Is It OK to Handcuff a Child for Throwing a Tantrum?

by SodaHead News Posted 2012/04/19 13:00:00

Related Topics: Weird News, salecia johnson, tantrum, School, Police, New York, parents, New York Times, Smart, Time, The New York Times, Georgia, Court, Principal

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634 votes
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	Yes	285 votes	45%
	No	349 votes	55%

If you think your kid is a handful, wait 'til you hear this one. Six-year-old Salecia Johnson threw such a colossal tantrum that Creekside Elementary School in Georgia called the police, and when they got there the police had such a hard time with her that they handcuffed her and took her downtown. Talk about a piece of work...

According to WMAZ, a local station, little Salecia knocked over a shelf, injuring the school principal, right before the police were called. Her parents were in disbelief. The girl was even charged with simple assault and damage to property, though The New York Times writes that she won't have to go to court because she's too young. Do you think it's OK to handcuff a 6-year-old for throwing a tantrum? Or is this news just ridiculous?

+22

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Nica24 2012/04/19 14:28:50

Yes

+16
I wouldn't say that was a tantrum. She was out of control, hopefully she learned her lesson out of it.

Of course the little girl has to be African America, where are thee Obama? Let's turn this into a racist thing again..
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More polls by SodaHead News

Leonardo 2012/04/20 11:37:04

No

+1
Everyone has the right to get a new chance including this child.

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Mark Howard 2012/04/20 11:32:37

Yes

Yes, African America kids there so violent

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Bigdaddy to Mark Ho... 2012/04/20 15:39:06 (edited)

+1
I’ve work with school age children for twenty plus years. The child in question may have an exceptionality,
ESE or DBD these children can have these kinds of outburst on a daily basis. But let’s be clear your reality don’t line up with the facts, white male children are prone to more serious violence in school than any other group.

Barry Loukaitis 14, dressed up like a gunslinger went to school and shot and kill 14 year old Manuel Vela to death then shot his teacher in the back.

Stephen Abbot & Jamie Rous went on a shooting spree at Richland school in Tennessee. They shot two teachers in the head, one of them died.

Young Rampage Killers all white;
Andrew J. Wurst 14, Andrew Golden 11, Mitchell Johnson 13, Micheal Carneal 14, Luke Woodham 16, Tronneal Mangum 13, these are just a few.

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pellmelle to Mark Ho... 2012/04/21 02:42:13

Really? And you are the DEVIL!!!!

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Raymond Allamby 2012/04/20 11:25:29

No

+1
i see that the rwnj's are out in force, making their usual snap judgements. how many of you were there to see this supposedly "over the top" tantrum? all you have are the claims of the perpetrators. it's far more likely they over-reacted, and are now spinning to cover their error. the school, and the police should be held accountable for this travesty.

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Juan Iota to Raymond... 2012/04/20 13:51:49

Wait, I am on your side, but you are doing the very same thing you accuse them of, which is "making a snap judgement as to what happened without being there".... wtf?

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Raymond... to Juan Iota 2012/04/20 14:31:04

no, i'm not. i'm open to the possibilities, if there was strong enough reason for doing it, then so be it. but the evidence we have doesn't prove anything either way, and i think protecting their butts is the most likely explanation in this instance.

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TheThinker 2012/04/20 10:09:56

Yes

+1
What else was the school to do? If anyone in the school touched this crazy little kid they would have gotten sued.

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Juan Iota to TheThinker 2012/04/20 13:52:51 (edited)

Like they wont be sued now? lol They may as well have slapped the "little bastard perp."
Do they really need cops to subdue a 6 year old? wtf

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LisaSmith to Juan Iota 2012/04/20 18:31:21

So we should all just run when the kids start beating us up?? The liberals have made this such a great world.

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DanC to LisaSmith 2012/04/22 10:18:09 (edited)

It's actually the conservatives who are the savage scumbags of the US, sharing third world values... just take a look a few things, like the age for criminal responsibility, the legality of corporal punishment for kids, the age of consent for sex or the age for drinking alcohol, the legality of abortion and so on:

criminal responsibility
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/...
corporal punishment for kids
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/...
age of consent
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/...
drinking age
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/...
abortion
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/...

Invariably, conservatives hold the same values as savage Islamists, Africans and so on... in stark contrast to Europe, developed Asian countries.

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LisaSmith to DanC 2012/04/22 14:24:06

Go away nut job.

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DanC to LisaSmith 2012/04/22 23:43:56

Typical conservative "counter-argumentation"...
The truth must be quite painful! :D

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LisaSmith to DanC 2012/04/23 05:33:08 (edited)

If I thought there was anything close to the truth in anything you posted I would try to check out an opposing view point and give it to you but you do nothing but spew hate and I haven't got time to waste on losers like you. You start off with an attack and that is about as far as I got into your stupid post. You call me typical but you are the one who is the typical liberal. You do nothing but spew hate and lies. I have said it once already but I will say it again, go away nut job.

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DanC to LisaSmith 2012/04/23 09:13:22

There wasn't any attack in my post. You know full well that everything I said is 100% true! Of course, you can't come with a counter argument simply because it's like trying to find an argument against gravity on earth.
Having no counter argument, you are angry!

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BabyBear 2012/04/20 10:06:40

Yes

This was not an ordinary tantrum. The handcuffs only seemed necessary in order to prevent her from not only harming someone else but herself.

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Juan Iota to BabyBear 2012/04/20 14:21:40
Beagle Mom 2012/04/20 09:52:08

Yes

+1
This was not an ordinary tantrum. Could and should paramedics have been present? The school probably had no alternative but to call police. From what I've read, the school could not touch her. We may never know, but I suspect there have been other disciplinary problems. And her upbringing would be interesting as well. If there is not a medical condition, I suspect she sadly is living a life of dysfunction.

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rosesvengeance BN-0 2012/04/20 07:52:03 (edited)

Yes

In this case yet, but it's a very fine line here. We don't want cops thinking because of this one case that it's ok to handcuff kids for tantrums. I would say this was more than just a tantrum though and they had to do something to stop this kid from injuring anyone else or even herself.

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Dave The Canuck 2012/04/20 07:42:05

No

+2
Get real people! She's just a little kid!

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Bali to Dave Th... 2012/04/20 14:38:33

a little maniac you mean......

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tobe to Dave Th... 2012/04/20 14:53:11

watch the news. for one what this kid did was far from just throwing a little fit, someone got hurt and school property got damaged. two when they wont let kids get whipped at school anymore what can you do but hold them still. three this isnt the 50s anymore, kids are taking guns to school and shooting innocent people. Truth is she got an important lesson which is there are consequences and you arent above the law because your a child.

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Dave Th... to tobe 2012/04/20 18:19:19

"you arent above the law because your a child."
Well, actually you are. A child does not have the mental capacity to understand the legal ramifications of his/her actions. In the rare case a child does something seriously illegal, the parents are either obligated to deal with it or the child is placed in foster care.

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Oli 2012/04/20 07:16:02

Yes

When i was about that age me and my brother would play with handcuffs LOL it was fun to us getting locked in handcuffs hahaa so i don't see the harm ;)

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tobe to Oli 2012/04/20 14:54:19

so fancy, yall had handcuffs. we hadda use jump ropes.

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Oli to tobe 2012/04/20 15:13:45

okay... well they were plastic if that helps ;P

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TheTruth1313 2012/04/20 06:23:28

Yes

If the parents are not able to stop it, then, yes.

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Zain 2012/04/20 05:59:36

No

+1
Handcuff a six year old? You have failed as a society if you need to handcuff your 6-year olds for disciplining them. If this was Pakistan, that kid would have gotton some real good spanking and he wouldn't have done it again.

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LisaSmith to Zain 2012/04/20 18:33:23

We are not allowed to spank our kids or we will get arrested.

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Zain to LisaSmith 2012/04/20 20:49:26 (edited)

+1
That is horrendous. Get arrested for disciplining a child??? I feel for you people.

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LisaSmith to Zain 2012/04/21 05:25:21

The liberals are making our society insane. Things are getting really weird over here.

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JERSEYDUDE 2012/04/20 05:56:40

No

+1
absolutely not! if parents did this they would be arrested and have their children taken away from them....i was STUNNED when i saw that 208 MORONS voted "YES"

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LaiLaiHart to JERSEYDUDE 2012/04/20 14:35:41

+1
there we go, someone with sense. I also voted NO

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Met to JERSEYDUDE 2012/04/20 20:41:11 (edited)
JERSEYDUDE to Met 2012/04/21 03:22:25

no 208 of you are just simply stupid moronic idiots who are a waste of oxygen on this Planet...buh bye!

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Met to JERSEYDUDE 2012/04/21 03:44:09

Well at least one of you is very likely a bad parent or a future bad parent, and should be spayed or neutered to prevent the rest of us from having to deal with what you will not.

See ya.

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MiinaNiemi03 2012/04/20 05:53:10

No

Of course not, even though sometimes you might want to.

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AmericanVirus 2012/04/20 05:16:39

No

+1
It's funny though

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Met 2012/04/20 05:08:12

Yes

+1
And if she doesn't settle down, hit her with a taser, while repeating the phrase "behave or get used to it"

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Liv 2012/04/20 05:02:00

Yes

Yeah. I think it is okay. They can't exactly do anything else. The kid was clearly out of control and honestly, she didn't give them any other choice. You can't exactly *taser* a six year old, or shoot her in the leg. But then, you can't exactly let her go on uninterrupted can you. 'Excuse me little girl... I know that you're currently throwing a *huge* tantrum and wrecking the school but... can you stop please? D: ' The girl shouldn't be charged, she's too young, but they had no other choice. She clearly needs to attend some Anger Management Seminars.

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