It’s every parent’s worst nightmare: Dropping off your child at school, then getting a call a few hours later informing you that he’s been taken to the hospital.
Now imagine learning that he was taken to the hospital in handcuffs by a couple of cops.
Can your day get any worse?
It can if you are Jessica Anderson.
The New York mom recently made headlines when she went public with her tale of horror triggered by alleged poor decision making on the part of administrators at her son’s school in Queens and members of the NYPD.
Last week Anderson dropped off her 7-year-old son Joseph at Public School 153 in Maspeth hoping he was going to have a great day decorating Easter eggs with his fellow classmates.
She almost got her wish.
Joseph reportedly had a wonderful time coloring his first egg, but when his second egg didn’t turn out the way he wanted, the first grader, who suffers with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, delayed speech and emotional problems, had a meltdown.
School officials told news reporters that Joseph became extremely upset and started jumping on his desk while calling for his mother. At that point the school called the police, not the boy’s mother.
When the NYPD showed up they reportedly slapped on metal cuffs, stuck Joseph in the backseat of a squad car and drove him to a local hospital.
Jessica Anderson eventually made it to the hospital, but broke down there when she discovered that her baby boy was treated like a criminal.
“I was crying,” Anderson told news reporters. “They know that my son is special Ed. It’s like they’re trying to get rid of him, and it worked because I’m not sending him back there.”
In the meantime, the school and the NYPD have rigorously defended their actions.
“The school tried to defuse the situation and then called for outside assistance when there was a concern the child would harm himself or others,” City Education Department reps told the media.
As for the cops, they say they cuffed Joseph because he was “acting in a threatening manner.” A source also said he was waving scissors.
“He was a danger to himself and others in the classroom,” a NYPD spokesman said. “He started spitting and cursing at the officers. The handcuffs were used to restrain the child because of his behavior. He was a danger to himself.”
Not for nothing, but the kid was enrolled in a first grade special education program, I’m pretty sure the scissors featured a blunt tip and I doubt it would have been difficult for a bulked-up policeman to restrain a 7-year-old without having to handcuff him.
For the record Joseph’s mom says her child has been scarred for life. Anderson says her son no longer wants to celebrate Easter and whenever he sees an ambulance or police officer he runs and screams.
Can you say lawsuit?
Do you think the school and the cops handled the situation prudently?
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