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Handcuffed Boy Demands Apology From Principal
By
John Del Signore
Published Apr 22, 2011
Modified Apr 22, 2011
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By
John Del Signore
Published Apr 22, 2011
Modified Apr 22, 2011
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The 7-year-old boy who was dragged out of class in handcuffs earlier this month wants an apology. Joseph Anderson, a special-needs student at P.S. 153 in Maspeth, appeared at a press conference yesterday with his mother and the family attorney, and demonstrated for the cameras how he was carted out of school to a waiting ambulance. He had thrown a tantrum because his Easter egg coloring didn't come out the way he wanted, and the boy explains to CBS 2, "I wanted to color my Easter egg again so my mom could know how nice was it. But Ms. Kate wouldn’t let me so I jumped on the table." Then Joseph became more upset after, he says, the teacher threatened him with a needle!
"I wanted to sit on the seat and the guy say I’m gonna get the needle,” Joseph said yesterday. His mother was summoned to the school, but as she raced there from her job in Manhattan, administrators called in a cop to handcuff Joseph. The school and the NYPD claim Joseph was a threat to himself and others because he had scissors—small plastic safety scissors. “They treated him like a perp,” his mother says.
All Joseph wants is an apology, telling reporters, "I want the principal to say sorry for handcuffing me and the cops for handcuffing me." But an apology isn't going to cover attorney Robert Nicholson's retainer; he's preparing a lawsuit against the city. Meanwhile, schools Chancellor Dennis Walcott told NY1 he's going to talk to the school's principal, but he defended the school's actions: "There are opportunities that present themselves where a student may be in danger to him or herself or to other students and those decisions have to be reached."
Tagged
joseph anderson
school arrest
special ed
John Del Signore
Originally from the Albany area, John Del Signore has called NYC home since 1995. In addition to his thousands of meticulously-crafted bespoke blog posts for Gothamist, his writing has also been published in The Awl, Deadspin, The Nervous Breakdown, and performed at The Brick Theater in Brooklyn.
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