When 6-year-old Desre’e Watson threw a tantrum in her kindergarten class a couple of weeks ago she could not have known that the full force of the law would be brought down on her and that she would be carted off by the police as a felon.Read the whole story at Welcome to Pottersville. Sheesh.
But that’s what happened in this small, backward city in central Florida. According to the authorities, there were no other options.
“The student became violent,” said Frank Mercurio, the no-nonsense chief of the Avon Park police. “She was yelling, screaming — just being uncontrollable. Defiant.”
“But she was 6,” I said.
The chief’s reply came faster than a speeding bullet: “Do you think this is the first 6-year-old we’ve arrested?”
The child’s tantrum occurred on the morning of March 28 at the Avon Elementary School. According to the police report, “Watson was upset and crying and wailing and would not leave the classroom to let them study, causing a disruption of the normal class activities.”
After a few minutes, Desre’e was, in fact, taken to another room. She was “isolated,” the chief said. But she would not calm down. She flailed away at the teachers who tried to control her. She pulled one woman’s hair. She was kicking.
I asked the chief if anyone had been hurt. “Yes,” he said. At least one woman reported “some redness.”
Wednesday, April 11, 2007
Tantrum Equals Handcuffs
Geez, couldn't you have just put the kid on Zyprexa? Well maybe that ain't such a good idea, but handcuffs and a felony charge?
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4 comments:
Only in America
Fid
The crackpot psychiatrist I used to see would have diagnosed her with borderline personality disorder. A female with anger issues MUST be borderline.
~Lisa
No, no, no, she's a paradigmatic Bipolar Child. Borderline may well be on the cards, but we can't slap that on her until her anger can be combined with the advanced verbal fluency required to 'split' the teachers or 'manipulate' the cops.
I suppose it's a bit much to expect that the reported 'redness' was of the face!
I don't know, Ruth. An angry female has to be borderline or at least have cluster B traits. Got to give her that AXIS II. My crackpot psychiatrist said so. It MUST be true, after all he pulled it straight out of his ass. Maybe she's bipolar and borderline, yeah that's probably it.
~Lisa
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