Police Use Pepper Spray to Subdue 8-Year-Old at School

They should have pepper sprayed the child. If I was the mother...I would have been ashamed to be on television talking about this incident. We (I am a teacher) aren't paid enough to endure situations such as this. And, it bothers me when parents say "it does not happen at home" Probably because they let him have his way there. Children probably were not in the classroom because the teachers made sure they were not in the line of danger. One more thing...since his violent behavior does not occur at home ( I sincerely doubt that) could it be he knows what he is doing, when to do it and that he will face no repercussions from his parents.

I taught school in Texas for 30 years. How inuman to use pepper spray. Maybe new teachers,should be interviewed.

True the mother seems to not have the tools to deal with her son. As a mother who raised a son with simmilar behavior, I know that community help would be valuable. Perhap, as I could not afford to home school,she cannot. Love express to this child, even from the police would go along way. Pepper spraying him help confiirm that violence is the way to deal with thinng you find challenging. This little boy needs much love and compassion. His "Beingness" is not being reconize, hence his frustration.

Mom needs a realidty check if he already is showing such aggression at school then he is a danger to himself and others. And the police had cause to use the pepper spray.

I am appalled at the apparent lack of basic human understanding, compassion and education exhibited by some of you posting on this topic. Pick up a book, go to a website, ask a health care provider or a parent struggling with a child like this boy. Ask them to explain autism and bipolar syndrom and OCD to you. This is a growing epidemic in our country that schools, parents and health care providers are ill equipped to handle. This is NOT the case of an isolated bad parent. This is becoming the NORM as more and more of our children are afflicted with behavioral and emotional issues. Instead of blaming others, why don't you get off your butts and help us find a cure for autism. I challenge each and every one of you who commented on this mother to try and raise an emotionally disturbed child. I am doing it now. My spouse and I struggle every day with the simplest things that the rest of you take for granted with your healthy children. And if you can't have the compassion, understanding and education to imagine what we parents go through, then kindly keep your ignorant comments to yourselves.

Signed,
Loving mother of two beautiful and bright children

Na, the kid was already tested as he is in a special class. It's his mom that needs teasted now.

My son had behavior issues in Kindergarten, with impulsive behaviors as in pushing to always wanting to be first, throwing books off shelves, running out of the classroom not knowing what he would run into, throwing a chair that hit a teachers ankle. Lots of things like that. He is in an ELP program at his school and they mainsteam the kids into a reg. classroom. Lets just say, he only made it to PE and was in the special ed part most of kindergarten. I was a total denial Mom. For, his actions like at school, never happened at home. We went through a series of testing with an evaluator that took over 3 hours. Finding that he was very bright, was above average in all achedemics but was not a very organized child in the mind. They diagnosed him with ADHD, and ODD. Along with speech issues. Now, with the speech issues, came the frustration that triggered his behaviors. We tried many different medications, I was so against them, but when I was told at an IEP meeting, which for him was every month then, that the only thing that we had not tried was the medical route. We had all behavior plans possible. So, once diagnosed and finding the right med for him, which was the Daytrana Patch, because his metabolism would work too fast for any pill situation at his age of 6 at the time. I have to say, NIGHT AND DAY! He is social, has friends, likes to still be first, but it is not an issue when addressed. He understands. So, I advocated my child to much extreme, because I did not want him to attend the school that they wanted him to go to. They told me he would learn more bad behavior, and yes, they had that padded room to sooth the overly excitable child screaming for his mother, when I went to visit. I am thankful for the medication that works for him. Many of you may not agree with me about medicating. We also have a reward system like they do at school. He gets all thumbs up for the day, he picks dinner. More then 5 thumbs down, he gets things taken away and cannot bring a toy in for break time. He understands this. So, there have been more thumbs up days then down. This is out of a possible 39 thumbs up or down. But he can do it. He had 7 in a row one time and then 5 in a row, of all thumbs up. 5 is still considered a great day. I was against medicating. But when you find the right kind, the kind that the Dr. doesnt, "over medicate" and the child seems like a zombie, that is what I was afraid of. We have a great team of Dr.'s and teachers that work with him and praise the heck out of his assets, cuz that is what the child needs. He is above average in most things, except writing and spelling, but that will come. He learned to spell phonetically, so it doesnt spell the same as the real word. He had apraxia of speech, that went away. All is good now. A little sassy when the meds wears down, but we just leave him alone and he is fine. So, all in all, this parent needs to educate herself and go to a Dr. that will give the child the time and evaluate. Not just a 20 minute visit because you THINK your child has ADHD and he prescibes a med, that doesnt work. We had to go to the Dr. each month to make sure he wasnt loosing to much weight, or his behavior was in tack or his focusing on work was still good. So, all I can say, is this lady, needs to advocate her son, and soon, or he will be in prison or turn to drugs or bullying. This is my opinion.

The problem with children today has been caused by the Government, how you may ask. When I was growing up it was perfectly acceptable for parents to punish their kids with corporal punishment including a switch or a back hand now and then, It was also acceptable for other supervising adults to use corporal punishment like teachers and principles; in my day they had a paddle or could flick your ear or slap your hand with a ruler, Just enough punishment to get the kids attention that bad behavior would not be tolerated. But because a small percentage of parents actually went too far with corporal punishment leading into abuse the Government made far reaching laws and stuck their noses in too deep, going overboard with their fixes as usual. Yes the Government should have done something to help those kids who were truly being abused, but they went way past that and intruded on the parents right to discipline effectively. Now a days if you look at the kid wrong child abuse charges are talked about the kids are ripped from the home and the parents or other supervising adults are looking at jail time. We need to back off a little on what is acceptable punishment for children before we can ever hope to see improvement. I as well as most of my contemporaries have a healthy respect for authority because of our discipline.

Instead of this woman making the rounds on every talk show known to man (I saw the story on GMA) maybe she needs to do something about her son's behavior. He threw a fit like that and he's only 8?? Maybe some punishment and lessons on respect and the kid might be a little better behaved.

This mother needs a reality check, this 8 yr. old will turn into a dangerous 16 yr. old! He has serious problems, the language used is not normal for a child his age, or the ease in stating he wanted to kill them (the teachers) is disturbing. Both needs serious psychological help before someone gets seriously hurt and this child can and will turn on his mother eventually.

When I saw this on the morning shows I was perturbed. Looked as though they were promoting his mom and her lawsuit. Looks like she wants to win the lawsuit lottery. Sadly,this child has some huge problems. Mom appears to have major issues. Where is his father? The police have been to the school three times for this child. How many times do they need to be called before he is removed from the mother's home and placed in a structured living situation where he will learn selfcontrol? To continue what has failed in the past certainly is not the solution.

I am a teacher and if a kid is in a behavior class THEY HAVE TO BE DIAGNOSED WITH A DISABILITY OR EMOTIONAL DISTURBANCE. So mother is not telling the whole truth. I am sorry to tell you this, but kids just don't behave this way in a vacuum. This child has either #1 had a very unstable environment, #2 had no boundaries set from parents, or #3 mentally unstable. We as teachers are seeing more and more younger children that have the very same issues as this child. If someone were to do a study on this they would see that it is becoming epedemic in this country. Just as Autism is on a steady climb in the population - emotional disturbances are running a close second. What do you do with these out of control kids when they get older? That is the question our society will need to be finding an answer to.
I do have to say that pepper spray was not a very smart choice. All of the parties involved need a good old fashioned spanking: the police, the mom, and the kid. I don't blame the teachers for not touching the kid. Sure as anything, if those teachers had laid a hand on him, even if it was to take the stick away, you can bet that mom would be finding an attorney. We don't get paid enough to put our jobs in jeopardy over an 8 year old with a bad attitude.

They should have beat his ass like he needs the little bastard is definately lacking consequenses for his behavior. Back in the day he would have gotten his little ass beat by the police and then again when he got home. Thats what's wrong with our society now a days no discipline.....

Give me a fricking break, the police could not get an 8 year old under control without peper spraying? WOW..I think they need to find a new line of work, which reminds me of the Sheriff Deputy who shot a dog because he was in fear of his life, the dog was a little cha wa wa....I think these police get off on using excessive force.

Someone here said "what the kid needs is a good ass whipping".
I'd go further than that - if THE MOTHER had ever had her backside spanked, THE KID probably wouldn't have been such a brat in the first place!

Did you notice where it says that he attends a special class for children with behavioral problems? He has been tested and the issues of anger and violence are the majority of the problems he continues to struggle with daily. The mother is aware that he needs help dealing with the behavior. Even though it seems excessive, he had to be brought under control and he was.

What's amazeing is all this kid need is an old fashion spankings
there is nothing wrong mentally with this child other than he know he can get away with it because there is no accountability
I grew up getting spanked and deserved everyone I got i'm a decorated former Marine and now I manage a major company
people just need to wake up " TIME OUTS " don't always work
we are ruining our children because they are not held accountable for there actions " I vote to go back to old fashion ways "

This mother needs to have her kid taken away. Evidently she is in denial. The behavior issues don't turn on and off just because they enter a school. Well maybe if the mom lets the kid do anything he wants and doesn't place any expectations on him.

It is always someone elses fault with her, the schools, the police, the man on the moon. She needs a reality check. Her boy was trying to seriously hurt two people, figures of authority, just because he was mad. Well he will get his reality check when he is placed on the tax payers' dime. Then the question will be asked, "Why did this happen?" Because the police can't do their job without it becoming national news.

He should have been Tasered.

It still no reason for a cop who is train (??????) in these situations to do what he did to a kid. Yes the kid needs help and the idiot cop needs to be fired!