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Video shows policehandcuffing 5-year-old on video(Florida
St. Petersburg Times ^ | 4/22/05 | THOMAS C. TOBIN

Posted on 04/22/2005 11:55:08 AM PDT by Sertorius

The girl's teacher videotaped her class that day as a self-improvement exercise. An attorney calls the arrest "absurd" and "excessive."

(Excerpt) Read more at sptimes.com ...


TOPICS: Crime/Corruption; Culture/Society; Government; US: Florida
KEYWORDS: florida; handcuffs; kindergartener; students; whereisthedad
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This little girl should have been physically restrained long before she made it to the principal's office.
1 posted on 04/22/2005 11:55:11 AM PDT by Sertorius
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To: Sertorius

THat kid doesn't belong in school.

And Mrs. Akins really has something to be proud of there.


2 posted on 04/22/2005 11:59:18 AM PDT by Beckwith (I knew Churchill, and Ward Churchill is no Churchill . . . he ain't no Indian either . . .)
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To: Sertorius
The mother has the gall to complain?

If she had done her job right, the little girl would never have acted this way.

SO9

3 posted on 04/22/2005 12:01:05 PM PDT by Servant of the 9 (Trust Me)
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To: Beckwith

No child left behind, right?


4 posted on 04/22/2005 12:01:12 PM PDT by Sertorius (A hayseed with no greek and dam^ proud of it)
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To: Sertorius
You need to stop," she tells her, using her hands to make the sign language signal for stop. "You don't get to wreck the room."

Using her radio, she calls for help from teacher Patti Tsaousis. She also asks the school office to call the girl's mother and tell her the school will have to call Pinellas Schools police if the behavior continues.

Word comes back that the mother would not be able to make it until 3:15 p.m. It is shortly after 2 p.m.

A short time later, the girl is heard off camera breaking a ceramic or plastic apple on Ottersbach's desk. "Oh, you broke her apple," Dibenedetto says. "That is so sad."

Throughout the 23-minute segment in the classroom, the assistant principal tells the girl many times to stop, that her actions are "not acceptable."

Incredible that these people are employed as principals and teachers. They should be fired.

5 posted on 04/22/2005 12:02:14 PM PDT by plain talk
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To: Sertorius
When you have to call the police, this is what they do. They handcuff suspects. The school could have dealt with it themselves, but they don't. They can't punish kids without whiny "parents" or lawsuits so they call the cops.

This Crisis Prevention Intervention caused this. The girl wants desperately to be disciplined, not indulged. You can tell by the way she's behaving. She's told no, but there are no consequences. The handcuffing was gentle, she just decided now was the time to whine.

6 posted on 04/22/2005 12:03:29 PM PDT by AmishDude (Join the AmishDude fan club: "Agreed." -- torchthemummy; "lol, Good one AD."--gopwinsin04)
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To: plain talk

Where I come from, when pricipals and police officers can't handle a 5 year old girl without resorting to handcuffs, we fire the lot of them and start over.


7 posted on 04/22/2005 12:04:18 PM PDT by wbill
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To: wbill

Well, they can't spank her or restrain her physically . . .

what would you do to keep someone else's child from having a tantrum?


8 posted on 04/22/2005 12:06:03 PM PDT by ruiner
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To: plain talk

They probably let her go on because they knew they were getting it on video and wanted to show evidence of her behavior. Been in situations where the parent and others cannot believe the situation is that serious.


9 posted on 04/22/2005 12:06:09 PM PDT by Sertorius (A hayseed with no greek and dam^ proud of it)
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To: Sertorius
I voted in the on line poll that you see when you follow your link. It's great, 65% think it's ok to handcuff a child. How else are we supposed to show kids there are consequences for bad behavior.

My daughter was a little younger than that the first time I caught her shoplifting. She was disciplined, but I can't remember what I did, this was at least 15 years ago. The second time I caught her I called the police, and asked them to talk to her, and show her what a jail cell looked like. Not lock her up, but let her see it and understand that this is where shoplifters go. They refused.

10 posted on 04/22/2005 12:07:47 PM PDT by passionfruit
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To: plain talk

They probably let her go on because they knew they were getting it on video and wanted to show evidence of her behavior. Been in situations where the parent and others cannot believe the situation is that serious.


11 posted on 04/22/2005 12:08:02 PM PDT by Sertorius (A hayseed with no greek and dam^ proud of it)
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To: Sertorius

HUH? As I recall, I don't remember the OMwhores raising NO stink over the youngsters who were actually shown on the tube being hauled away in handcuffs by the FL. cops during Terri's murder! NOT a blip!


12 posted on 04/22/2005 12:08:27 PM PDT by RoseofTexas
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To: plain talk
Incredible that these people are employed as principals and teachers. They should be fired.

But if the teacher tried to restrain the student, she could be arrest for assault (unlikely, but possible) and the school would be open to a lawsuit alleging abuse on the part of the teacher. It's a great scam. Raise your kid to be a monster. Then, when someone tries to subdue your child, you scream child abuse and you sue everyone you can for all the $$ you can get.

13 posted on 04/22/2005 12:09:28 PM PDT by doc30 (Democrats are to morals what and Etch-A-Sketch is to Art.)
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To: wbill

That was the old days. In the modern world teachers and principles aren't allowed to do any form of discipline that would actually do anything, you can't fire people for doing what they were probably told to do by the district's lawyers.


14 posted on 04/22/2005 12:11:14 PM PDT by discostu (quis custodiet ipsos custodes)
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To: Sertorius

Sometimes kids just aren't ready to start Kindergarten, this little girl was apparently one of them. Kudos to the assistant principal and the SPPD for acting with gentelness and restraint.


15 posted on 04/22/2005 12:11:16 PM PDT by Zeroisanumber
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To: plain talk

I couldn't be a teacher in this litigous society--if those teachers had touched her (especially caught on tape) there would have been a lawsuit faster than that teacher would have been able to "sign language" HELP!!!

NO, kids aren't told at home by parents that teachers are to be respected and minded---prolly because they parents at home don't discipline the kids---

Really, I think the only "safe" thing they could do, was keep the girl from hurting them and hurting herself, and wait it out---in fact, if I (IMHO) had an arguement with how they handled it, it would be trying to appease her too much by trying to "explain"---the getting down to her level was good, but it should have been to tell her who is the boss---it it isn't HER!

Of course, I am only a mom and grandmother and have never been a teacher, so this is just MHO---


16 posted on 04/22/2005 12:12:05 PM PDT by Txsleuth (Mark Levin for Supreme Court Justice!)
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To: Sertorius
This little girl should have been physically restrained long before she made it to the principal's office.

I agree. This student was assaulting a teacher and destroying school property. Why do they have to stand back and let it happen. It's a sad state our country has gotten to when 5 yr olds control the classroom.

17 posted on 04/22/2005 12:14:20 PM PDT by zlala (I used to have a handle on life but it broke.)
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To: ruiner
Handcuffs counts as physical restraints.

But that aside, there are plenty of other ways to do it. Redirection comes immediately to mind. My school had a 'rubber room' for kids that were combative. The school admins are professionals and should be trained to handle situations like this.

Another poster mentioned that they might have just let the child go, and captured it on video so that the parent would have an idea of what was happening. Sounds plausible to me. The original story is horrendously biased, and written to elicit a negative kneejerk reaction to the authorities in question (which I provided....)

I probably should not have included the police in my original statement - they were likely following training. And, I should have asked 'where were the parents?'. If I pulled a stunt like this in school, Dad would have ensured that I'd be sitting on a pillow for a week.

18 posted on 04/22/2005 12:15:22 PM PDT by wbill
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To: AmishDude
When our mom and dad checked all 7 of us into all the many schools we attended, dear ole dad had a speech for the principle (usually Sister Whacksalot) and us, delivered while we were all in her office:

To the principle: "If they are bad, you have my permission to punish them. However you see fit"

To us innocent little darlings: "You'd better not do anything to make Sister punish you, because if you do, when you get home, I'll wear you out!"

Please note: This was back in the day when kids could be bad, were punished with something stronger than no TV (if you had one!) and we usually learned our lessons the first time around.

19 posted on 04/22/2005 12:16:56 PM PDT by blu (The Pope, the Gipper and the Iron Lady...now THAT'S a trifecta!)
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To: wbill

I guess I'll understand when i'm have kids.

We didn't need "redirection" or a video tape to prove things to our parents. It was my ass no matter what happened and who's fault it was.


20 posted on 04/22/2005 12:17:20 PM PDT by ruiner
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