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Boy, 8, Arrested for 5th Time in 4 Months
Filed under: In The News, Behavior: Big Kids
Police have repeatedly been called to arrest an 8-year-old boy. Credit: Getty
It's been a busy four months.
No, this is not another Charlie Sheen story. This is all the work of an 8-year-old boy.
The Orlando Sentinel reports the child, who attends Riverside Elementary School in Orlando, Fla., spends most of his time at the school in a unit designed to help students with significant emotional or behavioral problems.
He spends the rest of the time, it seems, with police.
Arrested on March 1 for the fifth time since November, the newspaper reports, the boy spent the next three days in juvenile detention.
His rap sheet would make young Al Capone jealous with charges as aggravated battery, criminal mischief and aggravated assault with a deadly weapon.
Are these repeated field trips to the hoosegow helping?
Maybe not, school officials tell the Sentinel, but they're necessary to protect others.
The problems allegedly began Nov. 10 when, according to the newspaper, police responded to reports of the boy assaulting a teacher and spitting on a another adult.
"Take me to jail!" he allegedly demanded. Police obliged.
Calls to police are a last resort and are made only when "the student gets so unruly and out of control," Ron Pinnell, a senior school administrator in Orlando, tells the Sentinel. "It's not something they take lightly. You have to think through it."
This might be the end of the line for the boy -- at least at Riverside. His mother, through the Orange County Public Defender's Office, tells the Sentinel her son will not be returning to school.
Some people fault school officials for the way they have handled the situation, the newspaper reports.
Robert Wesley, an Orange County public defender, tells the Sentinel he has taken the case personally because his younger brother has a disability and sometimes lashes out.
"Why aren't we dealing with this more holistically? Why are we dealing with it the way we deal with an adult who has hit somebody or damaged some property?" he asks the newspaper.
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ReaderComments (Page 4 of 13)
3-04-2011 @ 3:47PM
Jan said...Way past time to give that boy some leather. A belt in the mouth and a boot in the butt!
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3-04-2011 @ 3:55PM
Jeanine said...This story actually hit home for me. I have a 12 year old son that has been dignosed with ADHD, Bipolar, Anxiety Disorder, ODD and Aspergers. I have done everything in my power to get him the proper mental help as well as given him strict discpline in the household. I am in no way a horrible parent but yes my son at the age of 8 threw a box at the school principal because he took away a cherished toy. After that happened they placed him in a school that specializes in ED (Emotional Distrubances), and fortuantely in that school they do teach the staff proper restraints to use on unruly children. Anyway, all I wanted to say that not all parents of unruly children are out to get SSI payments (which I don't receive) are horrible parents (which many people would agree that I am a great parent) or expect the school system to raise their children. Sometimes children need extra help to make them into productive citizens as adults. So instead of immediately judging this mother, who very well could be doing everything in her power to help her child, maybe someone should try to help her.
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3-04-2011 @ 10:55PM
Kat said...Jeanine your son couldn't possibly have all those diagnosis. Most of the diagnosis you mention overlap with each other in terms of behaviors & symptoms. I hope you don't have your son on psychotropic medication for all those disorders.
3-04-2011 @ 6:01PM
tbunni331 said...I have first-hand experience with this sort of behavior - my older brother (adopted at 2 1/2 yrs from an orphanage) would get totally out of control. My parents (dad was a pastor) did their best, with punishment, psychiatrists, anyone who could offer help. He laughed at punishment, taunted the psychiatrist & socal workers, and continued to vent his pain on everyone around him. He attempted more than one to kill me (I was eight years younger.) He finally, at age 10, went into residential treatment. It helped a little, but juvie court, Vietnam, adult court and mental hospitalization all followed. He died at age 26, probably of drug overdose. This child sounds so much like him, I hope someone can get him the help he (and his parents) need. Judging without ever being in that situation helps no one. Try compassion, it will do more good. And thanks your gods that your family doesn't have to deal with this.
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3-04-2011 @ 4:03PM
InstructorR said...Just another drain on the public school system. They have to make accommodations for this child and other special needs kids. This is a total waste of resources the would be better spent on kids who want to learn and will eventually be a contributing member of society. Most of those 'special' kids will never be more than another member of the welfare state.
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3-13-2011 @ 12:28PM
Melisa said...OMG are you serious???? 2 of my children have special needs. My oldest has Aspergers and ADHD, and my other son has P.D.D. and O.D.D. Both of them have behavioral disorders and can act out but at the same time they both love to learn. Yes they are on medical assistance but thats not because we cannot afford regular insurance. We have regular insurance but unfortunately regular insurances in alot of states don't cover special needs children. No child is a waste of time. Do you actually think these children asked for the problems they have or want to be labeled "Special Needs"? You are very ignorant for assuming something you apparently know nothing about.
3-04-2011 @ 4:16PM
jcallowaymusic said...Get the Bible, and read the book of Proverbs...Ironically, Walt-Disney used to read a verse from there on the Mickey Mouse Club. Public school opened with prayer, Bible, and pledge. Look at the statistics... When prayer, Bible, and God was taken out...this type of behavior went through the roof, and gets worse constantly. We as 'adults' stand around with our hands on our hips wondering what has gone wrong. The reality is that we know if enforce Biblical teaching on our youngsers that we will feel the need to follow it too...we don't want to do that. So, this is what we get...and wonder why our kids have no respect for authority...
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3-04-2011 @ 4:09PM
e denton said...I saw a case once that if the parents didn"t get help for the child either through their own health plan ( mental health that is) or through the public system i.e. the local mental health dept. that the parents were threatened with arrest. If and or when those resources are exhausted then the child would be taken away and put into either juvi, or perhaps another home with people more able to deal with this particular type of child
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3-04-2011 @ 4:18PM
Janice Morris said...There is a problem in the home. This child is just acting out his fears and concern. Arresting this boy is not the answer. Where is the father in the picture? Let's help the family and prevent another person in prison in the next 10 yrs. The American family is in crisis like the Middle East.- need for freedom from anger and the need for love. Democracy does not erode these needs.
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3-04-2011 @ 4:15PM
Diana said...THAT BOY NEEDS A GOOD WHOOPING. I DONT AGREE IN BEATING A CHILD BUT WHENS HES OUT OF CONTROL, U JUST HAVE TO DO IT. ITS NECESSARY TO INSTALL FEAR IN HIM, IF HES NOT SCARED OF JAIL WHAT IS HE SCARED OF? THEY SHOULD MAYBE GIVE HIM A TOUR O F A MAXIMUM SECURITY PRISON AFTER THE WHOOPING.
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3-04-2011 @ 4:42PM
Tanya said...Well, first of all, this 8 year old boy clearly has some issues. So rather than his mother removing him from the school, what about getting him the help that he needs. Rather than running to the lawyers, what about getting him the help that he needs. And she needs to do it NOW, before he kills someone. He clearly has some serious issues and it sounds as though he needs to go to a rehab school or something that can help him!
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3-04-2011 @ 4:39PM
Sandy said...Do everything possible to help this child. Then when all else fails SPANK HIS ASS. yeah I know i'll really hear about this but its a fact that old school works better than what the new generation. Spank properly dont beat him. This incorperated with other is doing. This, coupled with other disciplines should help. I dont care what his mental stats are, Even mentally retarded people can choose to behave. And in the meantime, if the parents cant control him and help with his discpline and they send him to school and is violent they should be held responsible for his lack of appropriate behavior. (If this is from a lack of responsible parenting).
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3-04-2011 @ 4:50PM
Sandy said...For whatever reason... my last comment was jumbled. and words were not added in the order I typed them. I hope you got the gist though. Disipline single everytime. Spank (dont beat) when he refuses to contol himself. Only 1 warning period. Hold parents responsible for his actions at school if they're not parenting him responsibly. They need family guidence. Use "OLD SCHOOL" discipline. It works.
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3-04-2011 @ 4:58PM
dscat1029 said...This is not just a typical 8 year old. This boy is in for a rude awakening as an adult, if he makes it that long. I will predict that he will spend most of his adult life in prison. He has no respect for his parents or others in charge. It is a danger for children in his age group to be around him. Other parents will demand his removal from their child's school. These nuisance crimes will turn into assault, then deadly assau;t. He is a time bomb waiting to explode.
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3-04-2011 @ 4:55PM
Bev said...The school has the responsibility to make sure all the students and teachers are safe. Its the responsibility of the parents, not the school department, to seek help for the child - such as medical attention if needed. Schools can not solve the problems of children that parents should be handling. If I had a child in that school and another child spit on her/him or I felt my child was in jeopardy because of another student and the school wasn't doing anything about it you bet I would, and all other parents too, would be after the school for not protecting my child.
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3-04-2011 @ 5:00PM
bobby said...The parent or parents need a good ass whipping.
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4-21-2011 @ 10:57AM
mo said...I also have a son who had alot of problems when he was in school and I did everything in my power to get him help, all I got was there are no programs for your son. Teachers and the school would complain about work not being turned in so I asked the school to put together a homework folder for each week and told them I would personally return the completed work to them on a weekly basis, the school refused, said it would not be teaching him responsibilty. What a crock. Well as you might imagine my son did not finish school and everything else went downhill from there, he is now 19 and still a lost soul. I feel for the parents that are going through this my advise to you is cherish the good times you have because they are few and far between. Bleesed Be
3-04-2011 @ 5:04PM
AdiosMadafaka said...This deviant kid is like a rabid dog, he is beyond help. And what do you do to rabid dogs?? You shot it to take it out of its misery!!
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3-04-2011 @ 5:05PM
fredhstclr said...OK To start with MAMA aint doing her job,,sknce Daddy is nowhere to be foung she is responsiblle for his disipline. If he cant control his actions it is evident MOMMA haqs not been a MOMMA..IT is not the schools RESPONSIBILITY to house bereak the children,,,,IT starts at HOME,,,NO EXCUSES
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3-04-2011 @ 5:12PM
MaryAnne said...Maybe, just maybe, this is one antisocial kid who is determined to do as he pleases, and no matter what his parents, the schools, or the police say he will continue down that self-destructive path he is skipping along on now? I doubt there is one specific reason he acts out, but the possibility is that he's just a rotten kid who gets away with entirely too much with no consequences for his behavior? So now all the child experts here can attack me, go for it...this kid needs a shrink!
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