OVIEDO, Fla. (WSVN) — Outraged by what they saw on video, the parents of a 9-year-old boy who was handcuffed at his Central Florida school have filed a lawsuit against the city and the school resource officers involved.
Back on Feb. 2, the two officers entered the mailroom at Stenstrom Elementary School in Oviedo, near Orlando.
According to a police report, the school’s staff attempted to de-escalate a situation with a fourth grader who was cursing, screaming and throwing things in the mailroom.
The lawsuit, later filed by the student’s family, said the student had an Individual Education Plan and Behavior Intervention Plan, identifying physical aggression as a behavioral problem.
Officer worn body camera video shows staff using blocking pads made for situations like this, but officers were later seen handcuffed the boy while asking him to calm down.
“Stand up for me, bud. Chill, chill. Stop it,” said one of the officers.
Officers continued to speak with the child.
“If you can relax, we’ll take the cuffs off. Thank you for relaxing. Getting better,” said a school staff member is heard saying.
But the lawsuit says that, according to the student’s plan, when confronted with his aggressions, staff should “not engage with any conversation other than having him complete the task … and to otherwise limit the level of attention directed to him.”
“I wanna [expletive] go!” the boy said.
“You’re not going to go home,” said the school staffer.”
“I don’t care!” said the boy
“So you want to go to jail?” asked the staffer.
“No!” said the boy.
The child was handcuffed for about 13 minutes before he was released.
Whereas the officers involved and the city are named in the lawsuit, the school district is not.
Among other damages, the lawsuit states, this incident caused extreme harm, aggravating the child’s existing condition.
The family’s attorney, Drew Moss wrote in a statement, “Nine-year-old children should not be handcuffed by police officers at school. The city of Oviedo has failed to reach out to the family to make any effort to address this unfortunate situation.”
The lawyer went on to say, “It was not my clients’ preference to initiate litigation, but the city’s failure to investigate this incident and the officers involved left them no alternative.”
Oviedo Police said that due to pending litigation, the department will not be releasing any statements.
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