5 year old girl handcuffed by cops, !!!!!!!!!! Options

[*nightmare4taki*]

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. (April 23) - An attorney says he plans legal action against police officers who handcuffed an unruly 5-year-old girl after she acted up in her kindergarten class.

A video camera, which was rolling March 14 as part of a classroom self-improvement exercise, captured images of the girl tearing papers off a bulletin board, climbing on a table and punching an assistant principal before police were called to Fairmount Park Elementary.

Then it shows the child appearing to calm down before three officers approach, pin her arms behind her back and put on handcuffs as she screams, "No!''

Largo lawyer John Trevena, who provided the tape to the media this week after obtaining it from police, says the officers went too far.

"The image itself will be seared into people's minds when you have three police officers bending a child over a table and forcibly handcuffing her,'' said Trevena, who represents the girl's mother, Inga Akins.

"It's incomprehensible ... There was no need for that,'' he added.



ABC News
The tape shows the girl lashing out at a school employee.

Police declined to comment, citing an official complaint by Akins that has sparked an investigation by the supervisor of the four officers who were present. Two are new officers who were being trained that day.

Spokesman Bill Proffitt said the investigation would be complete in about two weeks and the findings would be made public.

The 30-minute tape shows assistant principal Nicole Dibenedetto trying repeatedly to calm down the girl, who ignores her commands and begins punching her.

The child's mother was called but wasn't able to immediately come to the school.

After being placed in the back of a police cruiser, police released the girl to her mother after prosecutors informed them they wouldn't bring charges against a 5-year-old.


04-23-05 15:05 EDT




So what do you guys think? Should this girl have been arrested.

[EmmalieV]

She shouldnt have been arrested thats too much maybe held or hugged to stop her form hitting.

[Ballpointpencil]

She shouldnt have been arrested thats too much maybe held or hugged to stop her form hitting.

Hugged? Have you ever tried to hold down a violent kid? Back when I volunteered at the Children's Home there were several times that kids (including ones around her age) got violent, and I know everyone there wished we had a cop around to help control 'em. I remember fairly vividly once when a six year old boy got angry because another kid "stole his stuff" (he had just misplaced it). I was moderating the situation, listening to both sides of the story when the kid took a swing at the other one. I put my arm around his stomach and pulled him backwards, away from the other kid. He turned and started hitting me in the face, and when I held him tighter, trying to get him arms pinned so that he would stop hitting me, the boy bit me on the arm then on the collarbone (both drew blood). Another volunteer helped me calm him down, finally, but it was not as easy as I think you some of you assume.