Family Sues Over Arrest of Girl, 10, After School Scuffle
The family of a girl who was arrested for a school scuffle at the age of 10 is suing the New York Police Department for her treatment in custody.
The suit filed in Manhattan federal court claims the third-grader was handcuffed last April and taken to the stationhouse, where she was handcuffed to a bench for nearly three hours and interrogated without her mother present. The New York Daily News and the New York Times have stories.
The girl’s mother, Amarilis Bautista, told the New York Daily News that her daughter is afraid all the time now. The girl “was screaming for me, but there was nothing I could do,” she says. Her daughter was arrested after a fight with another girl.
The police tell a different version of events. According to a statement by spokesman Paul Browne, the girl was in custody for only one hour and 41 minutes, and she was allowed to see her mother.
