KEY WEST, Fla. (WHDH) — The family of an 8-year-old boy who was put in handcuffs at an elementary school in Key West, Florida in 2018 is planning on filing a lawsuit after bodycam video of the alarming arrest was recently made public.
Attorney Ben Crump, who is now representing the family, shared the video Sunday on his Twitter account, writing, “Unbelievable!! @KWPOLICE used “scared straight” tactics on 8yo boy with special needs. He’s 3.5 ft tall and 64 lbs, but they thought it was appropriate to handcuff and transport him to an adult prison for processing!! He was so small the cuffs fell off his wrists!”
Officers responded to the school on Dec. 14, 2018 after police say the boy punched his teacher in the chest.
“Do you know where you’re going? You’re going to jail,” one of the officers is heard saying in the video.
They then had the boy stand up and place his hands behind his back as they placed handcuffs on him.
One of the officers tightened them before saying, “Your hands are too small.”
He then took them off the boy and led him outside to a waiting police cruiser.
The boy ended up at a juvenile detention center, where he was charged with felony battery.
Crump said in a statement, “This is a heartbreaking example of how our educational and policing systems train children to be criminals by treating them like criminals – if convicted, the child in this case would have been a convicted felon at 8 years old. The little boy was failed by everyone who played a part in this horrific incident.”
Crump and attorney Devon M. Jacob plan to file a federal lawsuit against the officers, school officials, the city of Key West, and the Monroe County School District.
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