ATLANTA - Police in Georgia handcuffed a kindergartner with her arms behind her back after the girl threw a tantrum, and the police chief defended the action as a safety measure.
The girl’s family demanded Tuesday that their central Georgia city change policy so that other children aren’t treated the same way. They say the child was shaken up by the ordeal.
While it is unusual to see a young child handcuffed in school, it is not unheard of. School officials around the nation have wrestled with the issue of when it is appropriate to call police on a student.
Salecia Johnson, 6, was accused of tearing items off the walls and throwing books and toys in an outburst Friday at Creekside Elementary School in Milledgeville, according to a police report.
Police said a small shelf thrown by the child struck the principal in the leg during the fracas. The child also jumped on a paper shredder and tried to break a glass frame, the police report states.
The school called police. When an officer tried to calm the child in the principal’s office, she resisted, police say. She “was restrained by placing her hands behind her back and handcuffed,’’ a police report states.
A juvenile complaint was filed, accusing the girl of simple battery and damage to property.
The girl was suspended and cannot return to school until August, her mother, Constance Ruff, told WMAZ-TV.