Posted on 04/26/2005 5:02:47 AM PDT by Cincinatus' Wife
ST. PETERSBURG - The mother of the 5-year-old girl who was handcuffed at school by police has withdrawn her daughter from Pinellas public schools and is moving out of state, superintendent Clayton Wilcox said Monday night.
The development was the latest in a bizarre saga that began Friday, when a videotape of the handcuffing was made public.
Since then, wrenching video images of the wailing kindergartener being handcuffed by St. Petersburg police have raced around the globe, airing and re-airing on television news shows in the United States, Great Britain, Spain, around Asia and beyond.
On Monday morning, the Largo lawyer representing the girl's mother appeared on five network news shows. He returned wearily to his office to find a fax from the mother, 24-year-old Inga Akins, stating he had been fired. The fax had been sent from the tabloid TV show A Current Affair, on which the mother appeared Friday and Monday.
Also on Monday came the prospect that the Rev. Al Sharpton would be coming to town. The famous New York crusader and one-time presidential candidate is intrigued and considering weighing in on the episode, his staff said.
"Instantly he felt that it smelled bad, but he wants to research it first," said his spokeswoman Rachel Nordlinger. "It could be a case of police brutality or a case of her civil rights being violated."
Wilcox had no further information on Akins' move to pull the girl out of school. She was handcuffed at Fairmount Park Elementary on March 14 and transferred to another public school after the incident.
Wilcox said he found out about her leaving the system when he asked his staff Monday how she was doing in the new school.
A call to Akins' cell phone went unreturned Monday night.
Pinellas County records show that a St. Petersburg apartment complex where she lived moved to evict her on March 31, about two weeks after the handcuffing that put her daughter's face on TV screens across he world.
Wilcox said the girl had been out of school since Thursday.
John Trevena, who had been serving as the attorney for Akins, said he learned from an executive producer at A Current Affair that the girl and her mother traveled to New York City over the weekend, where they stayed at the show's expense.
The case of the handcuffed little girl was the top story on the tabloid program Monday night, with images of the girl smelling a flower and running through a park laughing.
The show interviewed a child psychologist who said the handcuffing might be racially motivated. A Current Affair also said the girl "had to flee her home to escape the media."
The show blamed Trevena's release of the video to major media outlets last week, including the St. Petersburg Times . The lawyer said a producer from the show "raged" at him last Friday, saying the release of the video violated an exclusive agreement between Akins and A Current Affair.
Trevena said he had been unaware of any agreement.
The show made no mention of its part in the media frenzy that has followed the video.
A Current Affair clearly communicated it had every intention of running the videotape, Trevena said. He also said the show interviewed Akins and her daughter only days after the handcuffing incident.
On Friday, a few hours after the video began screaming across the world, the show announced to the media that it had an exclusive.
It sent out a news release titled: "Five-year-old African American girl handcuffed by three police officers. A Current Affair gets first national look at incident on tape."
The program Monday evening did not disclose on air how much it had paid Akins for the story. When asked what the sum was Monday afternoon, a spokeswoman for the show laughed at the question. She said there would be no comment on the story.
Trevena called the program's actions "highly unethical and possibly illegal." He said he was concerned that his client was in New York discussing the case with another party without legal advice.
The videotape shows the girl defying an assistant principal and another school staff member as she tore items off walls and swung at the educators.
Later, it shows the girl in the assistant principal's office tearing items off a bulletin board, climbing on a table and swinging at the assistant principal numerous times.
The video ends after about 28 minutes with the girl crying as three St. Petersburg police officers place her in handcuffs.
The girl had a history of problems at the school, though the full extent is not known because student records are not public.
District officials have discussed an incident several weeks before the handcuffing in which a city police officer was called to the school because of a behavior problem with the girl. The officer said something to her about the possibility of being handcuffed if her behavior continued.
Akins later objected to that conversation, part of an ongoing feud with the school over her daughter's treatment.
District officials say the video started as an exercise by the girl's teacher to improve her craft in the classroom. But they acknowledge that the girl's history may have played a part in the decision to keep the camera rolling that day.
Though city police are being harshly criticized for their role in the incident, the department declined Wednesday to elaborate on the rationale for the handcuffing, citing a pending investigation.
Police spokesman Bill Proffitt said the department stood by a statement made in mid March, which was that department policy allows the handcuffing of minors in certain situations.
How did an incident that received mild attention in March blossom into a worldwide phenomenon five weeks later?
The video, said Matthew Felling, media director at The Center for Media and Public Affairs in Washington, D.C.
"It's not necessarily about the little girl, it's about the visceral nature of it," he said. "Is it compelling? Yes. Is it emotional porn? Yes. Is it internationally relevant news? No."
He said too many media outlets had been airing only part of the video, which is about 28 minutes long.
"This story is driven by 10 seconds of footage - two seconds of the tantrum and eight seconds of handcuffing," he said. "Completely taken out of context, but that is the media's way."
You are probably correct that the kid never stood a chance
but Her name had very little to do with it.
Looks like someone should have been calling her name a lot
well before things ever got to this stage. Followed up by
a good butt whipping I might add.
In an ideal world, this parent would have been paddled first.
She was contacted. She couldn't make it any earlier. She was busy! /sarc
You are right.... (taking deep breath)
It's stereotypical.
Some of the politest children I've met have been black.
I've also been "run over" several times by out of control black youth, in groups out in public places.
I watched Hannity & Colmes last night who did a segment on this story. They had as a guest a black liberal who insinuated that the police handcuffed this little girl because they were racist. He suggested that it might not have been conscious racism but unconscious racism against blacks that made them do it. I almost puked.
So if the cops were racist, maybe the cause for this little girls assaulting all white teachers was rascism also??
What I want to know is where did this little girl learn her hatered for whites? Maybe there needs to be an investigation into this? Maybe the teachers that were assaulted all need to sue this little girl's mother for teaching her daughter to hate whites?
(See how easy it is to play the race card? This is play #1 in the liberal playbook)
Then call Cochran.
Cochran is dead - brain tumor.
Read Thomas Sowell's article which relates to this topic of 'culture', mainstream and otherwise.
http://www.opinionjournal.com/editorial/feature.html?id=110006608
Maybe Ja'eisha is the 10th "eisha" in the family. What is the bahavior ofe Aa'eisha, Ba'eisha, Ca'eisha, Da'eisha, Ea'eisha, Fa'Eisha, Ga'eisha, and Ha'eisha?
My Goodness, I just realized that I am guilty of writing Ja'eisha off when it is not my right to. I think we should all pray for Ja'eisha and her mom and her situation instead of dogging her out. I feel rall awful after reading what people keep saying she is going to be and do in the future. We don't have a right. And as for bad kids, we can all watch on "Nanny 911" little white kids, with pretty white names acting just as badly as Ja'eisha. ...... I'm out!
If I worked for that school district, I'd hire a private detective to film the mother. She's probably all kinds of an abusive/neglectful parent. Then the school district can threaten to call DHS unless she drops her lawsuit.
Oh boy.
You said: I so, completely disagree. If someone decides to label her because of her name that is their problem.
I am certain you are proud of your daughter, and with good cause. And I agree with you that this child's major problem is her mother's lack of care, concern and involvement in her child's life. But I have to disagree concerning her name, and the names of many others like her. It is a shame and a loss if good, honest, able and qualified people like your daughter are passed over because they have an "ethnic" name, but it is not only the problem of those who pass them over, but of those who are passed over. We all carry baggage, proudly or not, of our backgrounds. Those who are wealthy can tell where they are from, or what clubs their parents belong to, what prep school they attended, etc., and get a certain amount of mileage out of it. On the other hand, if my name is Joe Bob Smith, or worse, Bubba Henderson, or the like, those who might hire me will have to do so by overcoming the obstacle that my name presents, even before they meet me. If a candidate named Anfernee or Ant'won presents himself for a position in opposition to "Michael" or "Stephen" then Anfernee had better be much more qualified than Stephen if he wants the job. And if Anfernee doesn't get the job, it is not only his employer's problem, it is his, because he is still looking for work.
You seem to be something of the exception. You are articulate, involved and even post on a conservative website. Have you not seen what the mainstream press has done to the likes of Condoleeza Rice, and other black conservatives? I have no doubt that your daughter will succeed, but her name will not be an advantage for her, it will be something to overcome.
No kidding!!
How many copycats will we see?
In my 3 room elementary school back in the early 60's we had a teacher (now deceased) who was strict disciplinarian. She didn't tolerate any foolishness. One day there were two boys fighting out on the playground. She grabbed them by their collars and cracked their heads together. They never fought again. It had an effect on everyone who saw her do it. I don't remember seeing any more fights on school property after that.
It was rather inconsiderate of Je'kisshaieie or whatever's mother to move Out Of State like that - what's to happen of the 20 or 30 people the State of Florida has hired to take care of then?
In many if not most cases, I believe children can be appropriately disciplined with only modest corporal punishment. The key is to start disciplining them when they are very young and to be consistent. For an appropriately disciplined child, a firm disapproving voice from a parent is usually all that is necessary to correct misbehavior. I cannot remember my wife or me spanking any of our four kids more than once or twice in their lives, and then when they were no older than three. They don't even remember being spanked. But they are well behaved as teens and adults today, have an acute sense of right and wrong, and we have never received bad reports about their behavior from any source.
Unless this little girl has some undiagnosed organic problem with the behavior control center of her brain, her outburst is likely a direct consequence of her parents' manifest neglect of her need for firm but loving discipline at a time when she was most teachable. This, IMO, is likely a particularly sad case of child abuse through gross parental neglect.
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