Special Needs Student Beaten by Illinois police over dress code

Way to assume, assume and assume some more. You see the video and immediately KNOW exactly what was going on, the history of this school, this student and the cop. You guys are incredible. You make it seem like this kid had on a cub scout uniform and this big, mean man came running down the hall and tackled him. Christ oh mighty. I hope I never get mugged around you all as your description of the event would leave the police force looking for the wrong people...

Nothing screams police state in this video. I saw a punk kid who probably saw his friends, family member or others having run-ins with the police before and saw how they reacted to them or heard stories about them. This cop was slightly excessive but I wouldn't fire him. It comes down to respect and this kid should be respecting the police. I'm not saying adopt a whole police state, drop that lame @ss talk. I'm saying that we don't need to flip the police off just because we can, we don't need to bad mouth the police in front of kids or children as they will follow our behavior, we should be respecting the police. Yes there are some bad apples but tell me one profession that doesn't.

Go on and flame away. I can handle that. Your ignorance to the situation is something I can't. Get all the facts before you destroy this "mean, hellish, monster" cop and defend the actions of this "innocent victim" kid.

*editted for grammar

[edit on 8-10-2009 by Roadblockx]

The problem here is multi-layered:

Obviously, at this point, the cops are no longer there to serve and protect. They are there to prevent crime. And as Ive said many times before, when the perception changes from serve and protect to crime prevention, everyone become a potential criminal.

Also, the school system is no longer there to educate children. It is there to create functioning members of society. Anyone who shows the slightest amount of an inclination toward defiance of authority is labeled special ed and put in a corner and forgotten about by the rest of the district. I know this for a fact-these are the children I work with all day.

Finally, school districts have been inundated with the same type of fear mongering that the general public has been. Every 'suspicious character' or 'police activity' withing 15 miles of a school is now cause for automatic lock down. Fights are no longer considered part of growing up-they are an expellable offense. Administrators are so scared of another Columbine that they literally act based on fear.


It's really quite sad.

Wow, that was bad. The officer overeacted to whatever the situation was. It looked to me that the kid said something to set the officer off, but that's no excuse for the force involved.
I get a little concerned with all the anti-police sentiment sometimes. There are a lot of good police officers who do their job and follow the law. Officers like the one in the video are the exeption. You wouldn't know it from the posts that show up here and elsewhere on the internet and news. I wonder though, how many times has a story of an officer pushing bullies of a special needs kid been reported here? How many articles are there showing a cop doing his job, helping people in need? None many I would bet. Not because the events never happen, but becasue they are not sensational enough to warrant reporting.
The slinging of profanity and epithets doesn't help your cause. There are many more honest police officers, sheriffs and deputies than there are bad ones. But no one tells their stories. Maybe we should, just to be fair

Cop saves teen

Cop saves woman from crash

There are more exception to the "all cops are bad" rule. A shame the normal day-today actions of good cops are not recognized and lost in the cries of "PIG!"

if this guy doesnt get hard time...im moving to Canada

Could you show your ignorance in any greater value?? Everything has to be racial right? Like when some blacks didn't like Bush, that was them being racist. They couldn't possibly dislike him for his policies or decisions. No, they were racists. If a black cop pulls me over and gives me a ticket instead of a warning, he must be racist. Giving me a ticket is him fighting back against "the man". The ticket couldn't be because he was doing his job and I broke the rules. Nope. Anytime someone is different in one way or another it has to be some form of prejudice. Man and woman, sexism. Black and white, racism. Black guy, white woman... Double prejudice.

Do you even see things besides making them into a prejudice? Can't it be something besides that? Take the prejudice glasses off.

The police need to learn that "Contempt of Cop" is not a crime, but too often the police behave as if it were.

And they wonder why the youth of this nation has nothing but contempt for the law.

When I was growing up, the police were dressed in blue and there to help.

Now they're dressed in SWAT black cammo and tazering, gassing, beating anyone and everyone who doesn't bend to them, regardless of rights.

Sad.

Sheriff Richard I. Mack. Get his books and READ, pass them around and especially to police officers. What EVERYONE forgets here too is that police officers ARE corporate stooges. That's a fact. They don't have police academies anymore, they have 2 year "law" schools where they don't teach the Constitution, the real law, or any obedience to the public as they are supposed to be public SERVANTS.

Whatever happened to PROTECT AND SERVE?

You NEVER see it on cop cars anymore, where did it go? NWO took it.

It's a power trip for some cops. I am doing what I can in my city and the neighboring city to educate the police chiefs and to get them to educate their officers, it's tough but I am at least trying. One woman in this state bought 87 copies of Sheriff Richard Mack's book, A Letter from a Sheriff to a Sheriff, and sent them to EVERY county sheriff int he state. Good on her for sure. Will anything good come of it? Who knows.

www.sheriffmack.com...

The police are just real life serial killers, and do everything to wreck anyones life they can, for there friends thinking they are great. Thats all the job does, and the people who work for them love it.

Fisrt post in a long time... Hello friends of the past!

I think that the problem we are starting to see is that there is no accountablilty with todays law enforcement. Too many have gotten away with and have seen others get away with anything they please. Power brings corruption and absolute power brings absolute corruption.

Police don't have to worry about speeding, battery, etc. because there is no one to hold them accountable for it. We need as a society to make some changes, create a police force of citizens who can arrest the police or else make being a police officer an elected position.

It is sad but around here most police intentionally do something wrong because the punishment is a paid leave. Why use your vacation time when you can beat the crap out of someone and get paid to stay home.

It is time that we stand up... We have cowered long enough. If we do not do something now it will soon be too late. And those of you who are afraid of the illusion of power given by a badge think of it this was. In a town of 10,000 people there are probably about 20 cops. How much do think the police are going to attack when normal citizens fight back. A badge doesn't look so tough when there are 10,000 people against 20.

Again it is a pleasure to be back.

reply to post by Parallex

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I'm a supervisor with a federal law enforcement agency and I'll throw in my two cents: First of all, I haven't watched the video, but I'll play this one safe and assume that the description you all have given is accurate. I'd report the incident to our Office of Inspector General and place him on administative duty pending the outcome of the investigation.

If the incident unrolled the way you all describe (again, I haven't watched the video), then I'd recommend termination and he would probably end up being prosecuted criminally after losing his job. I do not condone that type of abuse among my subordinates and I would support his punishment.

However, I do not agree with your solution to the problem. By asking the good cops to just up and quit, who does that leave behind? All the bad ones. So instead of sticking around and trying to make a difference, we should just say, "Aw, to heck with this. Let these guys run the show."? I don't think you all want that. It is an uphill battle fighting corruption and conduct issues, but it can be done.

I understand how upsetting this is to people that see it. It is upsetting to me too. Like others have said, these are the instances that get highlighted and cause all the outrage. Rightly so and they shouldn't be dismissed. But don't forget that for every one of these instances that gets highlighted, there are a hundred instances of good cops doing good police work that go unnoticed.



[edit on 10/8/2009 by JWH44]

reply to post by Roadblockx

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Really? Know one needs to know any background to any possible precedence to the relationship between this cop and this kid. Just because the kid may have an attitude and didn't listen doesn't warrant him having the crap beat out of him by someone twice his size.

If a parent did this to their child what would you be saying? He got what he deserved? Or is it just okay for near strangers with a badge to beat 15 year old kids who act like, uhhhhh...15 year old kids?!

edit to add: I would like to know a scenario in which you DON'T think this kind of force should be used if you think ignoring a cop and maybe saying some smart alec remark to him does warrant a good ass whooping.

[edit on 8-10-2009 by nunya13]

reply to post by nunya13

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Bingo, I guess it got sweep under the rug until this video because the parents didn't seem to care or something else is going on.

Darn when my children were in school I was the biggest pain the butt for the schools they attended and the entire schools system.



Something like this done to my child would have been unconceivable.

I am just glad i will never bring someone into this world, scum to the person.

reply to post by marg6043

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It's like, if a parent does something like this to their kid they get thrown in jail and possibly lose their child altogether, but if a COP or someone of government authority does it it's okay?

The way that we are treating kids nowadays is really what scares me the most about our society today. We act like they are full grown adults with full grown brains who should have all the knowledge that an adult does about right and wrong. If they don't act like a fully mature adult then there must be something wrong with them.

I'm shocked the cop didn't bust out a tazer on the kid. Maybe he just doesn't have one. Electrocuting children is where the line should MOST DEFINITELY be drawn.

reply to post by Blackmarketeer

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OMG!!What's wrong with the school??? How could they keep the officer in his position and try covering it up??? In My children's High school they have a thing called best buddies where the students are freinds of a special needs child in the school and they do activities together. My son is a best buddy, if he met this cop he'd kick his lilly livered butt!!!! My son would be horrified!!!! I am so glad that his school is teaching better values than that one!!!! I was and am still so proud of my son!

reply to post by Blackmarketeer

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I heard about this the other day and now that I have seen the video it is even more clear that officer was way out of control. The student posed no threat at all, if he didn't want to tuck his shirt in you escort him to the principle, not throw punches, slam him against the wall and then throw your (my guess) 300+lbs onto his face down body.

Shame, shame, shame

reply to post by nunya13

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Being america surprised the cop did not shot him dead and plant a weapon on him.

What was a Police Officer doing on campus? I understand that many schools have Security, but the Police are only there when called. Did the child refuse to comply to a school administrators request to abide the dress code and then phoned the Police? If so, then the Officer's reaction, although excessive, wouldn't be as disgusting a response as it would seem otherwise.

Still, treating anyone, let alone a minor in such a way isn't doing any Law Enforcement any service. All he is accomplishing is making the minor, and everyone who has seen this video hate Law Enforcement all the more.

The fact that the child is a Special Needs child shouldn't pertain, although the Officer should have considered such (which is usually why such matters should be left to the school administration who is aware of what the child's Special Needs are and how best to deal with them). Most Special Needs children are quite functional, just with discipline problems. In our day and age the kid in class that would beg for Detention or flip the teacher the bird until they were dragged out into the hall to get a paddling are now classified as Special Needs. They were the ones we previously called a "Problem Child". They aren't bad kids, nor are they "Special Ed" kids, but just kids that require being handled differently than your average kid.

My daughter for instance, is classified as "Special Needs" because woe be unto any young female that tries to discipline her, although she's a model student with any mature female or male disciplinarian of any age. Her school knows that if you want her to comply with something and you are a young female teacher, to get an older teacher or a male teacher to assist. If a young female Officer tried getting my daughter to comply the same probably would have happened as in the video as my daughter doesn't consider young females to have any authority over her (she has mother issues obviously). She would have ignored them, walked away, and depending on the LEO who knows what would have happened.

At least neither side is playing the "Race Card"...after the initial video I was expecting that one to be played.

So, the person who said that we might be jumping to conclusions prematurely without having all the facts I can see as having a valid point.

However, regardless of the circumstances, the LEO did overreact. The extent of his overreaction is only the thing that would be determined by weighing all the circumstances involved. The punishment certainly didn't fit the "crime". If a student doesn't meet the dress code for a school, and refuses to comply, then send them home suspended until they decide they are willing to comply. You don't clobber them from behind, tackle them, and restrain them for failing to tuck in their shirt.

First, yes the video is appalling. But I have to ask how many of those throwing out police state statements are familiar with the area? I am, I lived and worked near and in Dolton. It is not an area of picket fences and children playing in garden, it is a very tough area. The school is not a typical high school nor is it a school for handicapped children, it is a school for children with behavioral and emotional disorders, in the majority of instances kids that can't behave in regular school are sent here, and the school often uses physical restraints to contain students, and this is told the the parents. This does not excuse the excessive (imo) force used on this boy. There is a relatively strict dress code due to gang activity in the area, which includes how a shirt is tucked in (here all shirts must be completely tucked in), how pants or sleeves are rolled and so on. I wish I has the audio for the tape because I seriously doubt that this boy was quietly walking down the hall and was attacked. I know that with a 15 yrs old people are inclined to say "the child" "the baby", teens in "rough" areas are not children, they grown up fast because they have to, 15 yrs olds are walking around shooting, beating, robbing, etc. I do not know the personal story of this boy, but I know working there there was not difference in "fear factor"' between a 15 and 30 yrs old and in most cases the teens were more of a threat.

reply to post by searching4truth

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Thats a good excuse.

Thats like how americans used to think japanses people where animals before ww2, so they could drop the abomb on them.