Did you hear about the 5 year old girl who was handcuffed by police?

The story is in the St Petersburg Times.

A 5 year old girl was caught on video as "she tore papers off Dibenedetto's bulletin board and desk. She climbed on a table four times. About an hour had passed since she refused to participate in a kindergarten math lesson, which escalated into a series of defiant and destructive acts." The videos that are available at the link above. Teachers may not touch, hit or yell at students and they kept their cool but the child ignored their requests to calm down. The mother couldn't come to the school for another hour or so. The video showed very frustrated teachers.

President Bush was called to help quiet the little girl and bring her an autographed copy of My Pet Goat as a bribe to calm down. Since he couldn't arrive there in time, the police were called in.

As St. Petersburg police officers arrived shortly after 3 p.m., the girl suddenly sat quietly at Dibenedetto's table. And, just as suddenly, the tactics used by educators gave way to the more direct approach of law enforcement.

An officer sternly said the girl's name. Then: "You need to calm down. You need to do it now. OK?"

Seconds later, three officers approached and placed their hands on the girl's wrists and upper arms. They stood her up, put her arms behind her back and put on handcuffs. She bent over the table and let out a terrified scream.

"No. Nooooo. Ahhhhh."

The tape ends there.

The child sat as quietly when she saw the cops as we did a hundred years ago when a mean nun would enter the room at my Catholic school. The cop told her to calm down when he entered the room but she was already calmed down. Then she was handcuffed. Handcuffs? According to the article, this was not the first time the police were called to the school concerning this child's behavior. Definitely watch the video.