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11 year old arrested for drawing in school

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iMage

iMage

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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.
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news from http://www.kdvr.com/news/kdvr-arvad...stick-figure-drawing-20110221,0,7099823.story


So glad i am not American if you can be arrested and convicted of drawing stick figures ffs
 
15 comments
No I fully understand this... I bet he doesn't draw things like this anymore. In this time of day... you can't trust anyone no matter the age, gender, and religion because everyone seems to feel the need of having a bomb strapped to them and blow shit up. Or just trying to kill people with weapons period...
 
poor kid he should have said what he had in his mind to the teachers.
i know from experience there are some cruel aggressive teachers that take their anger and problems from their private life and dropped that to some innocent kid in school.

a really crazy world this is.
 
Snuff said:
No I fully understand this... I bet he doesn't draw things like this anymore. In this time of day... you can't trust anyone no matter the age, gender, and religion because everyone seems to feel the need of having a bomb strapped to them and blow shit up. Or just trying to kill people with weapons period...
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And you really believe the action of the police stopped the thoughts and inner thinking of this young child.

Just the opposite. By denying him an outlet for his thoughts and frustrations he now buries these feelings and soon will strike with no one expecting it.

They should have contacted his parents who could have contacted the therapist and had him go through these feelings and the need to use a gun as a release.
 
If you read it he was arrested later at home after the school princable had determined there was no problem and sent him back to class. Someone (likely another parent,or maybe the teacher) called the police and he was arrested out of his own home.
 
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