11 Year Old Child Arrested And Charged For Stick Figure Drawing

[havok579257]

ARVADA, Colo. -- An 11-year-old Arvada boy was arrested and hauled away in handcuffs for drawing stick figures in school, something his therapist told him to do.

His parents say they understand what he did was inappropriate, but are outraged by the way Arvada Police handled the case. The parents do not want their real names used.

They say "Tim" is being treated for Attention Deficit Disorder and his therapist told him to draw pictures when he got upset, rather than disrupt the class. So that’s what he did.

Last October, he drew stick figures of himself with a gun, pointed at four other stick figures with the words "teacher must die."

He felt calmer and was throwing the picture away when the teacher saw it and sent him to the principal's office.

The school was aware that the boy was in treatment, determined he was not a threat, notified his parents and sent him back to class. His mother, "Jane" was shocked when Arvada Police showed up at their home later that night.

She says she told her son to cooperate and tell the truth, but was horrified when they told her they were arresting him and then handcuffed him and hauled him away in a patrol car. His mother says she begged police to let her drive her son to the police department and to let her stay with him through the booking process but they refused.

They put him in a cell, took his mug shot and fingerprinted him. He says he thought he was going to jail and would never be able to go home again.

According to the police report, "Tim" explained he made the drawing to release anger and would never hurt teachers or anyone. At first school officials did not want to press charges, but changed their mind when police called them later that night. A juvenile assessment report shows he's never been in legal trouble before and is at low risk to reoffend.

He's charged with a third degree misdemeanor, interfering with staff and students at an educational facility. The system says it's doing what's in the best interest of the child. But Tim's therapist says handcuffing an 11-year-old and putting him in a cell over something like this is "quite an overreaction" and does much more harm than good.

Arvada Police say because Monday was a holiday, they are not able to get hold of all the personnel and reports to make a response, but will be able to respond Tuesday. Tim is on probation and if he completes that successfully, the criminal charges will be dropped. But his parents say it has cost them thousands of dollars so far.

And if they had known that their son’s cooperation would be used as evidence against him, they would have hired a lawyer at the beginning and exercised his right to remain silent.



http://www.kdvr.com/news/kdvr-arvada-police-arrest-11yearold-over-inappropriate-stick-figure-drawing-20110221,0,7099823.story

[Ed Normile]

Well at least they did not break out the batons and whup him. Though I must say I definetly feel much safer knowing that the police have this malcontent in their sights, err, under their scrutiny.

ed

[Sternhauser]

Ah, yes. Now he'll respect teachers.

~Sternhauser

[Nihil Obstat]

Sorta reminds me of the girl who got cuffed and hauled off from her school for doodling on her desk with washable marker.

[Sternhauser]

[quote name='Nihil Obstat' timestamp='1298428598' post='2214794']
Sorta reminds me of the girl who got cuffed and hauled off from her school for doodling on her desk with washable marker.
[/quote]

She broke . . . the LAW! Let that sort of thing slip through the cracks just once, and the next thing you know, we'll be cowering in our basements, listening, as hooting packs of half-dressed men loot, rape and pillage everything, silhouetted against the eerie orange glow of a burning cityscape.

[img]http://anarchyinyourhead.com/comics/2008-04-04-iron_fist_hero.png[/img]

~Sternhauser

Edited February 23, 2011 by Sternhauser

[Catherine Therese]

Absolutely outrageous.

And this - in the "Land of the Free" ???

[Ice_nine]

OK so their reaction was a little melodramatic, but kids drawing these kind of things can often be a red-flag. Everyone likes to say "oh it's just a picture there's no intention behind it etc etc" but then when some kid snaps and brings a gun into school people say they woulda paid attention to the signs earlier. To lazy to find specific examples now, but I can if any of y'all have doubts.

Again I'm not condoning the police and saying their actions were appropriate, but I do think precaution is necessary. With a little investigation they could have determined that it wasn't a serious threat, that it was what his therapist told him to do, and address it from there without bringing in the police cruisers and booking the kid.

[Nihil Obstat]

[quote name='Ice_nine' timestamp='1298524495' post='2215153']
OK so their reaction was a little melodramatic, but kids drawing these kind of things can often be a red-flag. Everyone likes to say "oh it's just a picture there's no intention behind it etc etc" but then when some kid snaps and brings a gun into school people say they woulda paid attention to the signs earlier. To lazy to find specific examples now, but I can if any of y'all have doubts.

Again I'm not condoning the police and saying their actions were appropriate, but I do think precaution is necessary. With a little investigation they could have determined that it wasn't a serious threat, that it was what his therapist told him to do, and address it from there without bringing in the police cruisers and booking the kid.
[/quote]
I'm more or less inclined to agree, but it's important to note that the school actually did take this into account.

"The school was aware that the boy was in treatment, determined he was not a threat, notified his parents and sent him back to class. His mother, "Jane" was shocked when Arvada Police showed up at their home later that night."

[Catherine Therese]

I do agree with the need for caution and for the parents and the child to be required to seek help with police involvement, even.

But an arrest, without parents even being given the option is pretty bad. The pressing of charges goes beyond bad - I think it is outrageous.

[Ice_nine]

so basically we all agree

ain't that just swell?

[havok579257]

[quote name='Ice_nine' timestamp='1298524495' post='2215153']
OK so their reaction was a little melodramatic, but kids drawing these kind of things can often be a red-flag. Everyone likes to say "oh it's just a picture there's no intention behind it etc etc" but then when some kid snaps and brings a gun into school people say they woulda paid attention to the signs earlier. To lazy to find specific examples now, but I can if any of y'all have doubts.

Again I'm not condoning the police and saying their actions were appropriate, but I do think precaution is necessary. With a little investigation they could have determined that it wasn't a serious threat, that it was what his therapist told him to do, and address it from there without bringing in the police cruisers and booking the kid.
[/quote]


last i checked help does not include handcuffing someone in there house, trowing them into a cell and pressing charges on some. help involves getting someone to therapy but the school district was not interested in that.

[PaladinSoG]

Wow this is very pathetic. What is the world coming too.

[Sternhauser]

[quote name='havok579257' timestamp='1298554284' post='2215208']
last i checked help does not include handcuffing someone in there house, trowing them into a cell and pressing charges on some. help involves getting someone to therapy but the school district was not interested in that.
[/quote]

That's the only way they know how to help. Don't [i]judge[/i] them!

~Sternhauser

Edited February 24, 2011 by Sternhauser

[PaladinSoG]

[quote name='havok579257' timestamp='1298554284' post='2215208']
last i checked help does not include handcuffing someone in there house, [color="#ff0000"][b]trowing[/b][/color] them into a cell and pressing charges on some. help involves getting someone to therapy but the school district was not interested in that.
[/quote]

Saw where you misspelled throwing and I thought for a second it read trolling. Kind of sounds like what these people are doing.

[elizabeth09]

Well, if the teacher saw this and thought that "Tim" was really going shot her. I think that the boy should be told this that he can not draw doing class, but in art class, any free time and home. Know that I am not a therapist, but does the teacher have any right to know what is going on or not?

[Papist]

[font="arial, verdana, sans-serif"][size="4"][color="#595959"][size="4"][font="Tahoma"][size="2"]The teacher ratted him out. So the drawing was justified. Really, are we not just a weeeee bit sensitive. Seriously, arrested. What's the charge, interfering with staff and students at an educational facility. The therapist is correct.[/size][/font]

[/size][/color][/size][/font]

Edited April 13, 2011 by Papist

[MithLuin]

Yeah, it sounds like the teacher saw the picture, perceived it as a threat, and marched the kid down to the office. He was then....sent back to her class. So, she must've taken it to the next level and reported it to the police, since her administration wasn't doing anything about it.

There are teachers who have been shot by their students. The fact that the boy is 11 does not mean he can't be dangerous. Kindergartners have brought guns to school (though not usually with malicious intent).

I'm a teacher in the inner city. I teach kids who have a lot of crazy stuff going on in their lives. I could understand a teacher taking a threat seriously, and being scared about the outcome. My administration is very supportive, so I would simply tell my boss what was going on and why I was concerned, and the student would likely be suspended until the therapist could sort out whether or not it were a credible threat. That seems a more reasonable solution that still takes precautions and minimizes risk to other students.

To say that 'drawing during class' is part of his therapy is one thing - that's fine. To suggest that it's okay for him to draw a picture of him shooting his teacher....is another thing. His therapist apparently has to give a bit more guidance about *what* to draw. If the caption were, "Is class over yetttt????" nothing would have happened, most likely.

I don't have any problem with the police talking to the student, though arresting and booking him does seem an overreaction. If the kid's name were Klebold or Harris...people might not mind him being arrested so much. But the reason it got kicked up to the police in the first place is because someone at the school felt it wasn't being handled or dealt with appropriately.