How many police officers to take on one five year old?

[Uglyowl]

I guess three. Discuss (video on site)

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/4475513.stm

US police handcuff five-year-old

A lawyer has threatened to sue police officers who handcuffed an allegedly uncontrollable five-year-old after she acted up at a Florida kindergarten.
The officers were called by the school after a teacher and assistant principal failed to calm down the little girl.

The incident was caught on a video camera which was rolling in the classroom as part of a self-improvement exercise at the St Petersburg school.

A lawyer for the girl's mother said the episode was "incomprehensible".

The video, made public by the lawyer this week, shows the unfolding of the violent tantrum, which started when the little girl refused to take part in a maths lesson.

She then ripped some papers off a bulletin board and lashed out at staff trying to calm her down.

After calling her mother and learning she would not be able to pick up the child for at least one more hour, the teachers resorted to calling the police.

Three officers rushed to the scene and handcuffed the girl, by that time apparently calm, after pinning her arms behind her back.

The footage showed her in distress after being handcuffed.

They finally drove her to her mother in the back of a police cruiser.

The St Petersburg Police Department declined to comment on the incident and said an investigation was under way.

[jakethebake]

This was on the news here the other night. That girl was whacked out and swinging at everyone. She's got serious issues, but she's FIVE. Call her mother! Why wouod you call the police? And why would they handcuff her? Very odd. I guess it could've been worse. They could have tazed her.

[Beerfund]

[ QUOTE ]
This was on the news here the other night. That girl was whacked out and swinging at everyone. She's got serious issues, but she's FIVE. Call her mother! Why wouod you call the police? And why would they handcuff her? Very odd. I guess it could've been worse. They could have tazed her.

[/ QUOTE ]

They did call her mother but she said she couldnt come to pick her up. I would have just locked her in a closet or something.

[Uglyowl]

The norm needs to be somewhere between the norm now where the kids have the upperhand and what we saw with the handcuffing.

I would rather error on the side of too harsh. Kids are out of control nowadays (I sound old saying that)

[jakethebake]

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They did call her mother but she said she couldnt come to pick her up. I would have just locked her in a closet or something.

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I see that in this article. It wasn't mentioned on the news I saw. They couldn't keep her for an hour? Hell I'm surprised the police came quicker than that given the circumstances.

[jakethebake]

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I would rather error on the side of too harsh. Kids are out of control nowadays (I sound old saying that)

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Generally I agree 100%. But a 5 year-old isn't going to hurt anyone.

[GrekeHaus]

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They could have tazed her.

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That would have been WAY funnier than just handcuffing her.

[jakethebake]

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
They could have tazed her.

[/ QUOTE ]

That would have been WAY funnier than just handcuffing her.

[/ QUOTE ]

They did that a couple of months ago. You must've missed it.

[mason55]

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
They did call her mother but she said she couldnt come to pick her up. I would have just locked her in a closet or something.

[/ QUOTE ]

I see that in this article. It wasn't mentioned on the news I saw. They couldn't keep her for an hour? Hell I'm surprised the police came quicker than that given the circumstances.

[/ QUOTE ]

They kept her for an hour or so and the mom refused to come get her. The mother had been told in the past that if the daughter acted up again and the mother couldn't get her the police would be called.

The daughter was destroying everything she could get her hands on. It's not like the school has a cell they could lock her in. And what do you think happens if a teacher tries to restrain the little girl and the girl gets hurt somehow? LAWSUIT CITY.

It sucks, but in our current overly litigious society, and with the previous warnings to the (probably young, irresponsible, and terrible) mother, I think they did something perfectly reasonable.

And there's no way the mother contacted a lawyer about this. She was obviously contacted by someone who wants to make a name for himself.

[Lazymeatball]

Given the situation, I don't see anything wrong with how the police handled the situation.