Body cam footage taken by a police officer in Florida has led to a fair amount of internet debate this week over police presence in schools. It was taken nearly two years ago, following an incident at Gerald Adams Elementary in Key West. According to reports, it began when an 8-year-old boy with special needs lashed out at his teacher, punching the teacher in the chest during an outburst. It ended with the tearful boy in handcuffs, as officers arrested him on a felony battery charge. Now that footage of the incident is going viral, many critics say it clearly shows yet another crack in the justice system.
A clip of the footage, which was taken on December 14, 2018, was shared Sunday on Twitter by civil rights lawyer Ben Crump.
"Unbelievable!!" Crump tweeted. "@KWPOLICE used 'scared straight' tactics on 8yo boy with special needs. He's 3.5 ft tall and 64 lbs, but they thought it was appropriate to handcuff and transport him to an adult prison for processing!! He was so small the cuffs fell off his wrists!"
Police were called to the school by the teacher, shortly after the boy threw a punch.
In a statement provided to Yahoo News, Crump — who now represents the boy's parents — said it's important to note the precipitating factors leading up to the altercation.
For one thing, the boy had an individual educational plan, or IEP, in place to help assist him with his disabilities, but it was not being properly executed.
"Instead of honoring and fulfilling that plan, the school placed him with a substitute teacher who had no awareness or concern about his needs and who escalated the situation by using her hands to forcibly move him," wrote Crump. "When he acted out, the teacher called the police, who threatened him with jail and tried to put him in handcuffs, which fell off because he was too little."
By the time several officers arrived at the school, the boy appeared to be terrified and in tears.
As they approached him, the video showed one of the officers introducing himself, before asking, "Do you know where you're going?" After a brief pause, "You're going to jail."
The 8-year-old, who remains silent throughout the exchange, is asked to stand up and place his hands up and against a nearby cabinet, so officers can handcuff him. Right before he does, the boy can be seen wiping away a tear.
After repeated attempts to handcuff the boy, the officer eventually gave up, as the boy's wrists are too small to fit the handcuffs.
Eventually, the officers resort to walking him out of the school with his hands in front of him.
"You understand this is very serious, OK?" the arresting officer told him. "I hate that you put me in this position that I have to do this. The thing about it is, you made a mistake. Now it's time to learn from it and grow from it, not repeat the same mistake again."
Despite the footage becoming public, local law enforcement stands by the actions of the police officers that day.
"Based on the report, standard operating procedures were followed," Key West Police Chief Sean T. Brandenburg told the Miami Herald this week.
Officials from the Monroe County School District, on the other hand, have remained mum.
"Due to the possibility of this matter becoming a legal issue in the future, we have been advised not to make further comment about the incident at this time," a spokesperson for the district told the Miami Herald.
As the video has continued to be shared online, many people have weighed in across social media.
"This small boy will be FOREVER traumatized and fearful," one person tweeted in response to Crum's post. "Everyone involved in this cruel incident should be fired."
"This is why police DO NOT belong in schools!" wrote another person. "What is wrong with you @kwpolice?"
"Our nation's PDs need a complete overhaul," someone else wrote. "I'm sick of seeing this. THIRD TIME THIS WEEK I've seen small children cuffed."
Even Julian Castro, the former secretary of Housing and Urban Development, denounced the cops' actions.
"Unbelievable," he tweeted. "Police should have no role in punishing our kids or pulling traumatic stunts like this in our schools."
The incident also prompted a response from the American Civil Liberties Union and the Southern Poverty Law Center.
"Say it with us: Police have NO place in our schools," tweeted the ACLU.
"Violent interactions like this between children with disabilities and police cause long lasting harm and trauma to kids and their families," added the law center. "Arresting an 8-year-old child and sending him to jail is NEVER acceptable. Police have no place 'disciplining' our kids in schools."
The boy's parents are allegedly planning to take legal action, though nothing has been filed yet.
As shocking as this incident was, it's actually not the first time a young child in Florida was arrested at school.
Last year, a 6-year-old in Orlando was handcuffed by a police officer after having a temper tantrum, during which she kicked a staff member. An officer was dispatched to the school and took the girl, who was later identified as Kaia Rolle, to a juvenile assessment center on one charge of battery. Kaia was released soon after, but the little girl's family said the entire ordeal was traumatizing.
"No 6-year-old child should be able to tell somebody that they had handcuffs on them and they were riding in the back of a police car and taken to a juvenile center to be fingerprinted," Kaia's grandmother told a reporter at the time.
That same day, the police officer arrested a 6-year-old boy at the same school for a separate incident. Details were not released.
Following an investigation, the police officer was relieved of his duties.
