Earlier in 2011, a Stockton CA student was handcuffed with zip ties on his hands and feet, forced to go to the hospital for a psychiatric evaluation and was charged with battery on a police officer. Michael Davis is diagnosed with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder or ADHD. His mother says it has led to fights at school.
Doesn’t seem too out of the ordinary when considering that we are seeing a growing amount of violence from students, right? Well, there is one thing about Michael I have not mentioned yet…
Michael is five-years-old.
Thelma Gary, the boy’s mother, states that, “He’s very loving. He’s a good kid and he’s not the discipline problem that he was made out to be.” Those discipline problems include fights with other students, even throwing a chair.
Gray says the school, Rio Calaveras Elementary of Stockton, wanted to change that behavior by having Michael meet with a school police officer. You know, one of those “scared straight” meetings. But the meeting didn’t go as planned. Michael was agitated when the officer entered the room, and the whole meeting ended with Michael arrested and cuffed, with zip ties on his hands and his feet. In the police report, the officer, Lt. Frank Gordo, explained how “the boy pushed my hand away in a batting motion, pushed papers off the table, and kicked me in the right knee.” When Michael wouldn’t calm down, Gordo cuffed Michael’s hands and feet with zip ties and took the boy to the Stockton Kaiser Psychiatric Hospital in the back of a squad car.
The officer ended up citing Michael for battery on a police officer, however a juvenile court judge eventually dismissed the battery charges against the boy.
I am just sitting here shaking my head. So many things I would like to say about this, but cannot find the words. It is just sad, very sad. The direction our country is turning is truly a frightening thing. Values and morals are disappearing while control and corruption grow. And poor Michael. I am sure this incident has scared him for the rest of his life. He will always think of a police officer as the enemy, not as a friend. Honestly, I don’t care if the boy had kicked Officer Gordo in the nuts… there was absolutely NO reason to use this type of restraint against him. Call in the principal, teachers, someone, anyone. If Gordo had to use zip ties on a 5-year-old child, then what is this officer going to do when he feels threatened by a full-sized adult? I shudder.
Alas… the days of Mayberry with Sheriff Andy Taylor have now gone the way of the dinosaurs.
Motley News & Politics 
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