Just make da check out ta CASH!!!!!!!!!
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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 PETERSBURG - The mother of the 5-year-old girl who was handcuffed at school by police has withdrawn her daughter from Pinellas public schools and is moving out of state, superintendent Clayton Wilcox said Monday night.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."
Don't 'root' for anyone. Pray for the child.
My children have 'unusual' names. Are you suggesting that since I didn't name then John, and jane that I am a shallow self centered parent? I have an unusual name as well.......
Sonia (mine pronounced sauna)
Heaven Leigh (together pronounced heavenly)
Damian Michael (named after two priests one ficticious and one real)
Cora Mae (named after my great grandmother)
Gabriel James (biblical and his father's first name)
Noah Angel (we were sooo praying for a girl as we thought this would be our last baby. So I used the 'angel' that I wanted as the girl's first name as his middle name)
Kitara Simone ( My best friend as a child was Kitara Simone was my husband's youngest sister that died at birth)
I'm too new to the enlightenment that FR has brought me to point a finger at any one organization. What I can say is that when the power (and authority) to discipline our children as we saw fit was taken away from us and the schools THAT'S where the problem began.
Actually no, the problem began when they took prayer out of the schools. It has just continued to go downhill from there. I once had Children and youth services called on me because my daughter refused to participate in an act of mischief with a friend and told the girl 'No way I'm not doing that! My mom would tan my hide!' We have been made criminals for disciplining our own children. Or they are trying anyway. When CYS was here 'interviewing' me I was asked to sign a paper stating that if I physically disciplined the children in any way that they had the authority to take the kids and place them in foster care. I said 'You show me a law that says that I cannot discipline my kids. I will not enter into a contract with you that will prevent me from performing my obligations as a parent.' They left and I actually got a letter of apology a few days later.
Ok so maybe Gabriel's name isn't unusual after all lol
Just make da check out ta CASH!!!!!!!!!
.
Don't forget her brother Buddah !..........:o)
BUT we have to assume that you were TAUGHT that right? It does not look like this child has been taught right from wrong or what is acceptable behavior and what is not. At the age of 5 we really cannot blame the child. At this age the blame rests with the parent(s) IMHO
Those are great names. It gives kids a great sense of their uniqueness to have names that are different.
If I had a buck for every "Jennifer" I've met over the past three decades, I'd be a millionaire.
so what? Shes a future criminal. Shes got a idiotic mom, no dad and obviously no manners. Shes a future burden on some overwhelmed states prison system
How old are you? I've worked with very capable people with similar names. What you said is just racist. Period. By the way, if she were good, I'd use an accountant named Ja'eisha. What of it?
3 year old arsonist??? You have GOT to be kidding me????? That was clearly (due to the age of the 'felon') a case of not childproofing! OMG what is this country coming to? (retorical question no need to answer)
A little girl named Bronx or a little boy named Dawn Day might suffer the same fate as "The Boy Named Sue". By the way, as teenagers Button and Bobbin renamed themselves Brenda and Barbara. By the way missionary friends named their boys common New Testament names ( John, Paul, Peter) and their girls more colorful names (Heavenly Joy, Celestial Star).
As our four kids were growing up I told them if they didn't like their first names, then use their middle name. And if they didn't like either name, it was their right to choose another name. All four of our kids kept their Irish names with their traditional Irish spellings. Will you be disappointed if Heaven Leigh becomes simply Leigh, or Kitara Simone becomes simply Kit as a young adult?
Well when we and the 'system' have this view of children that so obviously need help then yes that is probably exactly what will happen. However if she is given the help/counselling/discipline that she needs.......who knows what she could be?
I posted their middle names just as an illustration. Heaven loves her first name (so far anyway lol) and Kitara is already being called Kit so no it would not bother me.
Still trying to get over the shock of having a great-niece born 2 weeks ago to a very rebellious and immature niece who had the audacity to call this precious little one.....
"Abracadebra". Sad, self centered and short sighted to say the least.
I don't think that is a problem, police have to hook up little, scrawny people (think homeless or elderly) who are fragile in the course of their duties, as well as many young teenagers who are arrested these days.
Naturally they wouldn't use the exact same techniques with a child, it's more for the shock effect and to break the level of being worked up that the kid has pumped themself into. Mechanical restraints are probably safer than just holding onto the child, it would be easier to hurt her that way.
Is it traumatic to the kid, probably so, but not as crippling in the long run as being allowed to create havoc and physically abuse the administrator or teacher. This girl needs help, and has no apparent structure at home. Her biggest problem is being allowed to even think she could act this way without incurring the wrath of her parent(s).
Well said: "Sad, self-centered and short-sighted."
You said: How old are you? I've worked with very capable people with similar names. What you said is just racist. Period. By the way, if she were good, I'd use an accountant named Ja'eisha. What of it?
I am not sure you have read all of the posts on this. I am 47. What I said was NOT racist. The posts have referred to names given to children by all kinds of people, including, for example Gwynneth Paltrow, who named her daugher Apple. You are correct that a person's ability is not determined by her name; however, perception means a lot, especially in professional and business circles, and names like Ja'eisha and Apple and River do not evoke the kind of professionalism people seek in accountants, for example. I am not saying it SHOULD be this way, only that it IS this way. And given that this situation exists, why would a parent inflict it upon her child?
I have no qualms with who anyone uses as an accountant or anything else, but if you think that an accountant named Ja'eisha will make as good an INITIAL impression as the same person if she were named Regina or Elizabeth, you are, in my opinion, mistaken.
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