Really? Arrest a 10 YO w/autism for kicking a teacher?

[tinytrump]

Originally Posted by xray731

Obviously they felt at the time it wasn't warranted - but it put the parents on alert that this was not acceptable and they better find someone to treat him and help him with the problem or condition. Again - we have no idea what happened at school the day they arrested him. If they wanted to enforce the warrant - they should have asked the mother to drive him down to the police station - but again we don't know if that wasn't suggested and she refused.

People are too quick to judge before knowing all the facts here.

A law enforcement blogger posted the info on my fb... He was shocked and he knows the facts. The school painted the picture and that's what the police acted on. They are trained but not child psychologists. The DA waited a year on a ten year old for a kick? BS. Sorry school - and local authority failed this child forever.

[woxyroxme]

Originally Posted by Uncle Bully

They just called autistic kids retarded back in the day.

Back in those days they knew very little.

I work with adults who are MR/DD, autistic, etc. autism affects those who have it differently, if you know a kid with autism then you only know one kid with autism. Many of them are highly intelligent but lacking in basic social skills or would not remember to turn the oven off. Some are verbal and others are not, they may or may not be on various medications. Some are capable of being in a classroom environment with other kids while others are not. They face challenges that the rest of us are not capable of understanding and have difficulties with things we take for granted. Some of the comments in this thread? Seriously?

[xray731]

I don't mean to disagree where you get your facts - but bloggers do not know everything and unfortunately are as biased in their opinions as the rest of us. This is what I've found out so far about the incident:

Two years ago John Benji was diagnosed with autism. Since the diagnosis, John Benji was given an individualized education plan and assigned a paraprofessional educator. Haygood said John Benji has been having issues with his aide, at one point even claiming he was hurting him.
The educator reported John Benji on October 27, 2016. According to the probable cause affidavit, John Benji was disrupting the class by “throwing paper balls around the classroom and hitting other students.”
John Benji then refused to go to timeout. The educator attempted to remove John Benji and place him back in the time out area. According to documents, John Benji began “kicking and scratching and punching.”
John Benji was restrained by the educator, who wrapped his arms around his upper torso so he would not cause any restriction to the child’s breathing.
From that incident, John Benji had an outstanding warrant, but the family says they were never aware of a warrant. As of now, John Benji’s arraignment is scheduled for May 11 of this year.

From the same article:

Haygood says her and her son were called into state standardizing testing April 12, 2017. While there, officers arrived and arrested her son for an incident that occurred in October of 2016.

Again - I'd like to know the background on what occurred that day. As stated - the child could have been picked up at his home and wasn't. Either another situation happened that day they went to school for the standardized testing or yes the police are incompetent. Even in a rural area - I would think that the police had the common sense to say this isn't right - arresting him at school over a year old warrant unless something else precipitated the arrest. With the social media world today - they would know that this would look poorly on themselves, the school and the town. Now maybe the police are all nitwits - but I don't think so and think there is more to the story.

Situations like these make the national news because of a Facebook, Twitter or youtube video or rant and then most times - information comes out - albeit too late - that tells the other side of the story and the truth is somewhere in between - meanwhile folks are outraged - the media again gets the response they wanted and a lot of us look like fools for jumping on the bandwagon.- but not for long because the media will find another story for us to be up in arms about.

[xray731]

On heavy.com - look for Jon Benjamin Haygood - unfortunately I couldn't copy and paste but there are points in the article that are suspicious.

The child was expelled from school for the incident - so and again I'm assuming - but the district did have to provide tutors for him - at least they do in NY as every child is guaranteed an education.

This is so f***ng dumb, mama,” John Benjamin can be heard telling his mother as the offers put cuffs around him. - My kids were no angels but language like that and they'd be having their mouths washed out with soap at 10 yrs old. Autistic or not.

Haygood also told WWLP that her son has had behavioral issues in the past that she believes are linked to his autism. “Unfortunately, instead of treating or accommodating, we arrest. Because we don’t know what else to do,” she told WWLP. - If there are behavioral issues - I believe it is the parents responsibility to see what help and guidance they can receive - it's not the soul responsibility of the school and society.

When my friend's child was diagnosed - the physician directed her to specialists, she read, wrote and contacted different agencies, support groups ect to learn more about the condition, how to deal with it, what help was available ect... She was involved in every aspect of his treatment - she didn't step back and leave it to others.

Those with special needs children here on the boards sound like the same, caring supporting parent my friend is - yes education and information to the general populace is needed - but just like other PC issues - some people take advantage of situations or over exacerbate their own issue.

There is no lack of compassion on this forum - there is a lack of critical thinking sometimes and jumping to conclusions. Obviously there was a warrant for the child - and that should have been conveyed to the parent when it was issued whether by the courts or the police. Since he had to come in for standardized testing - I feel whoever then remembered that there was a warrant out for his arrest - was the catalyst for the situation - the school should have been in the know about this all along and obviously wasn't.

[Phil75230]

If the kid does have autism, he might not be legally responsible for his behavior. Even for adults, the legal system usually does not hold the accused responsible for their own criminal or civil acts, possibly barring an utmost excellent reason to do so (although they can be sent to mental hospitals). As for the kid specifically - I agree should be in some kind of special setting where he's no threat to anyone or disrupts the education of other students. Still, at some point, and in some way, he does need to learn how to interact with other people in at least controlled settings. What to do? The million dollar question.

[Murk]

There is such a huge range of symptoms that people on the spectrum manifest that one solution or even a dozen solutions cannot be pinpointed for anyone under the autism umbrella.

If a 10 year old boy is arrested for kicking a teacher, every kid in the entire school district should be arrested for every school fight, pushy-pushy in the locker room, shove into a locker or bully-style smack or physical prank that could result in injury. Are they? I doubt it.

In this day and age where information is available at the tips of our fingers, it astounds me how many people have absolutely NO CLUE what autism or mental disorders, illnesses, and disabilities are. It's unbelievable how many people choose to be ignorant about things. I agree it is over-diagnosed and I do NOT think it should be used as an excuse for things. It is, however, the reason for some things and there is no cure. A night in jail is certainly not a cure.

I have an 18-year-old autistic son. He acts differently than other people because his brain does not function the same. Expecting the same behavior or responses as a neuro-typical person is just ludicrous. It's akin to expecting a paralyzed person to get up and walk if you punish them enough for being lazy.

[nana053]

Originally Posted by HighFlyingBird

The lack of understanding on this tread is appalling. I never thought much about Autism awareness month but now I totally get it. There is a lot of work to do. Thank you for sharing an educated look into helping autistic kids.

I have been working with my autistic grandson since he was dxed at 18 months old. He is now 13. I have lots of experience with him and with his classmates.

[David A Stone]

Are there no consequences as they grow older either?
Will " mommy" be covering for her son's bad behavior and using the media for sympathy.


Many do !


Rural MN about 10 years ago...........a BIG YOUNG teen..........about 6 ft and over 240 LBS.....lived on a farm.


His mother insisted on bringing him to Catholic mass every Sunday.
He would lay down in the pews, scream out at all times, and run up to receive Holy Communion while knocking other small kids down.
At times he ran out of church and started going thru unlocked cars parked outside.


The poor priest was caught in the middle as parishoners started to attend neighboring Catholic churches on Sunday and the mother refused all alternate solutions the priest offered.


The mother ....used....the media.
TV stations came out to her farm and newspapers were covering it.


Liberal people from St Cloud were writing chastising the priest and using the........." what would .Jesus do "................( despite none of them being from the area and many of them were non-church goers)


The Bishop,priest, tried to reach a compromise..........say mass on some Sundays at the farm for the boy and mother..........have a closed circuit TV cover the mass in an adjoining meeting room that the mother and son could use.


NO,NO,NO............that was the mother's reply to every solution.


Yes,every child is due some sort of public education
Yes, every person has the right to attend church.


However, in neither case should one individual have the right to disrupt both so the other people get nothing out of attending.


At some point.........it no longer was in the media.
I have not heard what the outcome was for the mother and son but that mother was doing no one any good by defending her son and forcing his uncontrollable behavior on others

[RbccL]

Originally Posted by David A Stone

At some point.........it no longer was in the media.
I have not heard what the outcome was for the mother and son but that mother was doing no one any good by defending her son and forcing his uncontrollable behavior on others

What happened to him after he became a big adult you wonder? One path:

Mother waits until the boy hurts her or another that she actually cares about, then lets "The State" deal with him. The state pays hundreds of thousands of dollars to house, cloth, and feed him. The State's professionals begin to try to socialize him with a behavioral plan. The son is fully cooked and does not do well with behavioral plans! This is new to his way of thinking and poor discipline. The son continues on in his learned behavior and is anti-social, cannot get along with others and begins to have new repercussions for his criminal acts of property destruction or assault.

The police are called at times of violence and destruction, they can use restraints, the State cannot. They say: "We can't take him anywhere, he has a diagnosis, he is mentally ill and doesn't belong in jail, no judge will convict him anyway. Send him to the hospital for a 72 hour hold or evaluation. You deal with him." He is sent to the hospital for evaluations, the hospital calls the 'the State' and says: "Get him out of here, He is hurting staff and in restraints, he should be committed." The hospital is allowed to use restraints, the State is not.

Mother is often involved in decisions and criticizes the state and its employees, if this is their job, why do they insist on calling the police? Why are there behavioral problems? Why can't they fix him? It is their job after all...

Committed? Where? Institutions are now thought to be barbaric, and dehumanizing. We will let the state take care of each individual in a respectful manner. They can go out to dinner and talk loudly in vulgar language, they can soil themselves in public without suffering the natural consequences, someone can do their laundry if they refuse. They don't even have to take medications if they refuse. They have rights. Let the State do all of this, build them their own residence in a neighborhood unaware. They are Entitled.

It's only tax dollars.

[MyNameIsBellaMia]

Back in my day, kids like that were institutionalized. Why is there anything wrong with that? If they can't operate in society without being drugged to the hilt, they need to live in a specialized place. They simply can't function in a normal atmosphere. If parents are going to insist on calling their kids "special", they need to put them in a "special" place where they won't disrupt the normal flow of life.