Seven-year-old handcuffed for crying, family and ACLU sues

Daily Kos Staff

Friday September 16, 2016 · 8:27 AM PDT

2016/09/16 · 08:27

Screen_Shot_2016-09-16_at_8.06.38_AM.png — Kalyb is now 10-years-old

Two years ago, Kalyb Wiley Primm was in second grade in Kansas City. He was being bullied and he began to cry. What happened next is insane.

The lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court in Kansas City, alleges that Kalyb was teased frequently for a hearing impediment and had been reacting to a bullying incident in the classroom. When Officer Brandon Craddock heard his cries from the hallway, he decided to take Kalyb to Principal Anne Wallace, though the lawsuit suggests that the boy stopped making noise after Craddock entered the room and twice asked Kalyb to come with him.

It states that the boy was “frightened” by the time he finally joined Craddock in the hallway, began crying again and tried to walk away.

“Instead of stopping or employing any de-escalation techniques, Defendant Craddock twisted (Kalyb’s) arms and handcuffed ... his arms behind his back, and then led him to the front office in handcuffs,” the lawsuit states.

The lawsuit argues that under Missouri Department of Education policy, using restraints on a student is only a policy during “emergency or crisis situations.” But don’t worry, Missouri has a loophole for that.

A statement from the district says police officers are not beholden to department of education policies.

“Contrary to reports that KCPS security officers violated certain [Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education] regulations, all KCPS officers are commissioned by the Kansas City Police Department in accordance with state law. This important distinction alters the parameters of their capacity to act in certain situations,” says the statement, “Notwithstanding the expanded scope of their authority, the school system’s present administration is taking numerous steps to ensure that our security officers are focused on de-escalation, conflict resolution, trauma intervention and relationship building.”

Sounds like that wasn’t in place before. Besides being the definition of the school to prison pipeline culture spoken so frequently about, this is a pathetic defense of a systematic failure on the part of law enforcement and the school system in this child’s case. There is also this matter—it’s against the law for police to restrain someone without probable cause that a crime has been committed. If a 50 pound 7-year-old standing 4 feet tall and crying is a crime, then we can tell all of the police in the United States that everything is under control, they should hand in their guns and badges and go back to a life of farming and wrangling cattle. Kalyb gets the last word here.

On Thursday as Kalyb stood before his former school with several reporters in front of him, he was asked what the community could learn from his experience.

The 10-year-old, who says he enjoyed engineering and science-related classes, looked up at the cameras shyly.

“Just don’t handcuff children,” he said quietly. “That’s it.”

Seven-year-old handcuffed for crying, family and ACLU sues

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