DENVER – ACLU of Colorado filed suit in March 2021 against the Douglas County School District, Douglas County Sheriff and several School Resource Officers (SROs) after they aggressively handcuffed an eleven-year-old Hispanic child with autism (A.V.)，把他丢在巡逻车里好几个小时, causing him to become so dysregulated that he banged his head repeatedly and sustained injuries. 不去看医生, officers drove the child to a juvenile detention center and placed him in custody until his parents were able to post a $25,000年债券. 科罗拉多州的sbobet篮球起诉了与此案有关的地区和官员, for violating the student’s rights under the Americans with Disabilities Act and the Fourth Amendment.
The ACLU of Colorado recently reached a settlement of this case that includes important policy changes by the Douglas County School District that we believe will make its schools safer for students with disabilities. 根据和解协议, the defendants have agreed to require advanced training for any SROs assigned to the Douglas County School District, to include training created by the disability rights community that will improve interactions between law enforcement and students with disabilities. The defendants will also ensure that all SROs review the Behavioral Improvement Plans (BIP) specific to each student and comply with those plans when interacting with the student. Important reporting requirements will also ensure that the SROs are complying with de-escalation techniques consistent with students’ BIPs. 你可以读到和解协议 在这里.
“当我们看到他的时候, 他的前额和胳膊肿得很厉害,他的母亲米歇尔·汉森说. “A.V. 不headbang. 他一定是极度失调. 我们把他保释出来后，他不吃饭，也不说话. A.V. 曾经——现在——肯定受到了精神创伤. 我们都是.”
2019年8月，A.V. faced disability-related challenges when a classmate at Sagewood Middle School wrote on him with a marker. A.V. is part of an affective needs classroom and has an individualized education plan (IEP) that outlines his necessary accommodations and potential triggers, 喜欢触摸. A.V. was triggered by the student writing on him and the classroom aide did not intervene. A.V. 心烦意乱，用铅笔戳了另一个学生. 即使A.V. left the classroom voluntarily after this and was calming down with the help of the school psychologist, the SROs insisted on stepping in and a situation that could have been handled constructively became a criminal matter.
The Douglas County School District and Sheriff’s Office had a pattern and practice of their officers mishandling situations involving students with disabilities and unnecessarily ensnaring them in the criminal legal system. Handcuffing kids should never be used as classroom management and making parents pay thousands of dollars in bond for their safe return is unacceptable.
Douglas County has a long record of disproportionately putting children with disabilities and children of color into restraints and seclusion, 把这些学生交给执法部门. 在2018-2019学年, the Douglas County School District restrained and secluded more students than any other Colorado school district. The District’s own “Restraint 报告” from 2016–2019 show that in over 70% of the cases, 这些孩子有“以中心为基础”的学习需求和/或中度需求. A Colorado Department of Education report found that during the 2018–2019 school year special education students were nearly three times as likely to be referred to law enforcement than those with no special education needs. The study also showed that Latinx students were more than five times as likely to be referred to law enforcement than non-Latinx students.
在整个美国.S. 在科罗拉多州, students — particularly students of color and students with disabilities — are experiencing significant harm at the hands of SROs under the guise of school safety,利记sbobet州合作律师杰克·罗宾逊说. “These experiences of excessive force and implicit bias are causing students and families trauma, 通常会持续数年, 加强从学校到监狱的管道. 像A一样的孩子.V. 他们不需要手铐或刑事指控——他们需要同情, 以及对残疾学生需求的理解.”
涉案的sro是道格拉斯县警长手下的副警长. 没有一个sro在A区受到纪律处分.V.的情况下. On the contrary, SRO Sidney Nicholson, was commended for his handling of the situation. He was deemed to have completed his SRO training and recommended to be moved to solo status just a few days after the incident. 在给A戴上手铐几个月后.V., SRO尼科尔森重复了他的行为, handcuffing a twelve-year-old child with disabilities after that child became escalated. 和A一样.V.他把那个孩子铐了好几个小时. 这两种情况, the SROs’ actions resulted in unnecessary criminal charges being filed against the children.
The Douglas County Sheriff’s policies state that all officers are trained in recognizing mental health and related disorders, 包括自闭症, 并且接受过降级技巧的培训. 但在现实中, SROs receive little or no training on interacting with students with disabilities and how to keep these students safe. 在一个.V. 的情况下, the SROs demonstrated their lack of training when they approached him in a threatening manner that escalated the situation. 然后，尽管sro知道A.V. 他受伤了，他们拒绝给他治疗. 因为被戴上了手铐, arrested and held in custody for hours while his parents scrambled to meet the $25,000年债券, A.V. 现在患有严重的焦虑和创伤后应激障碍.
A中的一个.V. 最大的问题是他没有很好地为自己辩护。. Hanson说. “Will he ever feel comfortable advocating for himself and his friends again? 他还能安心跟警察说话吗?”
Aclu新闻稿:
"sbobet篮球起诉道格拉斯县学区, 警长和sro为一名11岁自闭症儿童戴上手铐2021年3月9日
媒体:
"Douglas County School District Settles Americans with Disabilities Act Lawsuit《利记sbobet》，2023年11月22日
"道格拉斯县一名自闭症男孩被戴上手铐后诉讼得以解决，福克斯31,2023年11月22日
"Change Coming to Douglas County Schools, Sheriff's Office After Lawsuit Settlement，《sbobet篮球》，2023年11月22日