Posted on 02/23/2011 7:14:14 AM PST by beaversmom
ARVADA, Colo. -- Arvada Police are defending the way they handled the arrest of an 11-year-old boy. The Arvada boy was arrested and hauled away in handcuffs from his home for drawing stick figures in school - something his therapist told him to do.
His parents say they understand what he did was inappropriate, but are outraged by the way Arvada Police handled the case. The parents did not want their real names used.
They say "Tim" is being treated for Attention Deficit Disorder and his therapist told him to draw pictures when he got upset, rather than disrupt the class. So that’s what he did.
Last October, he drew stick figures of himself with a gun, pointed at four other stick figures with the words "teachers must die."
The boy drew the pictures to let out angry emotions. "Tim," his parents, and his therapist say it was not a threat and that Tim would never hurt anyone.
He felt calmer and was throwing the picture away when the teacher saw it and sent him to the principal's office.
The school was aware that the boy was in treatment, determined he was not a threat, notified his parents and sent him back to class. His mother, "Jane" was shocked when Arvada Police showed up at their home later that night.
She says she told her son to cooperate and tell the truth, but was horrified when they told her they were arresting him and then handcuffed him and hauled him away in a patrol car. His mother says she begged police to let her drive her son to the police department and to let her stay with him through the booking process but they refused.
They put him in a cell, took his mug shot and fingerprinted him. He says he thought he was going to jail and would never be able to go home again.
According to the police report, "Tim" explained he made the drawing to release anger and would never hurt teachers or anyone. At first school officials did not want to press charges, but changed their mind when police called them later that night. A juvenile assessment report shows he's never been in legal trouble before and is at low risk to reoffend.
He's charged with a third degree misdemeanor, interfering with staff and students at an educational facility. The system says it's doing what's in the best interest of the child. But Tim's therapist says handcuffing an 11-year-old and putting him in a cell over something like this is "quite an overreaction" and does much more harm than good.
"Tim" is on probation and if he completes that successfully, the criminal charges will be dropped. But his parents say it has cost them thousands of dollars so far.
And if they had known that their son’s cooperation would be used as evidence against him, they would have hired a lawyer at the beginning and exercised his right to remain silent.
May need to be excerpted. I goofed on the source—should be Fox 31 in Denver.
Local host Peter Boyles (630 KHOW/Denver) is talking about this this morning:
Listen live here:
Something is seriously wrong with these over-reacting fools.
Throwing away a drawing is interfering with staff and students....?
Something is wrong with Jeffco police depts. Have they all become PC police?
Seems to me that the family has a 1st Amendment civil rights case against the department.
The schools are probably the initiators of him being diagnosed as ADD in the first place. He's probably just a normal boy. Now he's been taught it's wrong to be a boy and it's wrong to draw pictures of guns.
(Our foremothers carried guns too and knew how to use them)
I despise that Storey dude. Something is definitely wrong over there. Maybe a few lawsuits will slow them down.
“public” school is one of those euphemisms the left uses to hide the truth.
They are _government_ schools.
Oh cmon - I did this tons of times.
I even added sound effects while drawing them.
So, who reported the incident to the police?
Suspect #1 is his teacher.
Suspect #2 is the parent of one of his classmates.
Suspect #3 is some zealot in the principal’s office.
Any others?
ROTFL! In the 50s (in 5th grade) a particularly talented friend of mine drew a cartoon of the WH being blown up with an atomic bomb, the dome was flying above and other recognizeable features, among them was a detached arm hanging on to a microphone. Really it was a hoot, my laughter even though suppressed caught the attention of our greatly loved teacher (male, Boy Scout Master, revered teacher) who quietly told him that we were in the middle of Math class and to put it away.
No arrest, no handcuffs and to boot he complemented my friend on his talent.
re: “Now he’s been taught it’s wrong to be a boy and it’s wrong to draw pictures of guns.”
It wasn’t just the picture of the gun - it was what was said on the drawing that caused the most concern (the “teachers must die”). If Columbine and all the other whacked out kid incidents blowing away students and teachers hadn’t happened, then sure, this would be a non-issue. So, I get why the school was concerned.
What I don’t get is why the police involvement? The school had already dealt with the kid, parents were notified, etc. And, then, the police don’t just show up and talk to the kid - they ARREST HIM? For what??
And something else I just noticed in the story - this happened “last October”?? Why is this just hitting the news now?
Hilarious. If drawing scenes of combat replete with nazi iconography were a crime back in the 60s I’d still be doing time.
Paging messrs Calvin and Hobbs. Messrs Calvin and Hobbs, please pick up the white courtesy phone.
“She says she told her son to cooperate and tell the truth, but was horrified when they told her they were arresting him and then handcuffed him and hauled him away in a patrol car.”
“if they had known that their son’s cooperation would be used as evidence against him, they would have hired a lawyer at the beginning and exercised his right to remain silent.”
You can NEVER EVER talk your way out of getting arrested by “cooperating” with the Police. When the Police come to investigate a crime and they are looking at you or a family member “cooperation” directly translates as “help them build a case against you”.
Everything you say to the Police CAN AND WILL be used against you. Nothing you say to them can be used in your defense as it is, in criminal proceedings “hearsay”. What you tell them that (they feel, or their ‘recollection’ of) is incriminating is OK for them to say on the stand, anything you tell them that is exculpatory is just hearsay.
They are inviting you to play a ‘game’ where thy can score points but nothing you do puts anything up on the score board. The longer you ‘play’ the worse it is for you.
Never “cooperate” with the Police when they think you or a family member (that you don’t want imprisoned) is a suspect.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.