Police Cuff Ga. Kindergartener for School Tantrum; School Arrests Challenged in NM Suit
Are teachers and police overreacting to misbehaving school kids?
In the most recent incident raising the question, police in Milledgeville, Ga., handcuffed a 6-year-old kindergartner who had a school tantrum, the Associated Press reports. The child was accused of throwing books, toys and a small shelf, and jumping on a paper shredder.
Police cuffed the kindergartner and took her to the police station, where she was put in a squad room and given a soft drink, the story says. She wasn’t charged with a crime, but she was suspended for the year, her family members say.
Civil rights lawyer Shannon Kennedy tells AP that “kids are being arrested for being kids.” Kennedy has filed a class-action lawsuit against Albuquerque schools and police claiming hundreds of students have been arrested for minor offenses such as having cellphones in class and inflating a condom. Since the suit was filed in 2010, school arrests have dropped by 53 percent, according to preliminary figures.
