Kindergartner arrested and charged with a felony

[rebel with a cause]

for having a temper tantrum (?). Six year old girl was throwing chairs and crying uncontrollably. School calls police and girl is taken off in handcuffs to jail. She stays there until her parents can be reached. Mother says child has never behaved this way before. Anyway, child is charged with several crimes and will face a hearing. OMG, what has this world come to that we are criminalizing the bad behavior of a six year old child.

http://www.cnn.com/video/player/player.html?url=/video/law/2007/03/30/baynews9.6yearold.arrested.affl

edited to add link.

[woodsprite]

1. And not criminalizing the behavior of the squatter in the WH. n/t

[williesgirl]

2. Don't you understand - only our nation's leaders get to behave badly & get away w/it.

This is nuts - I wonder what happened to the little girl that caused this outburst? Maybe they should investigate that before rushing to judgment.

[Breeze54]

3. Didn't this happen months ago?

:shrug: or is it a new kid?

[rebel with a cause]

7. new one. The other one was a little older, I believe.

[OmmmSweetOmmm]

4. Is Florida a police state already? This is totally ridiculous. eom

[HereSince1628]

5. She's learning everything she needs to know in kindergarten

The long arm of the law is intended to keep little girls of her socio-economic standing in line.

Rich people's kids can throw tantrums at will, resulting in horrific destruction and even the deaths of tens of thousands with no blowback.

[EstimatedProphet]

6. That's sickening!

Can there be any question that police powers are out of control now?

[Richard D]

8. Wonder if she was "medicated"

with ritalin or something.

[DCKit]

9. Aren't they all?

[rodeodance]

10. a six year--says was jailed. 'resisting a law enforcement officer::

[papau]

12. that " law enforcement officer" was an ass n/t

n/t

[gollygee]

29. Six year olds don't understand the concept of "resisting a law enforcement officer"

and wouldn't understand that they need to get under control for a police officer. In fact, a 6-year-old might not be capable of pulling himself/herself under control. Most kids stop having tantrums around, what, 4 or 5 anyway, but there are kids who will have tantrums until they're 7 or 8, just like most kids walk around 12 months but some don't walk until 18 months.

[Suich]

11. I had no idea you could charge a 6 yr. old with a felony.

One of the charges is "Resisting a LEO (law enforcement officer) without violence." I wonder what that means.

[rebel with a cause]

15. From my years of working with children,

it probably means that she sat on a chair, or on the floor, with arms crossed and did not want them to put the handcuffs on her or to go to jail. It is called peaceful resistance when done by adults in protest.

[Sadie4629]

13. Handcuffing a 6-year old is inexcusable

under ANY circumstances. Trouble is, if she was throwing chairs, she was creating a situation that was dangerous for herself and everyone around her. She needed to be physically restrained, even if only by being held. Trouble is, I'm sure the teachers were afraid to touch her. If holding her tightly had resulted in any bruising (and it could have) a teacher's career could literally be ended.

[rebel with a cause]

16. I agree with the premise that teachers are afraid to touch the children

and probably with good reason, but you can easily restrain a child and not injure them. Had to learn different ways to do this, and although it is sometimes hard to control small ones, it can be done. I never bruised a child while doing so.

On the other hand, the following should have been done. With a child throwing chairs, the other children should have been removed, the child should have been talked to and listened to. If handled correctly, restraints are usually not even needed. The interview said that the child quit throwing chairs and began to weep uncontrollably, which tells me there was something causing the behavior that should have been addressed. This type of fury does not come out without some cause. IMHO

[thefool_wa]

22. Wow is that not true

I saw teachers at my high school physically stop fights and what they did HAD to leave bruises (fly tackles, arm bars, headlocks - not simple stuff). Not a single one ever had their careers questioned or were placed on admin leave, or anything of the kind.

There are a thousand ways this type of thing can be handled and the fact that the police were called makes me question this teachers ability to actually instruct kindergarten children. She should be fired and her license removed for handling it THIS way.

This DID NOT REQUIRE POLICE INTERVENTION and the fact that the officer involved arrested a 6 year old who has NO WAY of comprehending the actual ramifications of their actions says to me that the officer should be removed from duty and possibly run out of town on a rail (if not worse).

This whole situation is a load of crap. What the fuck is this world coming to.

:shrug: :cry:

[havocmom]

27. One wonders if this tantrum thing has been a regular behavior, sometimes law called as last resort

We had a youngster at the local grade school who threw things, bit, kicked really violently, and was a danger to self and others. There was no provocation for his violent attacks. His parents would not deal with the problem. Instead they kept yelling at teachers, aids and other kids.

The school finally had to have the lad (second grade) arrested as it was the only way to get him out of the school and into someplace better equipped to deal with his VERY REAL and VERY SERIOUS behaviors.

He was not brown, just in case anybody wonders. Local kid. VERY small town where everybody knows (or is related to ) everyone. The kid is just a psycho and his parents are not dealing with the reality.

Not common, but sometimes that shit happens and the ONLY way a school can FORCE the issue and protect other kids (from injury - the little shit bit and clobbered people with chairs) & staff (from law suits filed by fucked up parents) is to take legal action that WILL get the kid to a facility able to handle him.

I used to help out some days in the pre-school when the kid was in there. I am tall and strong. He took me looming over him and PUTTING him back on the bean bag when he would try to escape time out and beat people with furniture before the teacher could safely hold class. This happened week after week! If I was not able to be there some days, he would often bolt from the classroom (in a building with no other people/activities at that time) and run outside. Now, pre-school teacher had a choice: Go after him (sometimes in -30 degrees, and he didn't stop for a coat) and leave the other 14 kids without supervision, or stay with her class, phone for help and hope he didn't get lost and die from exposure before someone got there to help. NOT a position she should have EVER been in, let alone put in regularly.

Sometimes little details on individual cases make a big difference. When they FINALLY took the kid off (in second grade) they HAD to arrest him for legal reasons. It was step one in getting him into programs where he could be treated and put into adequate care.

Not saying that is the case in this news story and I could not get the whole thing to play, so I am shy on details. But sometimes very young children can be very dangerous. It happens.

[Tsiyu]

14. Who brought the charges?

I'm on dial-up so no videos here.

Now, this is not a cop-bashing post, because there are good cops out there. But I have noticed that cops and prison guards seem to get some perverse thrill out of controlling weak people.

That's why our prisons are full of non-violent offenders while judges and legislators force us to deal with the sex offenders and the violent. They let them loose for us to handle, and I can only make one assumption: prison guards are cowards who want the weakest people under their control.

Same follows for many cops. They're afraid of the truly violent, won't even cruise in high-crime areas in many cases, but they freaking have time to charge a Kindergarten student with a FELONY?

What total and complete wimps and idiots.

I keep asking this and no one will answer it: what are we doing to our kids in this country?

Why are we eating our own? Why are we hell-bent on 'teaching a lesson' in the toughest, most severe way possible to babies, while we let evil, murderous, sick adults roam the streets?

My only conclusion is that many cops, legislators and prison guards are absolute and total COWARDS and should be ashamed to show their weak-assed faces.


This is insane beyond belief.

[rebel with a cause]

17. The school probably brought the charges

which tells me that it is not acting in the best interest of their students.

[WindRavenX]

18. There is no excuse at all for handcuffing a child to begin with...

...but to take them to JAIL and then charge them with a fucking FELONY?? :wtf:

God, this country has gone to the dogs.

[scorpiogirl]

19. I have a kindergartener and I find this crazy.

I can't imagine having to restrain a six-year-old with handcuffs over a tantrum?! BTW, the chairs in kindergarten are tiny. I can't believe an adult couldn't get control even if she was throwing chairs. Handcuffs and arresting her seems extreme to me.

[MoonRiver]

20. No wonder the home schooling movement is growing.

Stupid, stupid behavior (on the part of school officials). :mad:

[thefool_wa]

24. Between incidents like this

And all of the teachers OF BOTH SEXES who think it is OK to have sex with children - I agree.

I guess this is what they mean by no child left behind - if by left behind you mean left out of jail!

:grr:

[mudesi]

21. Not surprised the child is black

I would wager money that they would not have called police had the child been white.

[Renew Deal]

23. She must be punished for her crimes.

No TV or cookies tonight!

[Karenina]

25. Before reading any further, I JUST KNOW

she must have dark brown skin.

[KT2000]

26. Parents need to investigate

whether the school and grounds have been treated with toxic chemicals, such as pesticides and herbicides. (They spray shcool for lice and other insects. Children touch their desks and books etc. and then their hand go in their mouths. They also inhale these neurotoxins)

They need to test her for food allergies too.

Then when she is ready to go back to school, pick another one and sue the shit out of everyone involved at her old school.

[havocmom]

28. Excellent point! Little people are at greater risk from toxins

and some toxin can trigger some bad shit.