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.

[starlette]

Okay I just watched the movie clip, and that was really uneccesary. I've seen kids act way worse than that. ( i was a girl scout, way too much volunteering) and the little girl was just throwing a hissy fit. I mean, there was no actual punching. Kids do that when they dont want to be touched. She got up on the table to feel bigger than the woman because the woman was trying to over power her. Its all a defense mechanism. But I'm sorry, I have seen children behave way worse than that. Sometimes I behaved worse than that, and I got my butt whooped. All that little girl needed was to get her but whooped. Not beaten, not abused, just smacked. Btuseriously, someone said they've been unruly teenagers that don't act that bad? Thats bullsh*t. that little just didnt want that woman touching her. Lots of little kids throw fits when they dont want to be picked up or touched. And I agree, someone should have hugged her. Because it would have helped stop her from flailing her arms like thatm and probably would have calmed her down. Its a damn shame that no one knows how to control children anymore, to the point they have to have 3 officers involved. That sad thing is that she had been arrested before. Seriously, thats rediculous.