7-year-old boy led away in handcuffs after allegedly punching, kicking teacher. Parents ‘in shock.’
19 mins
A 7-year-old boy was led away in handcuffs from his Miami school after police said he repeatedly punched and kicked a teacher last week, WSVN-TV reported.
After the boy was removed from the Coral Way K-8 Center cafeteria for playing with his food, school police said he “attacked the teacher by repeatedly punching her on her back in the hallway,” the station reported.
When he was restrained, police said the boy continued to fight the teacher with his fists and legs until the pair fell to the ground, WSVN said.
The boy still wouldn’t stop fighting the teacher, police said, “grabbing her hair and pulling it” toward him until he was again restrained, the station reported.
Finally, he calmed down and was taken to the principal’s office, WSVN said, adding that the teacher told police she wanted to press charges.
The boy’s parents told the station they came to the school to talk to the principal and counselors and agreed their son would get a 10-day suspension — but an officer told them she had to arrest the 7-year-old or take him in for a psychiatric evaluation.
The first-grader was detained under the Florida Mental Health Act and hospitalized at the Nicklaus Children’s Hospital for a psychiatric evaluation, the Miami Herald reported, adding that he was discharged hours later.
What did the boy’s parents have to say?
“I was in shock,” the boy’s father, Rolando Fuentes, told the station. “Shock.”
“Says he’s a danger to society,” Fuentes added to WSVN. “I said, ‘What? Seven years old? A danger to society?’”
“I feel like my heart is broken,” the boy’s mother, Mercy Alvarez, told WSVN.
Alvarez also told the station it’s not a mental health or aggression issue and that a psychologist said her son was OK.
“This is police abuse; a whim of the officer, because my son was calm when they came to look for him,” Alvarez added to el Nuevo Herald. “The principal, the counselor, and two other people tried to prevent that action and the officer took the child anyway.”
Alvarez added to the Miami Herald that she doesn’t believe her boy is strong enough to knock down the teacher in question and his behavior issues are a result of bullying. His parents are consulting attorneys over the incident, the paper said.
Has the boy been accused of violence before?
WSVN reported that this incident wasn’t the boy’s first run-in with the officer and that he was accused of kicking a teacher in November. The station said that incident was resolved in house.
But the boy’s parents told the station that the outcome of this incident was unfair.
“We have to make justice,” Fuentes told WSVN.
What did school police have to say?
“This action was warranted to prevent his erratic and violent behavior from bringing further harm to others or himself. The manner in which he was transported to the receiving facility was done in accordance with Standard Operating Procedures,” Miami-Dade Schools Police said in a statement to WSVN, adding that the incident is under review.
What did the school district have to say?
The boy “began behaving erratically and hit a teacher,” public schools spokeswoman Jackie Calzadilla said in a statement to the Herald. “Due to a great concern for the student and to ensure his safety and that of those around him, he was restricted according to the Baker Act and transported to the hospital to be evaluated.”
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