It is common for an 8-year-old kid to misbehave in school from time to time but it earned one Illinois girl a trip to the police station in handcuffs.
Jmyha Rickman, 8, had her wrists and feet cuffed and was taken away in the back of a police car late Tuesday morning after throwing a tantrum at school.
School officials called the Alton, Ill., police to intervene during what was described as a bad tantrum at Lovejoy Elementary School. Nehemiah Keeton, Rickman’s guardian, said the cops treated the 70-pound girl like a criminal.
“Her eyes were swollen from crying and her wrists had welts on them,” Keeton told the local Illinois news station.
Rickman’s requests to use the bathroom were ignored, Keeton said.
Alton police told media that they were answering a call regarding an out of control child who was tearing up two classrooms. Police also clarified that Rickman was put in a supervised juvenile detention room at the police station. An officer says he thinks the appropriate actions were taken.
Rickman has a history of throwing tantrums at school, according to school authorities.
According to Kristie Baumgartner, assistant superintendent of the Alton School District, “she could not comment on specifics of the incident, citing Illinois privacy laws regarding children. However, she outlined school district policy, which says that if a student is at risk of harming themselves or others, police would be called if the child’s parent or guardian refuses to pick them up.”
