On November 19, a New York mother went to her daughter's school to find her handcuffed to a chair by school staff.
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Christine Henson, 46, went to pick up her daughter, Faith, 12, when the school notified her of the situation. She didn't expect the school to cuff her daughter, however. School officials escorted Henson to the room where her daughter sat cuffed like a criminal.
Daily News reported this incident. Henson said, "My daughter was treated like a criminal. She was really violated. It doesn't make sense."
Henson recalled asking the safety officer, "Why is she in handcuffs? Can you please take those off of her?" Allegedly, the officer said that Faith wasn't going anywhere, without elaborating why the metal handcuffs were necessary.
Faith told her mother that the safety officer had restrained her for 3 hours. Police later revealed it was only for 15 minutes, however.
The safety officer told them that the police needed to unlock the handcuffs, although it turned out she had the key all along.
This has left Christine and Faith outraged, and they wish to move schools. The school has said they'd support them in this transfer.
Child Unnecessarily Handcuffed Following Altercation
Faith didn't understand why this happened. She told the outlet, "It was just out of nowhere. They did it sneakily. I was confused on why they did it. It felt terrible. It didn't feel right. They just did it. They didn't say why. Now my wrist hurts."
The incident has left her "frightened."
An NYPD representative told DailyMail.com about the incident. Apparently, the school handcuffed Faith after an altercation with another student. Things became "agitated."
They wrote, "The School Safety agent attempted to place the student in Velcro handcuffs, the student was not compliant, and the School Safety Agent was unable to place her in the Velcro handcuffs. The student was then restrained using metal handcuffs."
Police then clarified that the school restrained Faith for 15 minutes.
Child and civil rights advocates say cuffing her at all was an unnecessary and harmful act, however.
Rohini Singh, director of the School Justice Project at Advocates for Children, spoke to Daily News. He said, "If there is no immediate threat, these students should be receiving support. Situations can be de-escalated in ways that don't require restraints."
