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Third Grader Who Was Arrested By Police Suing NYPD
By
Ben Yakas
Published Apr 2, 2011
Modified Apr 2, 2011
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By
Ben Yakas
Published Apr 2, 2011
Modified Apr 2, 2011
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The family of a Bronx third-grader who was handcuffed by police after a classroom fight is suing the NYPD. Sofia Bautista, who was a third-grader at Public School 132 in Morrisania last April, was arrested by police after she got into a fight with a classmate. “They arrested me and they shouldn’t have arrested me,” Bautista told CBS, describing what she calls the worst day of her life.
In the lawsuit, the family claims she was taken into a squad car, handcuffed to a bench for nearly three hours at the 42nd Precinct in the South Bronx, interrogated without either of her parents present, and threatened with jail. Cops allegedly refused to allow her mother, Amarilis Bautista, to see her. "Sofia was screaming for me, but there was nothing I could do. My daughter feels afraid all the time now," she told the News. The family says that cops overreacted to a fight in which no one was injured, and no weapons were produced.
The NYPD admits that they did arrest the 10-year-old, but denied she was interrogated or kept away from her mother, and said she was only in the station house for just under two hours. "The girl was issued a juvenile report, which does not result in a family court appearance and is later expunged," said NYPD spokesman Paul Browne. The family's lawyer was incredulous about the NYPDs response: “Taking a 10-year-old to a precinct, interrogating her while cuffed to a chair … the idea that our NYPD is in a position and now wants to defend that is outrageous,” said lawyer Steve Goldman. At the very least, the NYPD has lost a fan: “I hate police,” Sofia said, adding she didn’t hate them before the incident.
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Ben Yakas
Ben Yakas is a former Gothamist reporter.
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