6 year old charged with felony for throwing temper tantrum

[guttle11]

Originally Posted by GAC

Those thin plastic yellow wiffle ball bats hurt to. My Dad probably OPS'd over 1.000 on our butts.

I'd want my dad to be Juan Castro in that case.

[Redsfaithful]

Originally Posted by Ravenlord

my parents had social services called on them for yelling at me in a Kroger when i was 4. there's a whole lot more to the 'lack of discipline' angle than beatings. things of this nature have also been going on longer than the "police state" era.

You can call social services on someone for anything. It doesn't mean they'll do anything.

If anything I'd say that social services doesn't remove children from homes often enough, and that parents are allowed to get away with far too much.

Sorry for the tangent, I guess this doesn't really have anything to do with a 6 year old kid having to go downtown for throwing a fit. Which is so incredibly ridiculous that I can't believe anyone would even try to find a sufficient reason for it (i.e. this is what happens when parents aren't allowed to discipline).

[GAC]

Originally Posted by Redsfaithful

Sorry for the tangent, I guess this doesn't really have anything to do with a 6 year old kid having to go downtown for throwing a fit. Which is so incredibly ridiculous that I can't believe anyone would even try to find a sufficient reason for it (i.e. this is what happens when parents aren't allowed to discipline).

I agree with you that it is absolutely ridiculous. But who has created these types of situations when it comes to unruly children (even teenagers) in our schools, and the schools/teachers are very limited in scope to what they can do to control such a kid?

Calling the police is about all one can do in those situations.

[westofyou]

Originally Posted by StillFunkyB

Bring back the wooden spoon.

My momma could do some damage with that thing. I couldn't sit for at least an hour.

Mine too, she also would slam her 100 pounds down on my foot with her little 1 inch heels to make a point... this of course was when I passed her in height

[Chip R]

Originally Posted by GAC

Calling the police is about all one can do in those situations.

Uh, no. Calling the police is a cop-out - no pun intended. This is a school. There are supposed to be people there with knowledge. Surely having the police come down and arrest a 6 year old little girl and charge her with felonies isn't a way to handle things. Surely they could have taken her to an empty room where she couldn't hurt anyone except herself. They could have sent her home, they could have done other things. But having her arrested? I can't believe the police actually arrested her and charged her. Bet that'll be a feather in the DA's cap. What are they going to do if they find her guilty, give her the chair? That'll teach those kids not to have temper tantrums.

[westofyou]

Uh, no. Calling the police is a cop-out - no pun intended.

If you can't control a six year old then you have no business being in an elementary school.

If you have to handcuff a child then you need to take a good look at a career change.

[MaineRed]

Originally Posted by westofyou

If you can't control a six year old then you have no business being in an elementary school.

If you have to handcuff a child then you need to take a good look at a career change.

This is the point. There are people there who could EASILY "control" that kid. But they'd be the ones in jail.

Knowing what i know about schools, this is probably what happened. This kid has been a problem long before this, even though she is only six. The parents have been spoken too or a previous incident took place where the parent did not like how the kid was handled. The parent, who probably is on well fare and spends all the money on scratch tickets and vodka probably had a profanity laced tirade where he or she told the principal how the kid was smarter than all of the teachers and that it was the teachers who were the problem, etc, etc.

I don't know if it was true when I was in school but kids are CRAZY these days, CRAZY. They don't just throw tantrums they throw fits of rage that would get most adults arrested. At what point is a kid too young? Can you arrest a 13 year old for something?

What about a 12 year old? How about 11? Where do you draw the line?

I don't think a classroom full of six year olds is where any of you want to be right now. And at the end of the day you'd be pulling your hair out over the moronic parents, not the raged up kids.

[Redsfaithful]

Originally Posted by MaineRed

I don't know if it was true when I was in school but kids are CRAZY these days, CRAZY. They don't just throw tantrums they throw fits of rage that would get most adults arrested.

Kids these days with their music and their clothes and the hair, and get off my damn lawn.

I don't care if it was the 75th fit the kid threw this year, you still don't need to call the police. It's a six year old. This is common sense.

[westofyou]

The parent, who probably is on well fare and spends all the money on scratch tickets and vodka probably had a profanity laced tirade where he or she told the principal how the kid was smarter than all of the teachers and that it was the teachers who were the problem, etc, etc.

Or you're probably introducing a red herring that stinks to high heaven.

"I was very upset and felt like they violated my baby's rights. I am very upset about it," said Wilson, adding that she wants to find out "what really went on."

http://media.www.mclabeacon.com/medi...-2820739.shtml

According to the authorities, there were no other options.

“The student became violent,” said Frank Mercurio, the no-nonsense chief of the Avon Park police. “She was yelling, screaming — just being uncontrollable. Defiant.”

“But she was 6,” I said.

The chief’s reply came faster than a speeding bullet: “Do you think this is the first 6-year-old we’ve arrested?”

The child’s tantrum occurred on the morning of March 28 at the Avon Elementary School. According to the police report, “Watson was upset and crying and wailing and would not leave the classroom to let them study, causing a disruption of the normal class activities.”

After a few minutes, Desre’e was, in fact, taken to another room. She was “isolated,” the chief said. But she would not calm down. She flailed away at the teachers who tried to control her. She pulled one woman’s hair. She was kicking.

I asked the chief if anyone had been hurt. “Yes,” he said. At least one woman reported “some redness.”

After 20 minutes of this “uncontrollable” behavior, the police were called in. At the sight of the two officers, Chief Mercurio said, Desre’e “tried to take flight.”

She went under a table. One of the police officers went after her. Each time the officer tried to grab her to drag her out, Desre’e would pull her legs away, the chief said.

Ultimately the child was no match for Avon Park’s finest. The cops pulled her from under the table and handcuffed her. The officers were not fooling around. In the eyes of the cops the 6-year-old was a criminal, and in Avon Park she would be treated like any other felon.

There was a problem, though. The handcuffs were not manufactured with kindergarten kids in mind. The chief explained: “You can’t handcuff them on their wrists because their wrists are too small, so you have to handcuff them up by their biceps.”

http://www.mercurynews.com/opinion/ci_5639946

[GAC]

Originally Posted by Chip R

Uh, no. Calling the police is a cop-out - no pun intended. This is a school. There are supposed to be people there with knowledge. Surely having the police come down and arrest a 6 year old little girl and charge her with felonies isn't a way to handle things. Surely they could have taken her to an empty room where she couldn't hurt anyone except herself. They could have sent her home, they could have done other things. But having her arrested? I can't believe the police actually arrested her and charged her. Bet that'll be a feather in the DA's cap. What are they going to do if they find her guilty, give her the chair? That'll teach those kids not to have temper tantrums.

I am not agreeing with, nor condoning, calling the police. Of course it was ridiculous. Just simply stating that because schools have had their hands tied when it comes to discipline, they are left with few alternatives.

Send her home? Geez! I'd be having temper tantrums every day then if it got me out of school.

We really don't have many particulars on this child. Is she simply a spoiled little brat who has learned that throwing these tantrums at home has helped her get her way and exercise control? So if it works at home, then why not at school? If that is the case, then there is very little the school can do if the parents are condoning/promoting this behavior.

All I can say is she is gonna have lots of problems in life if that is the case.

[MaineRed]

I agree GAC. It always seems in these cases the public is quick to jump to conclusions that the educators are at fault or the crazy ones.

There are six year olds who are very violent. A lot more than most of you would realize.

[vaticanplum]

[Falls City Beer]

I was never struck by parents. Not once.

I have two advanced degrees, a career I love, a beautiful wife, and two beautiful daughters.

Wha happuhn?

[Larkin Fan]

Originally Posted by MaineRed

I agree GAC. It always seems in these cases the public is quick to jump to conclusions that the educators are at fault or the crazy ones.

That perception certainly didn't stop you from jumping to the following conclusions:

The parent, who probably is on well fare and spends all the money on scratch tickets and vodka probably had a profanity laced tirade where he or she told the principal how the kid was smarter than all of the teachers and that it was the teachers who were the problem, etc, etc.

Can you say: Pot meet kettle?

[vaticanplum]

Originally Posted by Falls City Beer

I was never struck by parents. Not once.

I have two advanced degrees, a career I love, a beautiful wife, and two beautiful daughters.

Wha happuhn?

Small sample size. Obvs.