STONE MOUNTAIN, Ga. -- A Stone Mountain mother is outraged after her 6-year-old was handcuffed for misbehaving at Pine Ridge Elementary School. Her child, Patrick, is a first-grader there and is a special needs student.
"My husband got a call that something was going on with Patrick at school, and they needed us to come. We go into the school and a gentleman takes us back. I hear my son yelling and screaming" Lakaisha Reid recalled.
She snapped photos of the bruises left on his wrist on Friday after he was handcuffed by a student resource officer.
"He just ran away from school. That does not require handcuffs. He's a special needs kid," she said.
The DeKalb County School District issued this statement about its decision to handcuff the child:
"A 6-year-old student at Pine Ridge Elementary School was acting in a disruptive manner and being self-destructive during school today. He ran out of school onto a busy, public street and was pursued by three school staff members. The student was secured and returned to the school and placed in a room with a special education teacher, the school counselor and the School Resource Officer (SRO) to protect him from doing harm to himself. After several unsuccessful attempts, his parents were contacted and asked to come immediately to the school. For approximately one hour, the student was scratching, kicking and hitting school personnel and continued to exhibit violent behavior, running into walls, banging his head on tables and placing his health at risk. At this point, the SRO placed handcuffs on the student to protect him from harming himself. When the parents arrived, they were told the student was handcuffed for his personal safety."
His mother hopes sharing her son's story may lead to more training at Pine Ridge.
"They need to have police officers that are trained for special needs kids or for any kids that are that age. That's pretty young for handcuffs. Anything can happen with those handcuffs on him," Reid said.
His mother doesn't plan to send him back to school on Monday.
11Alive asked the school system if they would have acted differently in hind sight.
Their reply? There is protocol but every situation is unique.
