ACLU sues DougCo district and sheriff’s office after 11-year-old boy with autism was handcuffed at school
DOUGLAS COUNTY, Colo. (KRDO) -- The American Civil Liberties Union of Colorado has filed a lawsuit against the Douglas County School District and the Douglas County Sheriff's Office over the 2019 arrest of a middle schooler with autism.
According to 9News, the suit names the Douglas County School District, the Douglas County Sheriff's Office, Douglas County Sheriff Tony Spurlock, and three deputies who arrested the boy on Aug. 29, 2019.
Body-camera footage from a school resource officer shows the incident that happened at Sagebrook Middle School in Parker. The boy was identified as A.V.
School officials reported a dispute involving two students, one of whom allegedly drew on the A.V. with markers.
When officers arrived, the suit alleges the boy was handcuffed, dragged out of his room, put in a patrol car, and was left there for hours before being taken to a youth detention center.
His parents had to post a $25,000 bond to get him out of the youth detention center.
ACLU attorney Arielle Herzberg told 9News the boy was deserved understanding but was treated otherwise.
"A.V. was calming down with a school psychologist when the school resource officers approached him aggressively, and threatening him and handcuffed him," Herzberg said. "So a situation that could have been handled constructively turned out to be a criminal matter."
His mother said she hopes the damage done that day doesn't follow A.V. for the rest of his life.
Michelle Hanson wanted her kids to go to their neighborhood schools until her 11-year-old son who has autism, A.V., ended up handcuffed in the back of a police car for hours, sobbing, injured, and traumatized. Read more about Michelle and A.V.'s story: https://t.co/HyiMlxh6UY pic.twitter.com/XiN5sUw4Xs
— ACLU of Colorado (@ACLUofColorado) March 9, 2021
Douglas County Sheriff's spokeswoman Lauren Childress said in a statement the original call they received was much more serious than the situation they encountered.
Childress said the original call said a student had been stabbed with a pair of scissors and that a staff member had been assaulted.
The Douglas County Sheriff's Office declined to comment beyond that statement.
