Autistic Girl Taken From School In Handcuffs

[Anonymous]

COEUR D'ALENE -- A Ponderay mom was left outraged when school officials ordered her autistic 8-year-old daughter handcuffed and taken from the school in a police car.

Outside her Ponderay home, 8-year-old Evelyn Towry, in her pink boots and favorite sweatshirt explains why she's now suspended from school.

"Because I was trying to leave and they hold me down," Evelyn said.

Evelyn is a third grader at Kootenai Elementary and has Asperger's Syndrome, a high functioning form of Autism. On Friday she started to act out.

"She wanted to attend a Christmas party in her cow sweatshirt and they told her she couldn't that she would have to tuck the tail in and put ears down and she dug her heels in the way she does quite often and said she wouldn't take it off," Evelyn's mom Spring said.

Spring says that when Evelyn tried to leave anyway two teachers restrained her, which is when Evelyn began kicking, pinching and spitting on the teachers.

"Well, I kicked because I was upset they were holding me down and I got thumb bruises on me," Evelyn said.

School officials then called the police and Evelyn's mom. When Spring got to school to pick her daughter up police were already escorting Evelyn in handcuffs out of the building and into a police cruiser. Police then took her to a local juvenile detention center where she stayed for an hour, after which she was allowed to go home.

"I was terrified and I was scared and I was hurt and I wanted to throw up. I wanted to take my baby with me," Spring said.

School officials responded to a request for an interview for this story by e-mail, with the district superintendent saying they followed a specific safety plan for Evelyn which was agreed upon by the district and her mental health provider.

The plan, according to the district, says that "If a student assaults staff it is appropriate to call parents, involved support agencies, and local law enforcement officials if needed. All of the above occurred regarding this unfortunate incident."

"I never saw the plan, I never signed the plan," Spring said.

On Tuesday morning the Bonner County prosecutor charged Evelyn with one count of battery.

By Tuesday afternoon the charge was dropped.

"I think it's absolutely ridiculous. She doesn't even know what battery is," Spring said.

Spring Towry and her husband are now pursuing civil action. While they don't excuse their daughter's behavior Spring says it didn't have to go this far.

"I don't want this to happen to another child or another parent," she said.

http://http://www.kxly.com/global/story.asp?s=9669140

[Anonymous]

COEUR D'ALENE -- A Ponderay mom was left outraged when school officials ordered her autistic 8-year-old daughter handcuffed and taken from the school in a police car.

Outside her Ponderay home, 8-year-old Evelyn Towry, in her pink boots and favorite sweatshirt explains why she's now suspended from school.

"Because I was trying to leave and they hold me down," Evelyn said.

Evelyn is a third grader at Kootenai Elementary and has Asperger's Syndrome, a high functioning form of Autism. On Friday she started to act out.

"She wanted to attend a Christmas party in her cow sweatshirt and they told her she couldn't that she would have to tuck the tail in and put ears down and she dug her heels in the way she does quite often and said she wouldn't take it off," Evelyn's mom Spring said.

Spring says that when Evelyn tried to leave anyway two teachers restrained her, which is when Evelyn began kicking, pinching and spitting on the teachers.

"Well, I kicked because I was upset they were holding me down and I got thumb bruises on me," Evelyn said.

School officials then called the police and Evelyn's mom. When Spring got to school to pick her daughter up police were already escorting Evelyn in handcuffs out of the building and into a police cruiser. Police then took her to a local juvenile detention center where she stayed for an hour, after which she was allowed to go home.

"I was terrified and I was scared and I was hurt and I wanted to throw up. I wanted to take my baby with me," Spring said.

School officials responded to a request for an interview for this story by e-mail, with the district superintendent saying they followed a specific safety plan for Evelyn which was agreed upon by the district and her mental health provider.

The plan, according to the district, says that "If a student assaults staff it is appropriate to call parents, involved support agencies, and local law enforcement officials if needed. All of the above occurred regarding this unfortunate incident."

"I never saw the plan, I never signed the plan," Spring said.

On Tuesday morning the Bonner County prosecutor charged Evelyn with one count of battery.

By Tuesday afternoon the charge was dropped.

"I think it's absolutely ridiculous. She doesn't even know what battery is," Spring said.

Spring Towry and her husband are now pursuing civil action. While they don't excuse their daughter's behavior Spring says it didn't have to go this far.

"I don't want this to happen to another child or another parent," she said.

http://

what state did this happen in? Florida?

[Anonymous]

what state did this happen in? Florida?

Idaho

[Antigen]

On Tuesday morning the Bonner County prosecutor charged Evelyn with one count of battery.

RMA?

[Che Gookin]

It would make more sense if it was RMA. No.. this is a public school.. where kids are restrained for not tucking in their shirt.

whatever.. losers.

[Bandit73]

While they don't excuse their daughter's behavior Spring says it didn't have to go this far.

I excuse their daughter's behavior though. Their daughter was assaulted by school personnel, so how was she supposed to react?

An 8-year-old was assaulted for acting like an 8-year-old.

[TheWho]

Again it comes down to training.  The teachers couldn’t just let the kid walk off, they needed to keep the child there at school and keep her safe.  The child needs to understand the rules.  But apparently the teachers did not do a good job handling an autistic child which can be very sensitive to being touched (in any way).
When a school has autistic children they need to be trained on how to handle them.  The same goes for kids with asthma, peanut allergies or epilepsy etc.  Calling the cops?  Hand cuffs pffft.  someone should get the drama award or a few days without pay.

[Ursus]

It's because of this "Zero Tolerance" policy. Any and every behavior that can be interpreted as "potentially harmful to self and/or others" is wide open for forceful restraint and removal.

[Antigen]

It would make more sense if it was RMA. No.. this is a public school.. where kids are restrained for not tucking in their shirt.

whatever.. losers.

Well yeah. I meant RMA people having influence in the local school and law enforcement systems.

[Anonymous]

The teachers couldn’t just let the kid walk off, they needed to keep the child there at school and keep her safe.

She was attempting to leave the classroom to get to a school party in another room with the rest of her class. NOT fleeing the building. She was physically restrained from leaving the Special Ed. room because her attire was "inappropriate" (cow sweatshirt). The adults initiated the physical confrontation. The child was injured (bruises on her arms). The child was then arrested, handcuffed and charged with battery for kicking, spitting and scratching IN SELF-DEFENSE.

There's more detail in this follow up article: http://abcnews.go.com/US/Story?id=6640478&page=1

[Anonymous]

The teachers couldn’t just let the kid walk off, they needed to keep the child there at school and keep her safe.

She was attempting to leave the classroom to get to a school party in another room with the rest of her class. NOT fleeing the building. She was physically restrained from leaving the Special Ed. room because her attire was "inappropriate" (cow sweatshirt). The adults initiated the physical confrontation. The child was injured (bruises on her arms). The child was then arrested, handcuffed and charged with battery for kicking, spitting and scratching IN SELF-DEFENSE.

There's more detail in this follow up article: http://abcnews.go.com/US/Story?id=6640478&page=1

Yuck. there is probably nothing wrong with this girl. She doesn't have autism she was dx-ed with "aspergers syndrome" which is another version of O.D.D. That is to say any kid whose parent's think there is something wrong with them can have it.

She was being restrained for trying to leave a part of the room she was told to stand in. She responded as any kid SHOULD. She fought back, as opposed to lying down and submitting.

The doctor they interviewed said this reaction was part of Ev's "sickness," because kids with autism have a "fight or flight" response.
Um, actually, all lifeforms have a fight or flight response. The people on Ev's "side" are as bad as the ones who restrained her and then called the police..and the police who arrested her!

[Anonymous]

"Asperger syndrome (sometimes called Asperger's syndrome, AS, or the more common shorthand Asperger's), is characterized as one of the five pervasive developmental disorders, and is commonly referred to as a form of high-functioning autism. In very broad terms, individuals with Asperger's have normal or above average intellectual capacity, and atypical or less well developed social skills, often with emotional/social development or integration happening later than usual as a result.

The term "Asperger's syndrome" was coined by Lorna Wing in a 1981 medical paper. She named the syndrome after Hans Asperger, an Austrian psychiatrist and pediatrician."

http://www.k12academics.com/aspergers.htm

What they did to that girl was bullshit.

[MCL27]

Here is a copy of a comment I saw in a ABC news article that sums up the mentality of educators.

Schools all over the country try to defend their unlawful and overreaching actions every day. That battle has been going on for DECADES: schools - charged with teaching the Constitution - do not seem capable of understanding that they themselves are subject to its limitations or that their students are protected by it. My sister (retired school teacher and a few other things) attributes this in part to the fact that many or even most school personnel never have known any environment BUT school: it IS their whole world, from childhood all the way up. Maybe they just never realize that schools are but a very small cog in the vast machinery of society, government, law and nationhood.

[firstresponder]

like i have said before it all comes down  to training. the schools dont want to pay the money to train their staff properly just to save a few bucks and than this happens and they have to pay even more money. train them right the first time for up front costs and save more money in the long run.

same goes for the LEO's. had they been trained on how to deal with special needs persons they would know how to handle and deescalate the situation BEFORE it got that far.