Originally published December 4 2011
5-year-old cuffed, charged with battery on cop
by J. D. Heyes
(NaturalNews) There is no question that police officers in the United States have one of the toughest, most dangerous jobs around. But it's hard to imagine an instance - any instance - where a cop feels so threatened by a child barely past the toddler age that he or she needs to forcibly restrain them.
Five-year-old Michael Davis, who attended the Rio Calaveras Elementary of Stockton, has a behavioral problem. According to his mother, Thelma Gray, he has been medically diagnosed with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder or ADHD. His behavior is inappropriate at times, and he is a handful.
School officials, in an attempt to change Michael's behavior, wanted him to meet with the school's police officer, in an attempt, a local media report said, to scare him straight.
Only, when Michael and the cop, a Stockton, Calif., police lieutenant, met at a room in the school, the meeting didn't go well. Michael, the cop said in his report, "he pushed my hand away in a batting motion, pushed papers off the table, and kicked me in the right knee."
When the boy wouldn't calm down, the officer - a police lieutenant - zip-tied his hands and feet and hauled him off to a nearby psychiatric hospital in the back of a squad car, all without calling Michael's mom or dad. It gets worse. Michael was officially charged with battery of a police officer. The kid is five years old.
The juvenile court judge at least possessed some sanity in dismissing the case, but what lesson has this conveyed to a young, impressionable, mentally needy child - that it's easier for society to punish him for his problems than help him cope with them and become a productive member of society.
With this kind of mentality, it's no wonder the U.S. has the largest per capita population of prison inmates in the civilized, industrialized world.
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