6-year-old boy handcuffed at school
Stone Mountain, GA — A Georgia mother is furious after her 6-year-old special needs son was handcuffed at school for acting “in a disruptive manner.” She said her husband received a call that something was going on with their son Patrick at Pine Ridge Elementary School.
“We go into the school and a gentleman takes us back. I hear my son yelling and screaming,” Lakaisha Reid recalled. She says the handcuffs placed on him by a student resource officer left bruises on the first-graders wrists and that she took photos to prove it.
“He just ran away from school. That doesn’t require handcuffs,” she said in an exclusive interview with WXIA.
The DeKalb County School District issued a statement defending their use of handcuffs on her son:
“A 6-year-old student at Pine Ridge Elementary School was acting in a disruptive manner and being self-destructive during school today. He ran out of school onto a busy, public street and was pursued by three school staff members. The student was secured and returned to the school and placed in a room with a special education teacher, the school counselor and the School Resource Officer (SRO) to protect him from doing harm to himself. After several unsuccessful attempts, his parents were contacted and asked to come immediately to the school. For approximately one hour, the student was scratching, kicking and hitting school personnel and continued to exhibit violent behavior, running into walls, banging his head on tables and placing his health at risk. At this point, the SRO placed handcuffs on the student to protect him from harming himself. When the parents arrived, they were told the student was handcuffed for his personal safety.”
Reid doesn’t intend to send her child back to the school on Monday. She says she hopes that her son’s story will lead to better training for special needs kids at the elementary school.
“They need to have police officers that are trained for special needs kids or for any kids that are that age. That’s pretty young for handcuffs. Anything can happen with those handcuffs on him,” Reid said.
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