Link to Article: https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/handcuffs-little-kids-unconstitutional_us_59e127fce4b0a52aca1809ad
Link to video (warning: painful to watch): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=72vu6nxZX58
This past week, a video of a 3rd grader with disabilities being handcuffed has gone viral through social media sites such as Facebook and Twitter. The video captures the child crying out and stating that he is in pain. The officer ignores his pleas and refuses to unhand-cuff the child and continues to tell the boy that he “must suffer the consequences” when he misbehaves.
When questioned, Officer Sumner attempted to justify his actions by explaining that the 54lb boy swung at the officer with his elbows (...maybe because the child has ADHD?). Ultimately, when the case was taken to court the judge found the entire situation extremely disturbing and ruled the officer’s actions as unconstitutional for it violated the Americans with Disabilities Act.
Social media site users are furious with the officer’s actions and many argue that this is an abuse of power, as well as claiming this to be torture. What is your reaction to this? Did the officer handle the situation appropriately or are there other ways he could have gone about it?
9 comments:
This is outrageously wrong. What kind of police officer in their right mind decides to hand cuff a mentally disabled 8 year-old? Such a horrible and, frankly, moronic thing for a police officer to do in any type of situation. Obviously this man should be fired or even stripped of his badges as well. This kind of police action is inexcusable and the officer should "suffer the consequences."
The officer's actions were wrong, and he did deserve to be reprimanded for what he did. The kid's actions may have been disobedient, but it was definitely not enough for the officer to treat the kid the way he did. Because the kid is so young and mentally disabled, the officer should know that he does not need to apply a lot of force to keep the kid in control. I'm glad that the officer's actions were found unconstitutional.
I agree that the police officer's behavior in this situation was abusive and disturbing. I believe that hand cuffing such a young child should not be okay in any circumstance, whether he/she has a disability or not, especially since it will just further traumatize them. In general, I also don't think that the police should play an active role in disciplining children at elementary schools. The teachers and staff should be better prepared and equipped to deal with rowdy students.
I agree that the officer's handling of the situation was inexcusable. I find it hard to believe that an 8-year-old boy's actions actually warranted a police response to the situation if he was simply misbehaving in class. ACLU Legal Director Matt Coles said, "This is a law enforcement response to what's essentially a school management problem." The boy was clearly in pain, as he could be heard in the video saying, "Oh, God. Ow, that hurts." Calling the police to handle the situation was unnecessary, but, in my opinion, handcuffing the boy for 15 minutes while he underwent significant pain was unwarranted. He did not need to be handcuffed, as he did not have any weapons on him and could not get close to posing any significant physical threat to the officer or escaping.
I agree that the officer's actions in this situation was wrong. The child's actions may have not been acceptable, but handcuffing a child, regardless if he/she has disabilities, it is not right. There are other was to discipline them, but the police should not be handcuffing an elementary school kid with that much force. In order to avoid such occurrences again, I believe that teachers and faculty members need to be better prepared to deal with situations like this.
I agree with Nico because the kid has a disability, which is something that should not be overlooked. We must treat people with disabilities equally otherwise it would be considered discrimination. The fact that the officer has ignored the kid when the kid said it was painful is a clear violation of the disabilities act. I believe that the officer actions should be prosecuted. Even though the kid swung, that doesn't mean anything. The kid is 54 pounds. It is clearly not enough to do much. If the officer cannot handle a 54 pound kid, maybe he shouldn't be in the police field.
The officer handled the situation in the worst possible way. If a child, who is disabled and probably 1/3 of your size, swings at you, you talk to them and tell them its wrong. You do not handcuff their arms to the point where they are screaming in pain for 15 minutes. I don't see any excuse that could explain his actions and he should be fired from his job immediately.
This was honestly horrible, These are one of those instances where I question police officers. There's no justice to putting handcuffs on a 9 year old boy especially one that saying he was in pain. It violates the disability act and it violates his rights. There were like a lot of different ways that this police officer could of handle this situation yet he chose one of the worst possible ones.
It's no secret that what this cop did was inexcusable. It just goes to show that many police officers aren't trained the right way to handle certain types of situations. He should have talked to him about it, not just completely ignore the fact he was in pain, in addition to his mental disability. This is honestly ridiculous. He should be fired as I'm sure he was and nothing justifies what he did.
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