(TheBlaze) – Members of the Key West, Florida, police force are under fire after bodycam footage emerged of a disturbing 2018 arrest of an 8-year-old special-needs boy.
According to a Wednesday CNN report, the unnamed child — who receives services as a special-needs student — allegedly hit a substitute teacher. The teacher, who also remains unnamed at the time of this reporting, reportedly phoned authorities on the boy though she purportedly did not sustain any actual injuries.
The incident took place in the school’s lunchroom as the substitute watched over a class eating their meals. Reports allege that the boy was not sitting properly in his seat, which prompted the teacher to direct him to sit properly on the bench.
When he reportedly wouldn’t, she directed him to sit with her instead. When he refused, she approached him. The child reportedly told the teacher, “Don’t put your hands on me” and reportedly began to swear at the teacher, telling her that his mom would “beat your a**.” He then reportedly struck her in the chest with his right hand. When authorities arrived at the school, two of the officers approached the boy — who stands around 42 inches tall — to tell him that they were going to arrest him. READ MORE
I enjoy The Blaze, it’s one of the few media outlets I trust. That being said, I feel the article in question was unfairly biased against the officers involved. I spent 20 years of my life as a law enforcement officer. Sadly a fair amount of that time was spent responding to calls at elementary schools in my district for incidents just such as this. In my off time I volunteered with a ministry that ran an after school program for children with behavioral issues, many of whom had been kicked out of other programs for similar incidents. Some of these “special needs” children can be extremely violent and are prone to disruptive outbursts. The simple truth of the matter is that most public schools aren’t equipped to deal with these type of challenges. Overburdened parents often place unreasonable expectations on school districts to manage children they themselves have difficulty controlling. As a juvenile this young mans previous law enforcement encounters (if he indeed has any) would be sealed by the courts. These potential previous encounters may have led to the officers taking the actions they did. At any rate, the officers followed department protocols and those set forth by the State of Florida’s Juvenile Justice System regarding the detention of a minor involved in an assault. Perhaps Ms. Taylor’s (author of the article) time at a disreputable tabloid outlet like TMZ has caused her to harbor some unfavorable views of law enforcement officers in general. And thank you Ricky for once again reposting an article that has absolutely nothing to do with the end times.