Police pepper spray 8 year old

[bushwhacker2k]

He had grabbed a stick and chased his teachers into the office, where they locked themselves in.

Say what? Can you say unfit to teach 8-year olds? Remember to project and enunciate well.

I mean... if it was a machete or a gun or something, running makes sense, but a stick? Do they really not have any effective ways to control the situation past calling the cops?

I do want them to get training ... for crisis situations with children. I don?t think it?s right for an 8-year-old to get pepper-sprayed.

But who can say that isn't from their training?

I dunno what would happen, but even if they gently ruffled the boy's hair and took away his stick without harming him I'm sure it'd still spark a national debate.

I don't think most cops are trained to deal physically with people gentler than pepper spray, I mean if they got physical he could have actually gotten hurt.

 

[silversword2010]

i think it was justified especially if he was raging(any person even a child who is in a true rage is dangerous) i know a 9 year old who has broken ribs and noses of adults while unarmed and in a rage.

 

[DJ_DEnM]

The mother is just inventing excuses to cover up her bad parenting. The pepper spray was totally justified. I wouldn't personally approve it in a common situation, but I totally approved this. I say they should send him to some special therapy where they put him in a cage (So he can't kill the psychologist).

Oh and inb4 he's gonna be on the news again in the future as a murderer

 

[GeneralFungi]

When my brother was 6, he hit me with a plastic ps2 controller and gave me a bloody goose-egg.

This kid is 8, so I'm sure that if he had something sharp, and he could hit half as hard as my brother when he was 6, then something serious could have happened.

A pepper sprayed kid vs the potential of anyone in the school being stabbed.

The kid will get over it.

 

[jovack22]

http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/42449949/ns/today-today_people/

What do you guys think? Was this justified or totally not needed?

Some corporal punishment from the mother earlier would have helped.

Instead of treating him like a special gem who is allowed to act like that, why isn't she trying to discipline him.

Instead, she says the police's actions were over the top -- she's just reinforcing his negative behaviour because she's trying to get the police in trouble.


The kid says "That's just how my body is, I can't control it".

No, major problem there. That's what he learned from his mother. Everyone is responsible for their actions -- especially since she says he has no mental disabilities.

Our society needs to teach RESPONSIBILITY to children, not just that they can do whatever they want without any consequences.

 

[SamElliot'sMustache]

Seriously, folks? A fucking 8 year old is now a threat? I don't care what he was throwing or what he was sharpening. It's a god damned 8 year old. Not exactly a super ninjitsu master.

1) Walk up to kid who is probably (somehow) swinging shit at you.
2) Catch whatever it is he is swinging/jabbing at you before it hits.
3) Take it away by force, by moving it higher than he is.
4) Bonk kid upside the head.
5) ???
6) PROFIT!

How hard can it be? It's not an adult, he has no experience, and, well... does this seriously need to be argued over? A fucking 8 year old requires a squad of police to mace him to 'defuse' the situation? Really damn complicated situation it is. An 8 year old has a tantrum in class. Truly, future terrorist, ladies and gents. *sigh* What a country.

This was my first thought when reading that story. On the other hand, if the kid's swinging the stick wildly (and depending on whether the 'stick' was the bit of moulding he had torn out), they might not have gotten close enough without risking injury to themselves or the kid.

In most cases, I'd agree, an 8 year-old with a stick shouldn't have even gotten to the point that the teachers were running from him, but anyone in that kind of blind rage (no matter what age) can be dangerous if you take them lightly. Cops probably did the best thing in that situation (and that's rare for me to say when it comes to stories like this).

 

[Bakuryukun]

Isn't it kind of funny how he doesn't remember why he was mad, but yet he perfectly remembers when he dropped the stick, how very convienant. I think this is fine, maybe now he will think twice about doing stupid shit. It was an extreme case, and obviously merely talking him down the first two times didn't teach him jack. It sounds to me like his mom coddles him a bit too much. She's making it out like he's a perfect kid and that it must be something else that's wrong and not her precious boy.

 

[JWAN]

Its pepper spray,
no biggie

They could have physically restrained him and that could have caused permanent damage from the kid thrashing around.
Pepper spray is temporary.

 

[Zakarath]

Haha. Owned.

...kid's got some issues.

 

[Logic 0]

It's good to see that the police used a proper measure of force for once in the news.

 

[Trolldor]

Christ...

What should they have done then?

They didn't shoot or tazer him and physically restraining him would have been risky and even more dangerous to the kid who would have struggled.

 

[Trolldor]

http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/42449949/ns/today-today_people/

What do you guys think? Was this justified or totally not needed?

Some corporal punishment from the mother earlier would have helped.

Instead of treating him like a special gem who is allowed to act like that, why isn't she trying to discipline him.

Instead, she says the police's actions were over the top -- she's just reinforcing his negative behaviour because she's trying to get the police in trouble.


The kid says "That's just how my body is, I can't control it".

No, major problem there. That's what he learned from his mother. Everyone is responsible for their actions -- especially since she says he has no mental disabilities.

Our society needs to teach RESPONSIBILITY to children, not just that they can do whatever they want without any consequences.

Oh for fuck's...

Smacking doesn't work. She isn' a shit parent because she doesn't beat her kid. She's a shit parent because she's a shit human being.

 

[Womplord]

This is fucked. I honestly can't believe this, couldn't they just pin him to the ground? I knew a policeman and apparently pepper spray is EXTREMELY painful, according to him. Not something a kid should have to go through. I've seen kids do way worse stuff than that in my old school as well.

HE'S ONLY 8 YEARS OLD!

 

[SilentCom]

?I wanted to make something sharp,? he told NBC News. ?I was so mad at them.? At one point, police allege, he warned his teachers, ?If you come out, you?re gonna die!?

I think it's pretty clear that the pepper spray was justified. The kid is absolutely psycho. Pepper spray is also a non-lethal weapon meant for these kinds of situations. If the spray wasn't used, the alternative would have been violent force, possibly resulting in serious or permanent bodily damage.

 

[xmbts]

I'm just confused as to why they need pepper spray to restrain an 8 year old, but I wasn't there what do I know?

 

[Vault boy Eddie]

They have had to deal with that future COPS appearing, wife beating redneck 2-3 times before, they should have sprayed the mother for not putting that little shit in line.

 

[spartan231490]

http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/42449949/ns/today-today_people/

What do you guys think? Was this justified or totally not needed?

FUCK NO!!! HE'S EIGHT! You grab him and hold him down, you don't hit him with pepper spray. Why not use a taser or rubber bullets? Jesus, is it that hard to restrain an eight year old. I've held down kids a lot older than eight who tried to hit me with a stick. It's not even fucking hard. these officers should be jailed, after being pepper sprayed themselves. I mean, they did it to the poor kid twice. Once I could maybe except as just bad decision making and stupidity, but twice is either negligence or cruelty and absolutely unacceptable.

 

[Small Waves]

I take it from the numerous replies of people saying the kid deserved it and how the woman is a shit parent never actually read the article in question.

He goes to a school specifically for children who are likely mentally ill and have behavioral and emotion issues. Police and staff are supposed to be trained to handle something as delicate as this, and they screwed the pooch big time. Using violence on a child of questionable mental health status with a violent predisposition is the stupidest thing you can possibly do in this situation.

 

[Blobpie]

Well lets take a look to see if it WAS justified.
Alright 8 year old boy
Behavioral issues
Physically weak...

I don't see how this is completely justified, yes it's only pepper spray but something is wrong with the boy... But then again it DID stop him, so it is only partially justified.