FL: 6 yr old Arrested & Committed to Mental Hospital after Temper Tantrums in School

From wpbf.com:

February 10, 2010

http://www.wpbf.com/news/22526263/detail.html

PORT ST. LUCIE, Fla. -- A Port St. Lucie first-grade student was handcuffed and committed to a mental health facility because of her classroom behavior, and her parents are furious that the school took such extreme measures.

Mickey Shalansky explained Wednesday what he said happened to his 6-year-old daughter at Parkway Elementary.

"She couldn't put her in two handcuffs because her wrists are that small, so she put them both in the same handcuff and left marks on my daughter's arms," Shalansky told WPBF 25 News' Bob Kaple.

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Deputies said his daughter, Haley, got upset and stormed out her classroom when her teacher asked her to do something. The report said it then escalated into a temper tantrum in the principal's office.

According to the incident report, a deputy said Haley was out of control. It said she "kicked the wall, went over to the desk and threw the calculator, electric pencil sharpener, telephone, container of writing utensils and other objects across the desk."

She was then handcuffed.

*******

Even worse is what happened the next day, Haley's parents said.

A deputy was called to the school again after Haley had another tantrum in the classroom and principal's office.

The sheriff's report said she was yelling, throwing things and hit the principal, who is eight months pregnant. This time, she wasn't handcuffed. She was committed to a mental facility.

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Haley's parents said their daughter has a temper problem, but has no history of mental illness. Her mother said the school should have called her so she could pick up her daughter rather than have her committed.

FL: Juvenile Restraint Rules Could Change

By Gloria Gomez
Updated: Friday, 05 Jun 2009, 6:40 AM EDT
Published : Friday, 05 Jun 2009, 6:39 AM EDT
http://www.myfoxtampabay.com/dpp/news/local/polk/juvenile_court_restraint_rules_060509

BARTOW - The four Walker Middle School teens accused of sexually assaulting a flag football teammate were in court Wednesday.

After pleading not guilty the boys were handcuffed as they left the courtroom.

The images of young defendants some as young as 11-years-old in shackles and handcuffs are common in the juvenile court system. But that may be changing.

Shondi Cole, the Juvenile Division Chief in Polk County, says there is a big push to ban the indiscriminate use of handcuffs and shackles in juvenile court.

Cole says she finds the restraint rules in juvenile court and adult court confusing and backwards.

"The adults aren't shackled when they come to court so you could have a 10-year-old that came to court on a theft charge that's shackled and you could have an adult who killed someone who isn't shackled in court," Cole told FOX 13. "It makes no sense."

A proposed court rule would allow judges to use restraints on a case by case basis, rather than a blanket rule, but some argue it would increase the danger to everyone in court.

A Tampa mother who didn't want to give her name says her son has been in and out of jail for years. She believes putting restraints on a child can be psychologically damaging.

"It traumatizes them," she said. "All I think is it traumatizes them for the rest of their lives."

Right now States Chief Justice Peggy Quince is backing the proposed court rule which means if approved, there could less and less courtroom images of kids in cuffs.

MI: Mom says son, 11, handcuffed to door at Detroit school

NOTE: We do not condone fighting, as was alleged in this incident, but we also don't condone punishment for fighting as handcuffing an 11 year old to a door, either...

Mark Hicks and Jennifer Mrozowski / The Detroit News

http://www.detnews.com/article/20090604/SCHOOLS/906040488/Mom-says-son--11--handcuffed-to-door-at-Detroit-school

Detroit -- A Detroit Public Schools parent is considering legal action against the district after her son allegedly was handcuffed to a door at Sampson-Webber school for several hours Monday.

"It was really unnecessary to be done on a little boy," said Charmaine Hunt, whose 11-year-old son told about her about the incident Monday. "I'm not accepting that."

Hunt said about 11:40 a.m. Monday, her son, Antonio Hobson, a fourth grader at the school, was involved in a fight with another student.

She said he told her he suffered a bloodied nose and was restrained by a school security officer. But when he was deemed unruly, the principal, Regina Randall, ordered him to be handcuffed to a door in another room, Hunt said.

Randall, reached at home today, had no comment.

Hobson tried telling school officials he was hungry because he had not eaten lunch and had to use the restroom, Hunt said, but his requests initially were ignored.

"They fed him cereal and milk later on, like he's in prison or something," Hunt said, adding that her son's nose was struck when someone tried to reopen the door to the room.

The boy was released when school ended at 3:30 p.m., she said. Since learning of the incident, Hunt said she has kept her son at home, and is reluctant to send him back for the rest of the year.

"My son doesn't want to go back there. He's actually scared," Hunt said.

District spokesman Steve Wasko said he had no immediate information on the alleged incident. Hunt said two school officials -- a social worker and curriculum leader -- met with her Tuesday about the incident, saying they planned to file a complaint with the district. A call to the Detroit Public Schools' Department of Public Safety has not been returned.

An acting administrator at the school told a reporter: "There's a department at central office you contact for news," and hung up.

It also was unclear whether the other student involved in the alleged fight was disciplined.

Hunt said she plans to file a complaint, obtain an incident report, seek legal counsel and voice her concerns at a school board meeting today at the district's headquarters.

After hearing of the incident, school board member Marie Thornton said she met with Sampson-Webber staff on Wednesday to learn more.

Randall was absent, she said, and staff told her they were "fearful" of her. Thornton said the school's assistant superintendent, Sharon Appling, told her Monday's incident was being investigated.

Thornton said district officials have received complaints about Randall's conduct in the past, and Randall recently learned she would lose her position as part of emergency financial manager Robert Bobb's restructuring plan for DPS.

Thornton said she was "appalled" by the allegations and has contacted Bobb, acting district superintendent Teresa Gueyser and DPS general counsel about investigating and possible disciplinary action.

"You don't even handcuff a dog to the door," Thornton said. "It's not right."

jmrozowski@detnews.com (313) 222-2269

NY: NYPD okays Velcro handcuffs for use on unruly children

BY Alison Gendar
DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITER
Saturday, February 14th 2009, 11:02 AM
http://www.nydailynews.com/news/ny_crime/2009/02/13/2009-02-13_nypd_okays_velcro_handcuffs_for_use_on_u.html

Nothing says tough love like Velcro handcuffs.

Cops trying to restrain children will have a softer alternative than metal handcuffs under a new program the NYPD is testing in nearly two dozen schools.

Starting next month, officers will use Velcro handcuffs instead of the tougher steel model to subdue disturbed or unruly children in 22 schools in northern Queens, according to a draft NYPD operations order obtained by the Daily News.

"We would prefer never to use restraints of any kind, but in those rare instances where it may become necessary, we want a softer alternative to conventional handcuffs," Deputy Police Commissioner Paul Browne said.

Cops are expected to use the cuffs no more than once or twice a year, Browne said, and only when a kid is at risk of hurting himself or others.One of the targeted schools is Public School 81 in Ridgewood, where a school safety agent handcuffed 5-year-old Dennis Rivera and brought him to a psych ward after what school sources called a violent tantrum in January 2008.

That child's father, Dennis Sr., said Friday police policy on cuffs was wrong. "They could be made of teddy bear material," he said, "but they still would be handcuffs. It is still police tactics on children who have committed no crime." In a separate instance, the family of a 10-year-old girl filed a federal lawsuit against the city last August, claiming police handcuffed her on a school bus because she wouldn't sit still.

Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly asked the department to look at alternatives to metal handcuffs, but Browne would not say what case triggered the review.

NYPD school safety officers in the schools are expected to receive the alternative handcuffs at the end of next week, and then get two weeks of training - not only on how to use the new cuffs, but when.

The new handcuffs would be used on youngsters under age 16. The restraints are 22-inch-long strips of cloth with Velcro fasteners that can be adjusted to fit a child's wrist.

"Handcuffing by any other name is still handcuffing, " said Donna Lieberman, executive director of the New York Civil Liberties Union.