Parents sue Kentucky school officer over handcuffing of disabled students

Two mothers in northern Kentucky have filed a federal lawsuit against a sheriff's deputy who allegedly placed their disabled elementary school children in handcuffs, causing them “fear, emotional trauma and an exacerbation of their disabilities,” according to lawyers from the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), who are representing the women. 

The handcuffs were too large to fit around the wrists of the 8-year-old boy and the 9-year-old girl, so the school resource officer, Kevin Sumner, put the handcuffs around the children's biceps, locking their arms behind them, according to the lawsuit. Both students, who are identified in court documents only by their initials, have been diagnosed with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. 

The lawsuit says Sumner “unlawfully restrained and handcuffed the children at school with excessive force and without necessity” in Kenton County. The lawsuit also names the Kenton County Sheriff's Office and Sheriff Charles Korzenborn as defendants, noting that they are in charge of establishing policies, practices and training for school resource officers, including Sumner. 

A video of one of the incidents shows the 8-year-old boy struggling and crying while sitting in a chair. The lawsuit says the boy — 3 feet 6 inches tall and 52 pounds — was removed from class last August because he was not following his teacher's directions. The boy then tried to leave the principal's office but was physically restrained by school administrators until Sumner arrived to escort the boy to the bathroom, according to the lawsuit.

On the way back from the bathroom, the boy tried to hit Sumner with his elbow, according to a report from the Kenton County Sheriff's office cited in the lawsuit. That's when Sumner put him in handcuffs.

“You don't get to swing at me like that,” Sumner told the boy, according to a video that was captured by a school administrator and uploaded to YouTube by the ACLU. “You can do what we've asked you to, or you can suffer the consequences,” he says in the video.

“It is heartbreaking to watch my little boy suffer because of this experience,” the boy's mother said, according to a release by the ACLU. She is identified in the lawsuit only by her initials, T.R. 

Kentucky state regulations ban school officials from physically restraining students who are known to have disabilities. Children without disabilities can be restrained, but only in instances in which their behavior “poses an imminent danger of physical harm to self or others.”

The lawsuit said officials at both schools were aware of the students' disabilities, which include “impulsivity, and difficulty paying attention, complying with directives, controlling emotions and remaining seated.”

“Shackling children is not OK,” Susan Mizner, disability counsel for the ACLU, said in a statement. “It is traumatizing, and in this case it is also illegal.”

In the other incident, the 9-year-old girl, who weighed about 56 pounds, was sent to an isolation room at her school last August for being disruptive. School officials asked Sumner to help after the girl tried to leave the room and was restrained by the principal and vice principal, according to the lawsuit.

A report from the sheriff's office said Sumner put the girl in handcuffs because she was “attempting to injure school staff.” The lawsuit said the experience caused “a severe mental health crisis” and Sumner called for a “medical crisis team.” The girl was taken by ambulance to a hospital for a psychiatric assessment and treatment.

The lawsuit asks for a judge to ban the school from “authorizing or employing the unnecessary and excessive use of physical restraint and handcuffing on school children” and a revision of policies, practices and training by county officials. It also calls for compensation to the families, for attorneys' fees, pain and emotional trauma.

Col. Pat Morgan with the Kenton County Sheriff's Office declined to comment, saying the office had not been officially notified of the lawsuit.

Robert Sanders, Sumner's attorney, said Sumner put the children in handcuffs because “they were placing themselves and other people in danger of harm, and that's what the book says to do.” 

Al Jazeera and The Associated Press