Handcuffing an out-of-control Georgia kindergartner. Was there a better response?
UPDATE Tuesday at 1:22 p.m.: Since writing about this yesterday when there was just the one news story, this incident has drawn widespread attention around the country.
The AJC now has a more detailed story online.
That story states:
Police said a small shelf thrown by the child struck the principal in the leg during the fracas. The child also jumped on a paper shredder and tried to break a glass frame, the police report states. The school called police. When an officer tried to calm the child in the principal’s office, she resisted, police say. She “was restrained by placing her hands behind her back and handcuffed,” a police report states.
A juvenile complaint was filed, accusing the girl of simple battery and damage to property. The police department’s policy is to handcuff people when they are taken to the police station, regardless of their age, interim Police Chief Dray Swicord said. “The reason we handcuff detainees is for the safety of themselves as well as the officer,” he said Tuesday.
The girl’s aunt, Candace Ruff, went with the child’s mother to pick her up from the police station. She said Salecia had been in a holding cell and complained about the handcuffs. “She said they were really tight. She said they really hurt her wrists,” Ruff said. “She was so shaken up when we went there to pick her up.”
The police chief said the girl was taken to the police department’s squad room, not a holding cell, and officers there tried to calm her and gave her a Coke.
The girl was suspended and can’t return to school until August, her mother, Constance Ruff, told WMAZ-TV, which first reported the story.
“We would not like to see this happen to another child, because it’s horrifying. It’s devastating,” her aunt told The Associated Press.
Here is the original post from Monday:
A few folks sent me links to this news story out of Milledgeville where an officer handcuffed a kindergartner for what police said were safety concerns about the child’s out-of-control behavior.
The readers who sent me the link to this story disapprove of the strong police response, insisting there are better ways to contain and calm a hysterical 6-year-old than clamping handcuffs on her. Afterward, the child was charged with simple assault and damage to property.
I read the comments posted to the WMAZ-TV site, and local respondents split over whether this was an overreaction. I expect we will hear more about this story and a more detailed police response.
According to the police report, a kindergartner was crying in the principal’s office at Creekside Elementary before police arrived Friday. The report says when the officer tried to calm the child, she resisted and was cuffed.
The little girl is accused of tearing items off the walls and throwing furniture. The report mentions the girl knocked over a shelf that injured the principal. Police say they tried to contact her mother but weren’t able to reach her. They took the child to the police station where she was charged with simple assault and damage to property. Because of her age, she will not have to go to court and will not be sentenced.
Her mother, Constance Ruff. says her daughter was suspended and cannot return to school until August. “She has mood swings some days, which all of us had mood swings some days. I guess that was just one of her bad days that day,” said Constance Ruff.
“A 6-year-old in kindergarten. They don’t have no business calling the police and handcuffing my child,” said Earnest Johnson, Salecia’s father.
“She might have misbehaved, but I don’t think she misbehaved to the point where she should have been handcuffed and taken downtown to the police department,” said her aunt, Candace Ruff. “Call the police? Is that the first step? Or is there any other kind of intervention that can be taken to help that child?”
WMAZ spoke with other police and sheriff’s departments. None of them could remember handcuffing a child that young. They say the use of handcuffs would be at the officer’s discretion and based on whether the child is a threat to herself or others.
–From Maureen Downey, for the AJC Get Schooled blog
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499 comments Add your comment
Aquagirl
April 17th, 2012
12:09 pm
parent who has been there…..I’m familiar with the whole “appropriate education” thing. Yes, you can hijack the system to revolve around your special needs child. Congrats. You’re acting out of parental instinct where you place your child before anything else. Problem is….there’s a bunch of children getting run over while that happens. If you’re bold enough to publicly say that’s fine, it’s your legal right and there’s really nothing else to say. But do remember that educational system is supposed to turn out people capable of caring for your child when you’re gone.
Honestly if this child is chewing on doorknobs when she’s 6 and mom thinks it’s just a bad day, her chances of being a functioning adult are not good. Mental illness is like any other illness, sometimes we can help and sometimes we can’t. Also, when someone is severely ill, we send them to a hospital, not a classroom. We don’t expect educators and police to insert chest tubes or do surgery, we shouldn’t expect them to fix mental illnesses either.
Yeah Right
April 17th, 2012
12:11 pm
This is some racist b.s. Charged? Really? C’mon if this was on the N. Side and the child was white then this wouldn’t even be news worthy. They would’ve put the kid in the back of the police cruiser and took the child to the parent. Get REAL. How can a person you can pick up be that much of a threat?
gray dog
April 17th, 2012
12:11 pm
Of course there is a better way, restraining the child in a hug, but then the police officer would probably have been accused of child molestation and sued, especially if there was a bruise left on the arms of the child. With our sue happy world, common sense has left the building.
Tonya C.
April 17th, 2012
12:11 pm
a parent who has been there:
No it wasn’t. The parent could not be reached. This child was knawing on a doorknob and destroying public property. The school day had ceased to be a learning environment for her classmates and many of her peers. The staff and faculty can’t legally touch her. Letting her ‘calm down in safe place’ was not a viable answer to this. Sometimes the greater good has to win out. I’m sure it doesn’ feel good to call the police on a six-year old, and the principal probably hoped the mere sight of the officer would have been enough to make her stop.
oneofeach4me :
You are exactly right. I have won the cooperation of many of our son’s teachers because I tell them, “As concerned as I am for my child, there is still a greater good at play here. He does not deserve an education over his peers, no matter his disability. As long as he can mainstream and be functional, cool. If not, he will be in a self-contained classroom and deal with it.” He is now successfully mainstreamed in middle with an aide, but he knows it is not a right and we can go back at any time.
Classes are now averaging 30-35 kids. If a parent sees issues with their child and doesn’t reach out to get the help they need what can the school do?
Tonya C.
April 17th, 2012
12:14 pm
And here is a real life reality check:
Some of these kids belong in alternative educational settings. They will never be stable enough to exist in a regular ef environment. It sucks, but it’s true.
Grumps
April 17th, 2012
12:14 pm
OK, I’m getting a little tired of all the people wanting to beat children with a stick or a belt. I got beat with a belt on a regular basis as a child (50’s vintage) and all it did was p*ss me off. When I got old enough and big enough, I took the belt away when I was about to get beat and said, :No more.” Spare the rod and spoil the child didn’t work worth a d*mn for me. Its been 50 years since I got beat and it still p*sses me off to think about it.
Also, I know some folks who have an adopted child who could very well go off like this. They are good parents. Their teen-age son is a polite, well-mannered kid. They adopted the daughter when she was only a few days old. As an aside, she commonly uses expressions that her birth mother used and that her adoptive parents never use. Nature vs nurture? They have the child in therapy and nothing seems to help. So don;t go off on the parents – you don’t know a thing about how they raise the kid.
Special ed may be the answer = if you can find a decent apecial ed teacher who knows how to handle this behavior. Otherwise, I’ve got no suggestions. Handcuffing her and taking her to jail fixes nothing for this child. It could, however, be necessary to protect everyone else. So it could be necessary, but everyone involved needs to be aware that this behavior is not necessarily something she can willfully control. It’s probably a lot more complicated than that
Beverly Fraud
April 17th, 2012
12:14 pm
“She might have misbehaved, but I don’t think she misbehaved to the point where she should have been handcuffed and taken downtown to the police department,” said her aunt, (name redacted)
Just curious Aunty, what WOULD be “to the point” that she should be handcuffed?
Jefferson
April 17th, 2012
12:18 pm
Must have been some wimppy cops that can’t handle a kid.
PMC
April 17th, 2012
12:19 pm
Did the handcuffs prevent the child from hurting herself or anyone else? If so, then I have zero problem with it.
Why would anyone?
a parent who has been there
April 17th, 2012
12:20 pm
Hijack the system? The law requires us to send our kids to school. As it should . The same law requires that school to educate them. We as a society do not take the weakest among us and hide them in a closet away from everone else. It is not a choice to have a disabled child. Use of the word hijack shows your lack of compassion and understanding on the issue.
But we digress. The issue of this article is the handcuffing and subsequent perp-walk of a 5 year old. Inexcusable and unacceptable in every way imaginable.
PMC
April 17th, 2012
12:23 pm
There was no perp walk. They took the kid to the police station because that’s where the police work.
The only thing they could have done is held here in the office and wait for her family member to come pick her up. Either way, there is not much to debate. The school couldn’t restrain an out of control person, they called the police, the police restrained that person. No one was harmed….. move along.
PMC
April 17th, 2012
12:25 pm
If anyone is out of control and their behavior is a risk to themselves or others then they absolutely need to be restrained. That’s the purpose of handcuffs.
a parent who has been there
April 17th, 2012
12:31 pm
Restrained yes – handcufs no. There are proper ways to restrain a child that do not invlove handcuffs. Which easily cut into the skin. Even an elderly adult could restrain a 5 year without the use off handcuffs. I could see it with older and bigger children (roughly middle school aged) but not a 5 year old.
Aquagirl
April 17th, 2012
12:31 pm
The issue of this article is the handcuffing and subsequent perp-walk of a 5 year old.
The kid is six. So either you’re running in here uninformed without bothering to read, or the educational system was too busy spending money being “compassionate” to teach you to read and think.
We as a society recognize our medical limits, there are people out there right now dying of various diseases and we can’t do anything more than make them comfortable. It is beyond our power to do anything beyond palliative care. We can’t fix them. That’s reality.
If you feel reality lacks compassion you’re absolutely right.
Stormie
April 17th, 2012
12:32 pm
I have never agreed with the “child abuse” thing. This case is just another way for the child to get away with bad behavior. She also got a vacation from school. That was an encouragement to do it again. Now she can sit in front of the TV at home and play video games all day.(which I also disapprove of). A parent should have ‘the right’ to heat up a childs botton when appropriate. Instead the child screams”I will call the cops on YOU”. Not a good training environment. All you commenters respond with” the parent failed in training” BUT the parents hands are tied by the LAW. SO I think the police person did the best thing for the kid.
Old Physics Teacher
April 17th, 2012
12:33 pm
Mom of Autistic Child,
As the saying goes, “I weep for you and could not walk a mile in your shoes.” I thank God every day none of my children/grandchildren have autism. I don’t know how you make it through each day. With that being said, Your child’s needs do not override all-the-other-children-in-the-classroom needs. Yes, I know the SCOTUS agrees with you. That wasn’t always true, and they’re simply wrong now. I will bend over backwards (and do!) to help any child learn. I’ve even designed a chemistry lab for a blind student, but there comes a time when a disability is so devastating to the people around them, that the disabled person must be removed for the benefit of society. We have reached this point.with many of the disabilities. We cannot afford a government large enough to support ALL children with needs. Just in trying to take care of 95% of us is darned near bankrupting the USA.
It makes no difference if the problem is one of bad parenting or the disability of the child. The cause is irrelevant. The occurrence is everything. Your child has no right to sit in a movie theater, with everybody quietly listening and watching the movie, and start screaming, be taken out and calmed down, and then be let right back in. The child would be gone for that movie. If the next time he/she went to the movie the same thing happened, the theater owners would be within their rights to refuse admission. Justice Oliver Wendel Holmes, Jr once said, “The right to swing my fist ends where the other man’s nose begins.”
Once again, I feel for you and wish you the best.
Oh, and for the rest of you discussing ADHD, show me the virus, bacteria, or defective DNA that causes this “disease,” and I’ll believe it exists. Other than that, (A) turn off the TV when the child is in the room, (B) put a book in the kid’s hands, and (C) read the book to them or (D) have them read the book out loud to you. Continue this EVERY DAY for 9 months and watch the ADHD disappear. Yes, I know it’s hard work doing this. Yes, I know you want to watch Dancing with the Stars. You’re a parent first, last, and always. Get over the TV. IT’S CAUSED MOST OF YOUR PROBLEMS!!
Pen
April 17th, 2012
12:36 pm
It sounds like the child needs to see a mental health professional. Parents are not always to blame for such erratic behaviors. The officer did what needed to be done to prevent further injury. An empty room would have probably worked just as well, but who knows if that was even an option. We are all quick to judge, but we weren’t there and we don’t know the child or her background.
hotinatlanta
April 17th, 2012
12:36 pm
School authorities aren’t allowed to discipline children and they know it. It’s puzzling to me as to why this 6 year old would act out like that. I truly believe the police acted appropriately in this situation as she was a risk to her own physical well-being as well as others around her. She was also destroying property. If she were my child, when I got her home – butt whipping for sure….we need to go back to the “old school” ways of raising children. They do not get any proper guidance from parents and have no respect for authority of any kind. I certainly hope this mother does not play the “Oh, my child is so sweet & would never act like that…” game.
Greta
April 17th, 2012
12:38 pm
In the Milledgeville newspaper, the mother attributed little Selecia’s meltdown to “having a bad day.” Seriously?! That statement says a lot about her mother’s parenting skills. In my school days, Little Miss Lady would have had a REALLY bad day once she got that visit to her backside from the “board of education.” Yep, that good ole BOE worked on misbehaved chilluns ever time! This is what we have come to. Outrageous.
Beverly Fraud
April 17th, 2012
12:43 pm
Is it fair to ask if there is a theoretical point that offering the “least restrictive environment” to one particular child restricts the learning environment of other children in the room?
Are we even allowed to ask that question?
Aquagirl
April 17th, 2012
12:45 pm
for the rest of you discussing ADHD, show me the virus, bacteria, or defective DNA that causes this “disease,” and I’ll believe it exists.
We can’t show a virus, bacteria, or “defective” DNA that causes schizophrenia either. Yet there’s little doubt it exists or can be helped with some therapies. I’m just sayin’.
fortunate1269
April 17th, 2012
12:46 pm
Um has everyone seen the size of 6 yr olds lately? Kids are a lot bigger now then when we were little, pun intended. Look the brat deserved a good scare and obviously them showing up didn’t do the job, so hopefully cuffing her hauling her off did. The only way this kid gets a pass is if she has some sort of disablilty and then the school should already be aware and have the means to handle her… like a padded room
Elizabeth Hughes
April 17th, 2012
12:48 pm
Could this child be autistic having a melt down? A quiet room is needed for children that have high anxiety and teachers that are taught how to catch this behavior before it goes that far. Be fair to all and handle it without the police. If it get out of hand, they need to be put in a quiet room until they can calm down and you can talk to them. the issue definately got out of hand and the more you holler or push it, it gets worse. No reflection on teacher but help for each.
Steve
April 17th, 2012
12:50 pm
I believe a straitjacket would have been more appropriate.
Tonya C.
April 17th, 2012
12:57 pm
No one wants padded rooms anymore. The are considered ‘inhumane’. Not my personal opinion, but the general public has spoken on the issue.
To get a ‘quiet room’ in a school usually requires students be removed from it, thus disrupting their school day. To add to that you then increase the chance the destruction the child has called will also be done to another classroom.
What about the child?
April 17th, 2012
12:57 pm
I can’t believe you people. Nothing is said about what set this little girl off in the first place. No one even seems to care. Has anyone considered there could be some abuse at home and perhaps one of the other kids did something to scare her? That alone could set the child’s defense mechanisms into play. Restraining her and taking her to the police station would emotionally scar her even more. So many possibilities of potential causes and most of you just want to punish the child regardless of the cause. Narrow minded, uncaring masses…
Nope
April 17th, 2012
12:57 pm
I’m surprised they did not shoot her in the back and call it self defense.
JerzeePeach
April 17th, 2012
1:07 pm
Passage Proverbs 22:15:
15Foolishness is bound in the heart of a child; but the rod of correction shall drive it far from him.
Teacher Reader
April 17th, 2012
1:11 pm
Reading the latest where the parents want to get Al Sharpton involved has me thinking that they refuse to have their daughter take responsibility for her actions and that they are not willing to take responsibility for their own actions. NO police officer automatically puts a 6 year old in handcuffs.
I am so tired of people not being responsible for themselves and wanting to automatically get lawyered up and sue the school and police department. I sure hope that there is some kind of evidence that this child was out of control. Or else it will be a he said/she said situation.
This is why we can’t get intelligent people to become teachers or stay in the education profession.
bu2
April 17th, 2012
1:14 pm
I think the arrest and assult charge show the mentality of the police. They are like the “discipline” group on here. The only way the assult charge is anything other than moronic is if they were trying to use it as a tool to get the parents to get help for the child. But I doubt that was their motivation. The officer probably was either poorly trained and didn’t know any other method, or got mad that his authority was challenged, ran out of patience, slapped the cuffs on the child and decided to “teach the brat a lesson” by booking ‘em. And most likely all of that makes the kid’s problems worse.
Former History Teacher
April 17th, 2012
1:14 pm
No matter what the police did it would be wrong and subject to trial by media. So handcuffing and removing the child was probably the least of all evils. But why was a child of that age throwing such a violent temper tantrum? Uncontrolled behavior and possible injury to others? This is a learned behavior and will only get worse as she gets older. Obviously no discipline at home or this would not have happened.
Tonya C.
April 17th, 2012
1:15 pm
Teacher Reader:
Did you watch the video? The child says herself that they called the cops on her for no reason. And the mother says she has mood swings and good days/bad days, and this was just a a bad day.
BuckeyeInGa
April 17th, 2012
1:17 pm
I missed the part where the school suspended the kid from now through Aug..bascially she’s done for the rest of the year..wow.
gadem
April 17th, 2012
1:21 pm
everyone is making excuses for the kids and the parent…I feel sad for the kid. If the kid has temper tantrums, get the kid some help instead of saying she has good days and bad days. What kind of parent would be ok with that? She will be an adult soon and real consequences will happen then.
Tonya C.
April 17th, 2012
1:23 pm
I also think it’s b.s. Just pointing out that the mother nor the child seems to acknowledge any responsibility in this situation at all.
GOOD
April 17th, 2012
1:25 pm
Sounds fine to me! The parents these days frustrates me condoning the behavior their children exude. Its always “they did n’t have to do them like that” or “she was wrong…but who made her do this?” Maybe you should put that cellphone down at night and pull her to the side and teach her how she is suppose to act and why its important to go to school and learn everything you can. I think the way it was handled was fine. Those young kids can hurt you too.
Common Sense
April 17th, 2012
1:25 pm
Yes
Aquagirl
April 17th, 2012
1:26 pm
What kind of parent would be ok with that?
The same kind of parent who would splash their child’s name and face everywhere just to get back at other adults.
I am always wary of parents who call in the media when their child gets in trouble. Usually if the school/airline/cops/whoever gets in a word edgewise, you’ll discover the child wasn’t simply crying or throwing an ordinary temper tantrum. But that wouldn’t increase readership, would it?
0 Tolerance
April 17th, 2012
1:27 pm
It sounds like this child was TOTALLY out of control! Sometimes extreme measures such as the one taken in this instance is appropriate. This child has probably learned a good lesson that misconduct will NOT be tolerated. This child obviously has no strong parental guidance or positive role models and will most likely end up in the prison system that we tax payers fund. So maybe getting a big dose of consequences for bad behavior at a young age (especially when they don’t get it at home) may scare some of these kids straight before they rot in jail on my tab.
Frankie
April 17th, 2012
1:28 pm
@ minnie and others Again was this the first time she acted in this manner, did anyone ask was there a problem at home..
agreed behavior lie this should never be acceptable but you have to find the root cause in order to reslove the problem.
BehindEnemyLines
April 17th, 2012
1:33 pm
Bette _available_ option? Most likely not. Safe & effective in dealing with the matter at hand.
Better option period? Certainly, but those have been taken away by both permissive & cowardly halfwits and by those with enough sense but to little will to resist said stupidity.
Another few years, I suspect we’ll see kids like this one get extra credit in P.E. for behavior such as this.
Wow
April 17th, 2012
1:35 pm
Face it…some cops are wussies. It’s like an episode of Reno 911.
bu2
April 17th, 2012
1:37 pm
@What about the child
I think what this demonstrates is really a lack of listening and/or reading comprehension skills which seem to be in even shorter supply than discipline. Its understandable that most people wouldn’t be familar with autism, aspberger’s, the impacts of abuse or the other issues that could cause this type of behavior. They are familiar with spoiled brats. They use the technique they would use on the issue they are familiar with.
But like our public political discourse with politicians talking past each other instead of to each other, these “discipline” posters either don’t understand what they read or refuse to even listen to others who have experience with these other issues. It is extremely unlikely that this type of behavior is simply being a spoiled brat. It does fit with several other issues as people have mentioned.
Boca Baby
April 17th, 2012
1:41 pm
In this litigation happy society that we live in, one which says “Keep your dirty hands off my child,” this may have been the safest and most legal manner in which to deal with the situation. One need only ask the question, Is the individual a danger to himself or a danger to others? In light of the allegations and the subsequent suspension the answer appears to be obvious. And don’t go get your panties in a wad. The child is six years old. None of this will appear on a permanent record.
Lynn
April 17th, 2012
1:42 pm
I don’t approve of hand-cuffing a six-year-old. That said, her behavior was completely out of control. Where did she learn that it was okay to throw temper tantrums and destroy other people’s property? There is no mention that this child has a documented behavior disorder…and if she does, she needs to be in a separate classroom with special education teachers who are trained to respond to children with these conditions. I find it telling that her family didn’t have anything to say about the child’s extremely inappropriate behavior.
Cindy
April 17th, 2012
1:42 pm
If that little brat was acting violent and couldn’t be controlled, bring on the cuffs. The parents are clearly failures for not teaching the kid to act properly and for not teaching the child how to take accountability. This is why there should be an IQ test before procreating. Failures. At. Life.
Wow Is An Idiot
April 17th, 2012
1:43 pm
Dear Mr. Wow… What would “you” do to restrain the child? Why don’t you ride along with an officer where you live and see what it is like in the real world.
Would also like to know what is the proper age to handcuff someone? 8, 12, 16??
Danny
April 17th, 2012
1:44 pm
People never seem to amaze. Keep making all these excuses. There is a reason why a kid choked, stabbed his mother to death because she wouldn’t let him do what he wanted. Kids run rampant today, I don’t remember this being like this 20 years ago. Parents lived by “Spare the rod, spoil the kid”.
Now we wonder why kids start home invasions at 14, become murders at 12, etc. Oh yeah, time out and sitting to talk to a child like a grown up is really working. I guess the new order is the out of control.
If you as a parent can’t control your child then please don’t expect others to do it for you!
Teacher Reader
April 17th, 2012
1:47 pm
Tonya C, Yes I watched the video. Not one family member took responsibility. They acted that she was just crying. Cops don’t just cuff a kid for crying. The little girl didn’t seem to be autistic or have any other problems, other than having parents being in denial. Schools don’t call the police unless they can’t deal with it themselves or unless it’s not the first time something like this happened.
pj
April 17th, 2012
1:48 pm
She obviously has emotional/behavior problems, possible some of them learned. The response might have been the best option. What WASN’T a good idea was 1. giving her a coke (sugar and caffeiene?!) and 2. putting her picture in the paper, ie giving her attention for her behavior, therefore reinforcing it.