Bodycam footage has emerged showing a Baltimore school cop handcuffing a black autistic student, 11, for 23 minutes and leaving him with a...
Bodycam footage has emerged showing a Baltimore school cop handcuffing a black autistic student, 11, for 23 minutes and leaving him with a broken wrist bone after the boy got into a fight with another child who he said was bullying him.
Jarome Liason, now 12, was cuffed by an unidentified school resource officer and left restrained and crying on the floor for more than 20 minutes just days after he started at Gen. John Stricker Middle School last year.
The young boy, who has been diagnosed with autism and needs a dedicated school behavioral plan, required medical attention the next day for a broken bone in his right wrist.
His family slammed the actions of the law enforcement officer saying they treated the special needs student like a 'criminal' and have left the boy now fearful of cops.
The disturbing incident unfolded in 2019 just days into the school year after Jarome moved up to the middle school.
Jarome Liason, now 12, was cuffed by an unidentified school resource officer and left restrained and crying on the floor for more than 20 minutes just days after he started at Gen. John Stricker Middle School last year
Bodycam footage has emerged showing a Baltimore school cop handcuffing a black autistic student, 11, for 23 minutes and leaving him with a broken wrist bone after the boy got into a fight with another child who he said was bullying him
Jarome reportedly got into an argument with another student when he felt his classmate was bullying him.
Jarome was taken to the office by a staff member following the altercation and ran off, reported WBALTV.
A school employee took him to a 'focus room' where Jarome reportedly started banging his head against the wall.
The staff member restrained him for around two minutes to stop him.
What happened next was captured on the bodycamera worn by the school resource officer.
The troubling footage shows the officer handcuffing Jarome as he lies on the floor in the school building.
The young boy is visibly distressed in the footage, crying, kicking and swearing during the encounter.
He is left there handcuffed and restrained for around 23 minutes, reported WBALTV.
The boy is heard complaining about his wrist was hurting due to the restraint.
The next day Jarome was treated for a broken bone in his right wrist.
The young boy, who has been diagnosed with autism and needs a dedicated school behavioral plan, required medical attention the next day for a broken bone in his right wrist
The footage shows him being cuffed by the officer while he is clearly distressed
Gloria Merritt, Jarome's aunt, has slammed the treatment of her nephew as an unnecessary use of police force
Gloria Merritt, Jarome's aunt, has slammed the treatment of her nephew as an unnecessary use of police force.
'It was terrible. They treated him like a criminal, and he's only an autistic little boy,' she told WBALTV.
She said Jarome is now scared of police.
'If we go to Walmart or something like that, Jarome stays in the car with my husband because he's afraid to even walk past a police officer,' she said.
Merritt said she had specifically chosen to send him to the school because she thought it could accommodate his special needs.
'You have to have a behavioral plan for autistic children because they act out in different ways than other children,' she said.
'They could help him as far as his autism, as far as giving him his one-to-one aide and small setting that he needed to be in.'
The family is now considering filing a lawsuit against the school saying it failed to follow Jarome's individual education plan in de-escalating the incident.
Sam Pulver, the family's attorney, branded the incident a 'systemic failure'.
Baltimore County Public Schools released a statement defending the action of the officer
'What we see in this video and what happened is just a complete systemic failure from start to finish of the appropriate way to deal with Jarome in this setting, and the cherry on top was the cop came in and put him in handcuffs. Under no circumstance should that have been allowed to take place,' he said.
Baltimore County Public Schools released a statement defending the action of the officer.
The district said the use of such physical restraint is sometimes 'necessary to protect a student or another person from imminent, serious, physical harm after other less intrusive, nonphysical interventions have failed'.
'Police are called for support in emergency situations and their response is dictated by BCoPD best practices,' the statement continued, reported WBALTV.
The controversial incident comes as debate mounts over whether police officers should be present in schools across the country.
In a separate incident in North Carolina a school resource officer was caught on camera handcuffing a seven-year-old autistic boy and holding him on the floor for nearly 40 minutes.
The boy's mother has filed a lawsuit after the incident at Pressly Alternative School in 2018.
Statesville Police Officer Michael Fattaleh resigned soon after the incident.
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