If your department does not have specific policies on handling what might be called “juvenile juveniles” -- i.e., pre-teens -- put such policies in place ASAP and be prepared to defend them if challenged in the media or in court.
Kids as young as six years old have now been shocked with Tasers, put under arrest and in other situations in which they will need to be transported to custody facilities. While adult-type restraints may seem excessive to civilians, cops know kids can be dangerous. Pre-teens do commit murder and other serious crimes.
Unless policy dictates otherwise, the rule that ANYONE who goes into your patrol car for transport needs to be searched and cuffed first is consistent with good officer survival tactics, period.
Beware of the risk of small-wristed arrestees being able to slip out of handcuffs. Flex-Cufs may be appropriate.
-- Introduciton by Chuck Remsberg,
Police1 Senior Contributor
By Jeremy Pawloski, The Albuquerque, N.M. Journal
Espanola, N.M. school officials and Espanola police who were involved in the Aug. 26 handcuffing, arrest and jailing of an 8-year-old boy who acted up at the James H. Rodriguez School are now the subject of a federal civil rights lawsuit.
Jerry Trujillo, 8, was arrested and placed in a holding cell during the incident, which began when Jerry “was accused by a teacher at the school of maliciously throwing a ball at another student.”
The suit states that the school’s principal, Corrine Salazar, was out of the building at the time, and a school counselor, Jeannie Martinez, was acting as principal.
Española attorney Sheri Raphaelson alleges in her suit that Jerry’s arrest was not the first time police had been called in to detain an unruly child.
“Employees of the Espanola Public Schools had on previous occasions requested that law enforcement officials temporarily detain students as part of school related discipline, and law enforcement officers had obliged,” reads the suit.
Española Police Chief Richard Guillen, who is named as a defendant in the suit, could not be reached for comment Friday.
Jeannie Martinez is singled out in the lawsuit for telling Jerry that he had to go back to class after he refused to do so. Jerry was crying and “was insistent that he did not want to return to class.”
According to the suit:
“Jeannie Martinez told the child that he had to go back to class, and further told the mother and the child that if he was not in class, it was against the law and she would call the police.”
Jerry’s mother, Angelica Esquibel, had been summoned to the school after hearing about her son being in trouble. Esquibel asked Martinez what would happen if police were called.
Martinez “responded that they would cuff him and put him in the holding cell until he changed his attitude,” reads the suit. “The child became inconsolably upset after hearing this.”
“The mother told Jeannie Martinez not to call police.”
But Jeannie Martinez did call police, and officers Chris Archuleta and Miguel Maez soon arrived at the school to speak with Jerry.
During the ensuing standoff, Jerry “continued to cry” and refused to cooperate.
“Officer Archuleta then told the child that he could either go back to class or go to jail, and that he didn’t have time for this. The child was very upset and told the officer to leave him alone, that he didn’t want to go back to class, and he wanted to go with his mom.
“Officer Archuleta then lifted the child out of his seat and reached around his back with handcuffs. The child was now hysterical and screaming and crying.”
Jerry was handcuffed and “driven to the Española Detention Center by Officer Archuleta.”
During Jerry’s stay at the jail, he was ordered to change into orange jail clothing and was placed in a holding cell “for approximately 30 minutes.”
Other inmates at the jail who were in a cell that shared a wall with Jerry’s holding cell “shouted taunts to the child through the wall.”
Jerry was eventually released from jail, after being cited with juvenile disorderly conduct.
Esquibel’s lawsuit seeks compensatory and punitive damages against the individuals named in the suit, including Guillen, Archuleta and Maez from the police department; Aldaz from the Española jail; and Martinez and Salazar from Rodriguez Elementary.
Officials at James H. Rodriguez Elementary and the Espanola Police Department could not be reached for comment on Friday. In addition to Guillen, who could not be reached during regular business hours at the police department, Archuleta, Maez and Aldaz all could not be reached through the police department or the jail on Friday evening.