Group sues on behalf of child in Paper-Gun Incident

Rutherford Institute, Newark Star Ledger ^ | 03.05.03

[Coleus]

Group sues on behalf of child in paper Gun Incident

Irvington case reopens zero tolerance debate

Wednesday, March 05, 2003

BY KEVIN C. DILWORTH AND REGINALD ROBERTS
Star-Ledger Staff

The Rutherford Institute, a Virginia-based civil liberties organization, is taking a second New Jersey school district to court for what it sees as overzealous school officials overstepping their bounds in handling student conduct.

The institute filed a lawsuit against the Irvington Board of Education on behalf of one of two boys arrested nearly two years ago under the district's "zero tolerance" policy for playing with a paper gun.

The suit, filed last month in Superior Court in Newark, charges that Hamadi Alston, who was then 8 years old, was falsely arrested, maliciously prosecuted and had his rights of free speech violated. He and his classmate, Jaquill Shelton, were arrested by police March 15, 2001. Marc Shelton, Jaquill's father, has a pending lawsuit he filed against the school board in March 2002.

The Rutherford Institute filed a suit in 2000 on behalf of four Sayreville kindergartners who were suspended in a similar situation in which they were playing a schoolyard game of cops and robbers by pointing their fingers like guns.

The two Irvington boys, who were both second-graders at the Augusta Street School, threatened their classmates with a piece of notebook paper folded to resemble a gun, school officials said. Alston stood on a desk, pointing the paper gun at his classmates, saying "I'm going to kill you," they said.

The boys were taken to the principal's office, then arrested by police for making terroristic threats. They said they were merely playing a game of cops and robbers.

The arrests reopened a national debate on zero tolerance policies enacted by school boards following the Columbine High School shootings in Littleton, Colo., in 1999 in which two students killed 12 classmates and a teacher before committing suicide.

"The Irvington school district's zero tolerance policy was arbitrary and capricious," said Stephen Latimer, a Hackensack attorney hired by the Rutherford Institute to represent Alston. Also named in the suit are the police officers who arrested the boys, Superintendent of Schools Ernest Smith and other school officials involved in the incident, including the substitute teacher and acting school principal, who have since left the school.

School officials could not be reached for comment yesterday. But Ray Hamlin, whose law firm represents the school district, said he was not immediately aware of the lawsuit and that it had not been served to the district.

Latimer said the defendants should be notified of the lawsuit today.

Although Irvington Mayor Wayne Smith said he had not seen the suit, he said he would examine the role police played in the incident. The incident preceded his tenure in office, which began last July.

"I'm always interested in making sure that the police, or any other township employee, follow necessary procedures when it comes to carrying out what the law requires," the mayor said. "We will look at the ramifications of what took place and see if there's a need on our part to change any procedures."

But after the incident, school officials didn't see any need to change their procedures as they stood by their zero tolerance policy as a necessary evil of the times.

The Rutherford Institute, a national conservative, public-interest law firm, believes the policy is unnecessary.

"There was no crime here," said John Whitehead, president of the institute, which gained national attention for handling the Paula Jones' sexual harassment suit against President Clinton. "The kids had no clue of what they had done. No one was threatened. What can you do with a piece of paper?"

Latimer said the boys should have been simply told to stop playing with the paper gun. "Maybe they should have been taken to the principal's office, but I doubt even that."

Ron Alston, Hamadi's father, said the incident had put a strain on his family. "We got taken through a whole lot," he said, adding the incident forced him to place his son in private school. "This incident was so crazy. Somebody has to be a watchdog over these children. No way in the world should 8-year-olds have been arrested for playing with a piece of paper."

The Rutherford Institute has taken on numerous cases around the country involving school districts' zero tolerance policies.

Whitehead said many have been settled out of court like the Florida case in which a 15-year-old student was suspended from school for loaning a classmate a nail clipper. The clipper was considered a weapon under the school district's zero tolerance policy.

Last year, however, a federal judge dismissed the Sayreville lawsuit, saying school officials were in their right to suspend the kindergartners.

Whitehead, who said the Rutherford Institute has been a pioneer in filing these type of suits, said the Sayreville case has been appealed to the 3rd District Court of Appeals. "It may be headed to the Supreme Court."

http://www.nj.com/search/index.ssf?/base/news-2/1046848356199460.xml?starledger

http://www.rutherford.org/articles_db/press_release.asp?article_id=296

02/25/2003

Contact Info: Nisha N. Mohammed Ph: (434) 978-3888, ext. 604; Pager: 800-946-4646, Pin #: 1478257 Email: Nisha N. Mohammed

Rutherford Institute Attorneys File Complaint on Behalf of Third-Grader Arrested, Suspended Under School’s Zero Tolerance Policies

Attorneys Sue School and Police Department for False Arrest and Constitutional Violations

HACKENSACK, N.J. — Attorneys for The Rutherford Institute have filed suit in the Superior Court of New Jersey in Essex County on behalf of Hamadi Alston, a third-grader at Augusta Street School in Irvington, N.J., who was arrested for using an L-shaped piece of paper as a gun in a pretend game of “Cops and Robbers.” The complaint was filed against the Irvington Board of Education, its superintendent, the presiding principal of Augusta Street School at the time of the incident, Hamadi’s teacher, the school’s resource officer and the Irvington police officers who arrested Hamadi. The complaint makes charges of false arrest, malicious prosecution, violations of Hamadi’s free speech rights and the unconstitutional application of baseless zero tolerance policies.

On March 15, 2001, 8-year-old Hamadi and his classmates were directed to take advantage of the school’s “free time” period, during which students are permitted to speak among themselves, read books and play board games that are available in the classroom. When Hamadi and a fellow student selected a book to read, they found an L-shaped piece of paper contained within it. Using the L-shaped item as a paper gun and exclaiming “Pow, pow!” the boys began playing pretend games of “Cops and Robbers” and “Cowboys and Indians.” At no time did the boys threaten to harm each other or anyone else. At the conclusion of their “free time” period, the boys proceeded to their next class, at which point the school’s resource officer for interrogation removed the boys from the classroom and took them to the school office for questioning. At no time did school officials contact Hamadi’s parents. Upset by the interrogation, Hamadi began crying. When Hamadi’s father arrived to pick him up at the end of the day, he found his son crying in the office. When Irvington police officers arrived and asked Mr. Alston to transport his son to the police station, Alston refused. Police officers then arrested Hamadi and charged him with threatening to kill other students. Hamadi was held for 4½ hours before being released into his father’s custody; he was suspended from school for one day. After two court appearances, the criminal charges were dismissed by the prosecutor. Hamadi has since been treated for Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. The lawsuit contends that Hamadi suffered substantial emotional and mental injuries from being incarcerated and prosecuted without probable cause.

“One can only imagine the horror that Hamadi experienced when he was detained and arrested for playing a harmless childhood game,” stated John W. Whitehead, president of The Rutherford Institute. “This lawsuit is intended to hold the defendants accountable for the considerable harm they inflicted upon this child and to validate the fact that even young children have a constitutional right not to be arrested and mistreated for engaging in harmless activity.”

The Rutherford Institute is an international, nonprofit civil liberties organization committed to defending constitutional and human rights.

[Coleus]

I work in a school where youth have video taped a ball bat beating death>>>

"Youth"..8 yrs. old? Was the bat made out of paper?

[Alas Babylon!]

Think Barney Fiffe.

[RWG]

I forwarded your question about whether the bat was made out of paper to the mother of the victim. When I called her for the answer, all I heard on the phone was crying. I'll ask her again tomorrow and get back to you.

[MigrantOkie]

You are so full of sh1t. Why don't you admit you chose a weak position and move on?

[zook]

Please visit my Rotten Apple Award page. I give these out periodically to call attention to idiots in my field.

http://www.personal.psu.edu/faculty/r/c/rcs8/rotten.htm

[Coleus]

Thanks I'll bookmark the site. Some of the links didn't work. You have to remember that if you link newspaper articles, as you do on the site, is that many of the papers only have the story on for two weeks then they archive it for a fee which makes the link a blank. You maybe want to put the stories on a word pad document and download the doc to the website. The NY post only has their stories on the webpage only for a day.

The field of idiots seems to be growing.

You can probably get more stories from the Rutherford Institute and CBN.

[zook]

Thanks for the tip about the links. It's hard for me to review and update them, since I'm working remotely from a PC in Taiwan to a server in Pennsylvania! But I'll see if I can work on this when I get back home this summer!

[Coleus]

Ok, so how are you enjoying teaching in Taiwan?

[zook]

It's a mixed bag. I'm on sabbatical from Penn State, serving at a small teachers college in Pingtung (southern Taiwan). They've been very nice to me here, I have to say. The students are eager and can be a lot of fun (I teach graduate students), but they often seem to lack the imagination needed to have good class discussions.

Of course, part of it is their limited English ability, and I have to say that I felt misled by the college here about this. Before I came here I was told "oh, sure, everyone speaks English pretty well!" That exaggeration came crashing down on me within the first week of classes!

I'll be happy to get back home, not so much because I want to get back into the nonsense at Penn State, but just because I miss my family and my country. A couple of good things--the weather here is very nice right now, and my 8 year old daughter has learned a ton of Mandarin (reading, writing, and speaking) in her Chinese school.

Oops, just realized this is a post, not an e-mail! Too long! But thanks for asking!

[RWG]

You are so full of sh1t. Why don't you admit you chose a weak position and move on?

Your reply was so thoughtful and provoked such insight. How do you do it without a high school education?

[Coleus]

but just because I miss my family and my country>>

Nothing beats the good ol' USA!!

[henderson field]

Zero tolerance is a Nazi concept. The school board and the police should be sued and the penalty should be the retirement funds of both, not to be replaced by the taxpayer.

[henderson field]

Public schools are actually losing enrollment. Not only because of stunts like this but because immigrants hold the rest of the class back. Home schooling and private schools are the wave of the future.

[The Toad]

This is an assault on Liberty. The "guns" were made of paper!

I propose zero-tolerance for zero-tolerance polices.

[Vic3O3]

ping!

[Obi-Wandreas]

From the case of Seal v. Morgan:


DUSTIN W. SEAL, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. ALLEN MORGAN, Superintendent, Knox County School (99-5090/5600); KNOX COUNTY BOARD OF EDUCATION (99-5600), Defendants-Appellants, VICKI DUNAWAY, Principal, Powell High School, et al., Defendants.

Nos. 99-5090/99-5600

UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE SIXTH CIRCUIT

229 F.3d 567; 2000 U.S. App. LEXIS 24939; 2000 FED App. 0358P (6th Cir.)


" Nevertheless, the Board may not absolve itself of its obligation, legal and moral, to determine whether students intentionally committed the acts for which their expulsions are sought by hiding behind a Zero Tolerance Policy that purports to make the students' knowledge a non-issue. We are also not impressed by the Board's argument that if it did not apply its Zero Tolerance Policy ruthlessly, and without regard for whether students accused of possessing a forbidden object knowingly possessed the object, this would send an inconsistent message to its students. Consistency is not a substitute for rationality.  [*582] "

[Coleus]

I propose zero-tolerance for zero-tolerance polices.>>>

Can't argue with that.

[Frapster]

We used to make pistols out of modeling clay when I was in the 4th grade in 1976. We were not allowed to bring knives to school however. My dad, on the other hand, used to play (sp?) mumble-dee-peg (spelled phonetically). They would throw knives at each others feet seeing how close they could get. Times change as the world gets more corrupt. None-the-less - this school over reacted.

[Frapster]

My son and I were playing a computer game (he's 7) and he screamed across the room 'I'm going to kill you!' My wife was not amused. lol But the reality is we were playing a game. So were these kids. People need to get a little perspective.

[Coleus]

Yes, as I said in the link I posted we used to play army all the time, our house was loaded with toy guns!! Here is an e mail I just recieved last night. Boy have things changed!
_______________

We Were Lucky!

If you lived as a child in the 60s or the 70s. (Some of us in the 40s and 50s), looking back, it's hard to believe that we have lived as long as we have.................

As children, we would ride in cars with no seat belts or air bags. Riding in the back of a pickup truck on a warm day was always a special treat.

Our baby cribs were covered with bright colored lead-based paint. We had no childproof lids on medicine bottles, doors, or cabinets, and when we rode our bikes, we had no helmets. (Not to mention hitchhiking to town as a young kid!)

We drank water from the garden hose and not from a bottle.

Horrors.

We would spend hours building our go-carts out of scraps and then rode down the hill, only to find out we forgot the brakes. After running into the bushes a few times we learned to solve the problem.

We would leave home in the morning and play all day, as long as we were back when the street lights came on.

No one was able to reach us all day. No cell phones.

Unthinkable.

We played dodgeball and sometimes the ball would really hurt.

We got cut and broke bones and broke teeth and there were no lawsuits from these accidents.
They were accidents. No one was to blame but us.
Remember accidents?

We had fights and punched each other and got black and blue and learned to get over it.

We ate cupcakes, bread and butter, and drank sugar soda but we were never overweight........ we were always outside playing.

We shared one grape soda with four friends, from one bottle and no one died from this?

We did not have Playstations, Nintendo 64, X Boxes, video games at all, 99 channels on cable, video tape movies, surround sound, personal cellular phones, Personal Computers, Internet chat rooms, .................. we had friends.

We went outside and found them. We rode bikes or walked to a friend's home and knocked on the door, or rung the bell or just walked in and talked to them.

Imagine such a thing. Without asking a parent! By ourselves!

Out there in the cold cruel world! Without a guardian. How did we do it?

We made up games with sticks and tennis balls and ate worms and although we were told it would happen, we did not put out very many eyes, nor did the worms live inside us forever.

Little League had tryouts and not everyone made the team. Those who didn't had to learn to deal with disappointment.....

Some students weren't as smart as others so they failed a grade and were held back to repeat the same grade.....Horrors! Tests were not adjusted for any reason.

Our actions were our own. Consequences were expected.

No one to hide behind.

The idea of a parent bailing us out if we broke a law was unheard of. They actually sided with the law, imagine that!

This generation has produced some of the best risk-takers and problem solvers and inventors,ever. The past 50 years has been an explosion of innovation and new ideas. We had freedom, failure, success and responsibility, and we learned how to accept, cope with, ignore and/or handle the situation.

And you're one of them.

Congratulations!

Pass this on to others that were blessed to grow up as kids, before lawyers and government regulations took effect..... for our own good?

I will add this one:

Playing army, cowboys and Indians and cops and robbers with toy guns or fingers with your friends without the threat of getting arrested by the police or suspended from school.

We could say prayers in school before we ate our lunch.