5-year-old gets arrested

Llaffer · Post by **Llaffer** » March 18, 2005, 4:04 pm

http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u ... d_arrested

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. - A 5-year-old girl was arrested, cuffed and put in back of a police cruiser after an outburst at school where she threw books and boxes, kicked a teacher in the shins, smashed a candy dish, hit an assistant principal in the stomach and drew on the walls.

The students were counting jelly beans as part of a math exercise at Fairmount Park Elementary School when the little girl began acting silly. That's when her teacher took away her jelly beans, outraging the child.

Minutes later, the 40-pound girl was in the back of a police cruiser, under arrest for battery. Her hands were bound with plastic ties, her ankles in handcuffs.

"I don't want to go to jail," she said moments after her arrest Monday.

No charges were filed and the girl went home with her mother.

While police say their actions were proper, school officials were not pleased with the outcome.

"We never want to have 5-year-old children arrested," said Michael Bessette, the district's Area III superintendent.

The district's campus police should have been called to help and not local police, he said.

Bessette said campus police routinely deal with children and are trained to calm them in such situations.

Under the district's code of student conduct, students are to be suspended for 10 days and recommended for expulsion for unprovoked attacks, even if they don't result in serious injury. But district spokesman Ron Stone said that rule wouldn't apply to kindergartners.

"She's been appropriately disciplined under the circumstances," he said.

The girl's mother, Inda Akins, said she is consulting an attorney.

"She's never going back to that school," Akins said. "They set my baby up."

My opinion on this - the police used excessive measures, but that mother's insane to think her daughter was "set up" and is completely innocent.

Wulfran · Post by **Wulfran** » March 18, 2005, 4:16 pm

Excessive measures? how?

She was an animal and they gave her the scare of her life. They didn't beat the shit out of her. There is no account of them even using force on her. That she would be so out of control in the first place is an indictment of her parents, who should be at least responsible for the damages she did. I hope the brat's mother tries to sue and gets laughed out of court while running up some nasty legal bills: it would serve the stupid bitch right for not disciplining the kid in the first place.

Marbus · Post by **Marbus** » March 18, 2005, 4:17 pm

SHE IS A FUCKING 5 YEAR OLD! FIVE... FIVE YEARS OLD. THROWING A TANTRUM WHEN SOMEONE TAKES HER JELLEY BEANS IS... almost normal. She should have been sent to the corner or taken to the principals office but the cops? What the fuck is wrong with this country? You guys know I try not to curse too much but this is fuckin' insane... 5 she is 5 years old. Sure, she should know that not the way to act but who knows, maybe she didn't get enough sleep last night, or maybe the other kids had been mean to her what ever the case an outburst like that is pretty much normal. Trying to figure out why she blew up like that is what the school should be doing rather than calling the police...

Marb

PS - And for those who don't know I use to be a Child Life Specialist and a Psychiatric Counselor with Children and Teens. The School was out of line, from the article they even seem to realize that.

Voronwë · Post by **Voronwë** » March 18, 2005, 4:20 pm

if the school doesnt "want 5 year olds to be arrested", then why were the police called?

miir · Post by **miir** » March 18, 2005, 4:26 pm

That sounds like a bit more than a 'tantrum', Marb.

Throwing books and boxes and drawing on the walls... that's a tantrum.
Smashing a candy dish, kicking the teacher in the shins and hitting a principal in the stomach... that's out-of-fucking-control.

Bravo for cuffing the little brat and tossing her in the back of a cruiser. Maybe she will learn a lesson about respect and self control... it's obvious her parents aren't capable of teaching her that themselves.

If the parents try to sue, the teacher and principal should file assault charages.

Llaffer · Post by **Llaffer** » March 18, 2005, 4:36 pm

Excessive - yes .. she's no threat of real harm to a cop other than maybe a bruise or two. I think the cuffing was over the top. Get her in the back of the cop car and lock it .. that should have been enough.

I do agree that if parents sue, that the school should file charges.

Marbus · Post by **Marbus** » March 18, 2005, 4:47 pm

Miir she is 5, how much harm can a 5 year old little girl really do? I worked for a while in a child psych unit who really did need help. However no matter violent no one would EVER need the call the cops on a 5 year old. You note that she hit the principle...OOOOOOOO I'm sure it hurt really bad. These people should have been the adults like they are suppose to be. If they had any inkling of control they could have stopped her before she got to that point...

Marb

miir · Post by **miir** » March 18, 2005, 5:00 pm

Miir she is 5, how much harm can a 5 year old little girl really do?

March 15, 2005

COLUMBUS, Ohio -- A gun that a second-grader said he found on his way to school went off in his book bag in a classroom yesterday, shooting him in the hand, police said.

March 14 2005 at 02:16PM

Houston - A two-year-old was shot by his four-year-old brother, who may not have known the difference between a real and toy gun, police said.

The two-year-old, who suffered a single gunshot wound to the temple, was in critical condition on Saturday night at Ben Taub Hospital. The shooting occurred on Saturday afternoon at a home in south-west Houston.

Those 2 incidents might have had something to do with how the situation was handled

Llaffer · Post by **Llaffer** » March 18, 2005, 5:02 pm

Not the same thing.

We're talking about how much injury an unarmed 5-year-old girl can generate, not an accidental gunshot.

*~*stragi*~* · Post by ***~*stragi*~*** » March 18, 2005, 5:41 pm

shoulda kicked her back imo

Aabidano · Post by **Aabidano** » March 18, 2005, 5:42 pm

I would guess they were doing exaclty as school district policy tells them too. There'd be repurcussions from the little monsters parent(s) and the school district had they done anything to restrain her themselves.

This was beyond a tantrum, though I'd guess similar behaviour works at home when she doesn't get her way.

Winnow · Post by **Winnow** » March 18, 2005, 5:46 pm

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. - A 5-year-old girl was arrested, cuffed and put in back of a police cruiser after an outburst at school where she threw books and boxes, kicked a teacher in the shins, smashed a candy dish, hit an assistant principal in the balls and drew on the walls.

The corrected text explains the overreaction.

Drolgin Steingrinder · Post by **Drolgin Steingrinder** » March 18, 2005, 5:54 pm

Rhymes better, too.

miir · Post by **miir** » March 18, 2005, 5:59 pm

Never thought of that myself...

What if the school staff tried to restrain her and the little moster went home screaming to her parents that they 'hurt' her. Without anyone to corroberate their story, the school could have been majorly fucked. Kindergarten teachers are probably the best people for dealing with kids throwing a temper tantrum... this was a lot more than just a tantrum.

No doubt they made the right decision in calling the police.

Llaffer · Post by **Llaffer** » March 18, 2005, 6:12 pm

Aabidano wrote:though I'd guess similar behaviour works at home when she doesn't get her way.

Based on the mother's comments at the end of the article, I'd guess that your statement would be true.

Zaelath · Post by **Zaelath** » March 18, 2005, 9:01 pm

If you go around doing this shit at 5, and all people do is talk to you, who do you think is the dominant one?

The mother is typical of most parents; my babies can do no wrong, or the "haha, kicking you in the balls means he likes you!" defense.

Should be more of it, seems like far too many kids these days think they are untouchable.

Hesten · Post by **Hesten** » March 18, 2005, 9:12 pm

I think the school WAY overreacted. Sicking the police on a 5 year old that throw a tantrum should land a sacking to whoever were involved. That case should have been handled differently.

BUT on the other hand, if the kid throws tantrums like that, maybe we should try somethis i sometime think most americans have forgotten about, look INWARDS. Why does a kid act like that? Could it be something maybe related how the kid was raised?
For me this more show that the mother appearantly arent very good at raising her kids, and then as usual try to blame everyone else.

So yes, the school are to blame for handling the case like that, but the parents are sure also to blame for raising the kid like that.
People seems to think that you just give birth to a kid, raise it till you can throw it in daycare, and that society then take over.

People (and no offence, but especially americans, your lawsuit system are more or less build to prove my point) need to relearn that there are something called responsibility, and if youre a parent, that also goes for raising your child. The correct way to act if you fuck up are to admit the mistake and take responsibility for it, NOT to sue everyone in range and hope to make some cash out of you being a victim of XXX that caused you to do whatever you did.
My borther for example got the brilliant idea to spray grafitti on trains. Result, the idiot get caught, and since hes underage, his mother had to pay the fine. Thats responsibility.
Had that happened in the US, i guess his mother could have sued the police for the arrest, the paint makers, the train company, and god knows what else, because theres no way my brother could be responsible, althoug he was the moron spraypainting the train car.

LEARN TO TAKE RESPONSIBILITY. Should be a "bloody stupid" clause somewhere in US law, to punish people making all those stupid lawsuits.

Fash · Post by **Fash** » March 18, 2005, 9:35 pm

well.. it had to come down to one person... the first person to react with "someone call the cops!"... and that person is retarded.

Lynks · Post by **Lynks** » March 18, 2005, 9:37 pm

How was the school suppose to handle this then? Talk to the kid? Doubt it. If the school just put one finger on that kid, they would of been sued.

Its what teachers are told to do nowadays. Just call the police if shit like this goes down. They need to protect themselves too you know.

Lohrno · Post by **Lohrno** » March 18, 2005, 9:39 pm

Hesten wrote: BUT on the other hand, if the kid throws tantrums like that, maybe we should try somethis i sometime think most americans have forgotten about, look INWARDS. Why does a kid act like that? Could it be something maybe related how the kid was raised?

Kids quite often test their limits even well adjusted ones... It's really a matter of making sure they know that such behavior is not acceptable. I'm not sure why the police should be involved in that, I think they shouldn't.

Boogahz · Post by **Boogahz** » March 19, 2005, 1:29 am

I think that might be why they mentioned that they would normally contact the school police in that type of situation.

Niffoni · Post by **Niffoni** » March 19, 2005, 2:23 am

Fuck the children. A good scare to set them in line never hurt anyone. Having said that, I can't even imagine who decided that they needed to get the cops in on this one. She's fourty pounds, Captain Academia. You can take her.

a_guide · Post by **a_guide** » March 19, 2005, 5:42 am

I would not want to be the teacher who stepped up and physically restrained the child because instead of the parents suing the police (who are vested with the authority to take such action) it would be directed at the educator. Either a parent or a cop could do that and while it may be overkill to call in the police, they have a fair amount of impunity that a teacher lacks.

Mak · Post by **Mak** » March 19, 2005, 7:39 am

Many schools, at least in my district, have a full time police officer on the grounds during the school day. This officer is usually the DARE officer or some such but is mostly there to protect the staff and students in a general sense. It's entirely possible the officer is designated as a first responder when there is some sort of disturbance occurring in a classroom.

Arborealus · Post by **Arborealus** » March 19, 2005, 11:41 am

Voronwë wrote:if the school doesnt "want 5 year olds to be arrested", then why were the police called?

The superintendent doesn't want the police called...Someone on campus apparently disagreed...

That said, I don't really have issue with the police being called in an incident like this to give the child a talk about hitting others (though the parents should be involved and consulted)...Though I imagine that is what the "campus police" are there for and trained to do. I'm not sure...we didn't have "campus police" until I was at college.

It sounds like this went way beyond a tantrum to me really. Teachers and Principals are taught how to correct misbehaviour. It sounds like their attempts in the case just resulted in exacerbation (maybe their fault...likely lack of consistent behavioural controls at home?).

Inda pretty much screwed the pooch and reinforced the childs behaviour, teaching her to be a victim as opposed to learning that if you hurt others there will be consequences.

I would wager that the intent was never to have the child arrested. I would also bet this is not the first time this child has acted out violently.

Simply put we are missing the answers to some critical questions in order to determine if the decision was made for the right reasons. If it was my child no doubt I would be questioning the teacher, principal and board. There is also no doubt I would have made sure the child understood that hitting others does result in consequences up to and including police detainment.

Then again if it was my child I would know there were consistent behavioural controls at home and I doubt it would have ever come to this in the first place.