, ‘If you behave and talk to me, I'll take the handcuffs off.' "

The boy apparently agreed and Bankey removed the handcuffs, which "weren't on tight. I didn't lock them down," the chief said.

Bankey, who had been called to the school once before to deal with the same boy, said the boy's parents came to the school to meet with the police chief and a member of the district administration.

"They tried to figure out the problem and why he has these anger fits," said Bankey, who indicated he left before the meeting ended and didn't know what conclusions were made.

Ohio County Assistant Schools Superintendent George Krelis declined comment on the meeting, saying he did not want to violate the rights of the student and his parents.

http://www.dailymail.com/news/News/2005042622

I don't handcuffing kids is generally a good idea. However, this situation is far less severe than the one in Florida, as the child was given the opportunity to calm down after the handcuffs were placed on him, at which point they were removed.

And for those suggesting that the parents should have been arrested for negligence, the article says that the parents were willing to deal with the situation and try to improve the behavior of their child....but hey, we all know that only kids from dysfunctional families EVER have temper tantrums. :eyes:

On edit: I didn't mean to post the whole article.

[LostinVA]

8. Still don't agree with this, however

At least this officer (Chief) was rational with the boy and calmed him down. So, an A for that effort, anyway. It also sounds like the school and parents are more concerned for the welfare of the boy.

[antigone382]

9. Yes, that's pretty much my sentiment.

One important difference between this case and the case of the little girl, however, is that the girl sat down and calmed down when the police came in, at which point they handcuffed her and put her in the car. This little boy was in the process of kicking the officer and disregarding him. I still think handcuffing was a bit of an overreaction, but it is important for kids to learn at an early age that there are consequences for assaulting a police officer.

[merh]

6. Resisting arrest, intimidating an officer, assault on an officer.

Go ahead, Mr. Big Bad Policeman -- charge him - BOOK HIM DANNO! :sarcasm:

This is insane. :cry:

[underpants]

11. Freakin' Wussies where was the Taser?

:grr:

[merh]

13. Come one guys - we know this has to be bad parenting!

Don't blame the cop, I mean the kid was a threat, wasn't he? :sarcasm: