Ga. police handcuff, arrest kindergartner for tantrum

April 17, 2012 10:57 AM
Ga. police handcuff, arrest kindergartner for tantrum



When Salecia Johnson, 6, a tantrum at Creekside Elementary School in
Milledgeville, Ga., Friday, April 13, 2012, a police officer who could
not calm her down handcuffed and arrested the kindergartner. (WMAZ)


(CBS News) MILLEDGEVILLE, Ga. - A six-year-old kindergarten student who threw a tantrum was placed in handcuffs for her safety, police said.

According to CBS Affiliate WMAZ, kindergartner Salecia Johnson is accused in a police report of tearing items off the walls and throwing furniture at Creekside Elementary School last Friday. The report also said the girl knocked over a shelf, injuring the principal.

She was crying in the principal's office at Creekside Elementary before police arrived Friday. The report says when the officer tried to calm the child, she resisted.

She was handcuffed and taken to the police station, where she was charged with simple assault and damage to property, reports WMAZ correspondent Judy Le.

Speaking to WMAZ, Milledgeville Chief of Police Dray Swicord defended putting the girl into handcuffs.

"Our policy states that any detainee transported to our station in a patrol vehicle is to be handcuffed in the back. There is no age discrimination on that rule," he said.

Because of her age, she will not have to go to court.

Salecia's father, Earnest Johnson, told WMAZ, "A six-year-old in kindergarten! They don't have no business calling the police and handcuffing my child."

Police said they tried to contact Johnson's mother, Constance Ruff, but were unable to reach her.

Ruff told WMAZ her daughter was suspended and cannot return to school until August. "She has mood swings some days - all of us have mood swings some days," Ruff said. "I guess that was just one of her bad days."

WMAZ's Le spoke with several other Central Georgia police and sheriff's departments, none of which could remember handcuffing a child that young. They said the use of handcuffs is at the officer's discretion, based on whether the child is a threat to herself or to others.

Salecia's aunt told WMAZ, "She might have misbehaved, but I don't think she misbehaved to the point where she should have been handcuffed and taken downtown to the police department."

Salecia's father, Earnest Johnson, told WMAZ, "A six-year-old in kindergarten! They don't have no business calling the police and handcuffing my child."

CatEyes10736 wrote:This doesn't bother me at all because it sounds like something extreme was needed to be done to curb that little girl's out of control temper. If they don't do it now, she will only get worse as she ages. Since she wasn't charged with anything or has to go to court and was only detained, her parents should take use this as an opportunity to fix her attitude.

Nhaiyel wrote:I can't pretend that the news of my little girl being detained in handcuffs wouldn't instinctively annoy or cause me to be defensive about it, but I agree that her behavior was out of control enough for extreme measures such as this to be taken. Her parents seem like the type who would go school and curse the teacher out for punishing their child for misbehaving.