Mother sues after 7-year-old son with ADHD handcuffed by police at school ‘I was horrified’
A Michigan mother is outraged after a school police officer handcuffed her seven-year-old son for an hour during an after-school program.
And now, she’s suing the city of Flint for using excessive force to restrain her child, who suffers from ADHD.
According to the news outlet, Chrystal McCadden says her son Cameron, was handcuffed after kicking a supply cart during an after-school program on October 12, 2015.
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McCadden received a call from Brownell K-2 STEM Academy saying her son was running around on a set of bleachers after kicking the cart. While still on the phone, she was told her son had been handcuffed.
“I don’t care what he was doing. He don’t deserve to be in no handcuffs,’ McCadden said, according to the Daily Mail. When she asked why her son wasn’t being released, she is told the police officer was waiting for a key.
“So, you don’t even have the key?” she responded. “You locked my son in handcuffs and you don’t even have the key to get him out.”
The lawsuit states that Cameron’s behavior was ‘consistent’ with children with ADHD, who are often hyperactive, act fidgety and struggle to maintain focus and concentrate.
Cameron was diagnosed with the condition in 2012, which McCadden claims she informed the YouthQuest after-school program upon enrollment.
During a press conference in Flint, McCadden said staff needed more training in dealing with children with disabilities. She also questioned why there was armed security on the premises.
“I was horrified when I walked in and seen him in handcuffs,” she said.
McCadden’s suit alleges disability-based discrimination and excessive force because Cameron posed “no physical threat to anyone.”
The case also states Cameron still suffers “trauma” and “anxiety” from the incident.
The ACLU of Michigan filed the federal lawsuit today.
“Putting handcuffs on a 7-year-old child and locking his hands behind his back is inhumane. It’s barbaric. It violates every rule of common sense,” Mark Fancher, a racial justice attorney at the ACLU of Michigan, says in a statement.
According to the Detroit Metro Times, the lawsuit is seeking damages and injunctive relief for violating the boy’s rights under the Fourth Amendment and Title II of the Americans with Disabilities Act, Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act, and Michigan’s Persons with Disabilities Civil Rights Act.
A video of the incident can be viewed here.
