≡ Menu

Mother Sues Florida School Board over Police Handcuffing of Her Kindergartner

You may remember the story of Ja'eisha Scott. It broke almost exactly four years ago.

A Black kindergarten girl in Pinellas County, Florida had a tantrum in school. The school decided the best way to handle it was to call the police and request that the girl be charged and arrested. St. Petersburg Police officers responded to the call; the officers felt the best thing to do was handcuff the small child. Because handcuffs are not designed to fit five year olds they had to use plastic ties on the girl's wrists; they hand cuffed her ankles and kept her bound in the back seat of police cruiser for several hours, while they sought to press charges against her. Footage of the police forcing the girl's hands behind her back and cuffing her and of excerpts of tantrum went viral on the web and played repeatedly on TV for some days.

The city of of St. Petersburg settled with the girl's mother, Inga Akens, for $18,000 in an out of court settlement for claims against the police department. The Pinellas County School Board has refused to settle out of court; a lawsuit is now underway.

The suit accuses school officials of mishandling the situation when the girl threw a violent tantrum in class at Fairmount Park Elementary.

The girl, now 8, will need long-term therapy, says the lawsuit, filed March 12 in Pinellas circuit court by Inga Akins, 27, the girl's mother.

"As a result of this incident, (the girl) is petrified about attending school, is afraid of law enforcement officers, has been severely traumatized and suffers from fear and anxiety," the suit says. The girl "has a permanent impairment related to the situation with the police and will require continuing long-term therapy and neurodiagnostic testing."...

The suit, which accuses Fairmount Park Elementary and the School Board of negligence, malicious prosecution for calling police and a civil rights violation, seeks more than $15,000 in damages. Akins has hired high-powered attorney Willie Gary.

"Obviously, we deny liability and will defend it," said School Board attorney Jim Robinson.

I blogged the hell out of this story for several months. Here's a selection of my posts, by no means exhaustive:

It's disappointing to read in the new article about Inga Akins' lawsuit against the School Board that

A police investigation found race was not a factor; the lead officer, who isn't seen on the tape, was black. But the incident led the department to outline strict rules regarding the handcuffing of children under age 8.

In 2005, I emphasized that

By the time the police arrive and handcuff Ja’eisha it does not matter what color the officers are. Her treatment takes place in a context of persistent inequality and especially punitive attitudes towards African American students.... The presence of an African American police officer overseeing the handcuffing does not mitigate the racism inherent in the event.

I doubt current coverage of the lawsuit will

"[S]trict rules regarding the handcuffing of children under age 8" sounds like a bit progress, but does that even mean the practice has been forbidden? (And should 9 year olds expect to be handcuffed if they get out of line?) A ban on handcuffing young school kids would be a good start but it would not address the repressive atmosphere that Ja'eisha Scott and other Black kids have found themselves in.

In Pinellas County, Florida, it is standard procedure to call the police on small children who are having behavior problems. It is standard procedure to charge children in Pinellas County with felonies. It is standard procedure in Pinellas County to handcuff children as a means of discipline . It is standard procedure in Pinellas County to use police, criminal charges, and handcuffs disproportionately on African American children: 55% of children under 12 charged with crimes in fiscal year 1999-2000 were African American, though they were only 20.95% of the school age children in the state.

If you are unfamiliar with the footage of the handcuffing of Ja'eisha Scott, it is still online (see YouTube player, below). One of the things that is so remarkable is that when the officers arrived, Ja'eisha was seated and not acting out. You can hear someone, probably the assistant prinicipal, reporting on Ja'eisha's behavior. The cuffing looks like a punishment for the reported behavior more than it looks like restraint of a supposedly uncontrollable child. In 2005, it seemed to me that the assistant principal Nicole Dibenedetto's behavior needs to be scrutinized. Some reports contradict Dibenedetto's claims that she tried to pursue other avenues before calling city police to arrest a 5 year old. I am still flabbergasted to have read that Dibenedetto was disappointed when charges were not filed against five year old Ja'eisha Scott.

"To think we would consider charging a child of that age with a crime is almost comical,'' said Bruce Bartlett, chief assistant state attorney. Di Benedetto, 31, was disappointed charges were not filed because it was the third time the girl had behaved violently, the police report says (emphasis added).

If the characterization of Ja'eisha's past behavior is accurate, I would expect an assistant principal, concerned about the well-being and development of young children, to focus on much different interventions than criminal charges for temper tantrums.

{ 4 comments… add one }
  • Brandon April 7, 2009, 3:50 pm

    What horrid stuff!! A pithy 18k and no justice whatsoever! Thanks for the info!

  • Stevo May 11, 2009, 8:51 pm

    I can't deliver the law suit against the school board is for $15,000, that seems obscenely low. I have never heard about this case, thanks for bringing it up.

  • Lauren C April 8, 2013, 9:00 pm

    I agree to all the comments I have seen, though I guess I have a some what different opinion, I guess I agree her mother could have disciplined her better, I am not kidding when I say this, I was there the day this young 5 year old got arrested, I was a student there, I am around the same age she is now, It was hard, I heard her screeming and I seriously thought someone got hurt, the assistant principle was scary at times, but she also had a heart, Florida is a bad state just in general, there is to much crime, yes her parents could have disiplined her allot better, and did they? No. So that is why she was handcuffed and taken, if she does have some mental health problem she should have been evaluated and put into a special class, they could have helped her, Moreover, I think now with the way the world is that all students should get evaluated before they start school to see where they should be, Again it was hard to know that that had to happen, but in my life I have seen worse, Sorry to ramble, what I said was just my side of the story and my opinion

  • Lauren C April 8, 2013, 9:01 pm

    One last thing. I know my comment is way off in time, Never really read the article until now since I was there, I just decided to read it, Nothing else to do.

Leave a Comment