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Cops Have Cuffed 7-Year-Old Special Needs Kids Before
By
Jaya Saxena
Published Apr 23, 2011
Modified Apr 23, 2011
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By
Jaya Saxena
Published Apr 23, 2011
Modified Apr 23, 2011
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One Bronx mom was getting deja vu when cops cuffed a special-needs seven-year-old and hauled him out of the classroom for throwing a fit last week. That's because the same thing happened to her autistic seven-year-old son last year. Siobhan Lynch said her son got into an argument with another kid, and he lashed out when an "inexperienced special education aide" tried to restrain him. "There's no reason to handcuff a 7-year-old. I don't care who you are," she told the Daily News. "There's no 7-year-old dangerous enough—unless they're holding a gun and even then I question whether they knew how to use it."
She says her son, Dillon, was locked in a small room until cops came to cuff him and send him to a hospital. "They treat special education students like they're not wanted," she said of the school, PS 71. She also said he was afraid of cops from then on. "He couldn't go near someone in a uniform," Lynch said. "He'd cover his head. When this woman says her son was doing that, it was really heartbreaking. There's no reason why the police officers couldn't sit down and say, 'What's up kid?'" Seven-year-old Joseph Anderson demanded an apology from the cops, and Lynch said, "The best we can do now is make sure it doesn't happen to anyone else." Unless they draw on their desks.
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Jaya Saxena
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