Tribunal says Peel Police racially discriminated against six-year-old girl

[Charlemagne]

Tribunal says Peel Police racially discriminated against six-year-old girl

Phil Tsekouras, CP24.com
Published Monday, March 2, 2020 10:35PM EST
Last Updated Tuesday, March 3, 2020 2:01PM EST

TORONTO -- Ontario’s Human Rights Tribunal has ruled that race was a factor in a 2016 incident which saw two Peel Regional Police officers handcuff a six-year-old black girl at her school in 2016.

The incident took place inside a school around the end of September 2016.

Advertisement

The school described the girl’s behavior as violent and said they contacted Peel Regional Police to deescalate the situation.

Upon the arrival of two male officers, the child was placed on her stomach and handcuffed at her ankles and wrists and left in that position for 28 minutes.

At that time, according to the officers, the young child was kicking, screaming and punching.

In a decision released on Feb. 24, adjudicator Brenda Bowlby said that despite the circumstances, the officers displayed a “clear overreaction.”

"While the officers had a legitimate duty to maintain the safety of the applicant, others and themselves in the circumstances where the applicant's behaviour were challenging and might have created a safety risk, this did not give them licence to treat the applicant in a way that they would not have treated a white six-year-old child in the same circumstances,” Bowlby said in her 54-page ruling.

“I have concluded that the officers' action in placing the applicant on her stomach, handcuffing her wrists behind her [back] and maintaining her in this position, with her ankles also handcuffed, for 28 minutes were disproportionate to what was necessary to provide adequate control and amounts to a clear overreaction in the circumstances."

Speaking to CTV News Toronto in February of 2017, Peel Regional Police said that they used their discretion to decide that handcuffing her was necessary to prevent the child from harming others and herself.

“In regards to the kicking and the punching and the violent actions, they had to restrain her to ensure everyone was safe,” Peel Regional Police said.

Police told CTV News Toronto at the time that this was the third time they were called to the school to deal with this child in particular.

The tribunal said that credibility was an issue in the case, noting that the officers denied that the child was actually handcuffed behind her back. Bowlby said that she did not “accept” testimony from one of the officers who said he made an error when using the term “rear cuffs” because he was stressed.

The child’s mother said that she kept her daughter home for weeks after the incident took place.

The mother eventually decided to switch her daughter to a new school where she says she is doing very well.

The case was heard over seven days at the Human Rights Tribunal of Ontario and the decision is subject to a publication ban, including the applicant’s name and the names of her family members.

With files from Kayla Goodfield

https://www.cp24.com/mobile/tribunal-says-peel-police-racially-discriminated-against-six-year-old-girl-1.4836090

 

[Worf]

Another stupid ruling. The mother knows exactly how the daughter behaves. She should be supporting the school and police. But being an idiot she blames the cops. After all the nonsense that the Child did, endangering many lives. Well, now the daughter will be another schools problem. And no cop is going to subdue any other student as of now.

 

[jcpro]

Another stupid ruling. The mother knows exactly how the daughter behaves. She should be supporting the school and police. But being an idiot she blames the cops. After all the nonsense that the Child did, endangering many lives. Well, now the daughter will be another schools problem. And no cop is going to subdue any other student as of now.

SIX years old. Grown cops couldn't control a SIX years old kid. Luckily they didn't taser her. Why are we paying these people? Facepalm.

 

[Smallcock]

SIX years old. Grown cops couldn't control a SIX years old kid. Luckily they didn't taser her. Why are we paying these people? Facepalm.

Parents can't control their kids from crying and throwing tantrums in public. How is a stranger (officer) supposed to stop a child from hurting itself or others? Lock them in a room? Physically restrain them for half hour? Verbally threaten them?

The public needs to get over what looks bad versus what's required. We're habituated to expect handcuffs to only be used on adults, but in some unique cases, like this one, it was just about the only tool available for a child out of control. Of course, the general public is not ready to accept this, which places officers in a no-win situation.

The kid learned a valuable lesson about the role of police in protecting people from themselves and others.

 

[Grimnul]

So, what I’m taking away from this is that the cops should go beat up a white kindergartener too?

 

[Charlemagne]

So, what I’m taking away from this is that the cops should go beat up a white kindergartener too?

Yes. You're on TERB.

 

[Grimnul]

Yes. You're on TERB.

Well no, I mean the wording of the judgment seems to imply that they didn’t actually have a problem with the cop handcuffing the kid, they just felt that it was discriminatory because they don’t think he’d have done that if the kid was white. So this cop should go rough up a white kid to prove his innocence, I guess.

 

[itd131]

Human rights tribunals are the problem. We need to shut them down. How a country like Canada can support a Kangaroo court system is horrifying. These days the tribunals are literally taking away human rights, instead of protecting them.

 

[jcpro]

Parents can't control their kids from crying and throwing tantrums in public. How is a stranger (officer) supposed to stop a child from hurting itself or others? Lock them in a room? Physically restrain them for half hour? Verbally threaten them?

The public needs to get over what looks bad versus what's required. We're habituated to expect handcuffs to only be used on adults, but in some unique cases, like this one, it was just about the only tool available for a child out of control. Of course, the general public is not ready to accept this, which places officers in a no-win situation.

The kid learned a valuable lesson about the role of police in protecting people from themselves and others.

Dude. I belong to a big family with a lot a children. Making kids seems to be a sport among my cousins, in fact. The idea that a parent could not control a SIX years old girl is comical. Calling police to relive a parent from the responsibility of controlling a SIX years old girl is preposterous. Unless the cop is quadriplegic, a SIX years old girl posses no threat whatsoever to even contemplate cuffing her. You can literally pick up a 6-7 years old with one arm or put one in a chair and keep her there indefinitely by just applying little pressure. Above all, you can raise your adult vice and pretend that you're very angry to achieve a desired peace. As long as the kid has no mental issues, that approach works every time.

 

[t.o.leafs.fan]

You can literally pick up a 6-7 years old with one arm or put one in a chair and keep her there indefinitely by just applying little pressure. Above all, you can raise your adult vice and pretend that you're very angry to achieve a desired peace. As long as the kid has no mental issues, that approach works every time.

Picking the kid up and holding the kid down in a chair exposes the cops/teachers to bites, scratches, hits and spitting. Nobody (cops/teachers) should have to expose themselves to that. Raising your voice, which works for some kids but not all, will escalate certain kids outbursts. These types of kids are more and more common in the school system which is why more $/staffing/training etc. is necessary. The head of the tribunal should be called in to one of the escapades in school to truly wrap her head around how much damage and how rabid a 6 year old can actually be these days.

 

[Smallcock]

Dude. I belong to a big family with a lot a children. Making kids seems to be a sport among my cousins, in fact. The idea that a parent could not control a SIX years old girl is comical. Calling police to relive a parent from the responsibility of controlling a SIX years old girl is preposterous. Unless the cop is quadriplegic, a SIX years old girl posses no threat whatsoever to even contemplate cuffing her. You can literally pick up a 6-7 years old with one arm or put one in a chair and keep her there indefinitely by just applying little pressure. Above all, you can raise your adult vice and pretend that you're very angry to achieve a desired peace. As long as the kid has no mental issues, that approach works every time.

The police weren't called to relieve the parent from responsibility - it was to relieve the school from a problematic child.

If no parent is around, both teachers and cops are at risk of getting sued trying to "control" a child. Apply a little pressure? "You assaulted my kid!". "As a matter of fact you should NEVER even TOUCH my kid!" This is the world we live in. As a practical matter, I don't even think teachers are allowed to fail kids anymore. They're quietly shuffled from one grade to the next or put in some 'special' classes until they voluntarily drop out (chronic truancy). I used to think that the claims that every kid gets ribbons and wins and there are no losers was some sort of parody on how we've softened the way kids are raised, but having friends with young children I now know that all of this lunacy is actually real.

I have to assume the kid either has mental issues or is not being raised properly based on the school's description of her behavior. Something tells me a raised voice had no impact on stopping her behavior. What next? Honest question, why is handcuffing a kid such a bad thing? Is it because we associate handcuffs with the worst members of society? It may be absurd that such action is required but without any other reasonable means of controlling a kid because everyone's hands are legally tied, I say good on them.

 

[jcpro]

The police weren't called to relieve the parent from responsibility - it was to relieve the school from a problematic child.

If no parent is around, both teachers and cops are at risk of getting sued trying to "control" a child. Apply a little pressure? "You assaulted my kid!". "As a matter of fact you should NEVER even TOUCH my kid!" This is the world we live in. As a practical matter, I don't even think teachers are allowed to fail kids anymore. They're quietly shuffled from one grade to the next or put in some 'special' classes until they voluntarily drop out (chronic truancy). I used to think that the claims that every kid gets ribbons and wins and there are no losers was some sort of parody on how we've softened the way kids are raised, but having friends with young children I now know that all of this lunacy is actually real.

I have to assume the kid either has mental issues or is not being raised properly based on the school's description of her behavior. Something tells me a raised voice had no impact on stopping her behavior. What next? Honest question, why is handcuffing a kid such a bad thing? Is it because we associate handcuffs with the worst members of society? It may be absurd that such action is required but without any other reasonable means of controlling a kid because everyone's hands are legally tied, I say good on them.

You can intimidate, manipulate and bargain. Because it's a SIX YEARS OLD KID. Jesus! How hard is it? There are no bad kids. There are bad parents and teachers. In this case, also bad cops. How hard is it to understand that pre teens are a complete product of their social surroundings? If the teacher working in my mother's school district called the police to deal with a grade one student, she would have such "educator" fired as unfit for the profession. Of course this is Canada where shitty teachers are a rule, not an exception.

 

[Smallcock]

You can intimidate, manipulate and bargain. Because it's a SIX YEARS OLD KID. Jesus! How hard is it? There are no bad kids. There are bad parents and teachers. In this case, also bad cops. How hard is it to understand that pre teens are a complete product of their social surroundings? If the teacher working in my mother's school district called the police to deal with a grade one student, she would have such "educator" fired as unfit for the profession. Of course this is Canada where shitty teachers are a rule, not an exception.

I'm going to trust the teachers and cops involved on this one, because they were there, and the details of what happened don't get printed properly by journalists looking for views to their news articles. There are indeed bad parents and that's why short of cuffs, both teacher and cops realized this kid probably wasn't going to stop. She isn't being raised properly or is a mentally unstable kid.

Again, I've seen parents unable to stop their own kids from acting out in public. It's hardly an uncommon occurrence. What we call reason or rationale is Chinese to many kids.

 

[t.o.leafs.fan]

You can intimidate, manipulate and bargain. Because it's a SIX YEARS OLD KID. Jesus! How hard is it? There are no bad kids. There are bad parents and teachers. In this case, also bad cops. How hard is it to understand that pre teens are a complete product of their social surroundings? If the teacher working in my mother's school district called the police to deal with a grade one student, she would have such "educator" fired as unfit for the profession. Of course this is Canada where shitty teachers are a rule, not an exception.

Then your mother is an idiot and you have NO clue what kids are like these days.

 

[jcpro]

Then your mother is an idiot and you have NO clue what kids are like these days.

My mother was a doctor of child psychiatry, a life long educator and an officer of the court advising and guiding investigations into child abuse and/or neglect. We grew up having to listen to our mother practice her court statements on us. But, you're right about "these days". These days neither some parents, teachers nor cops possess the knowledge nor the maturity to exercise their authority and judgement to control a SIX YEARS OLD CHILD. My only hope is that they don't use that approach with the newborns as they tend to be unreasonably noisy and have a preference for relieving themselves in public. Perhaps they will just ticket the soiled, noisy kids?

 

[Smallcock]

My mother was a doctor of child psychiatry, a life long educator and an officer of the court advising and guiding investigations into child abuse and/or neglect. We grew up having to listen to our mother practice her court statements on us. But, you're right about "these days". These days neither some parents, teachers nor cops possess the knowledge nor the maturity to exercise their authority and judgement to control a SIX YEARS OLD CHILD. My only hope is that they don't use that approach with the newborns as they tend to be unreasonably noisy and have a preference for relieving themselves in public. Perhaps they will just ticket the soiled, noisy kids?

Many teachers have the knowledge and maturity but are more or less legally bound from exercising it. What method (without physical contact) of manipulation/intimidate/bargaining would you use to stop the child from assaulting other kids? You should probably exclude intimidation as well, as that might get you into legal trouble.

Newborns are unable to attend school and are unable physically assault other kids. Their bodily functions and unreasonable loudness cannot be "controlled" with verbal "manipulation" either.

 

[t.o.leafs.fan]

My mother was a doctor of child psychiatry, a life long educator and an officer of the court advising and guiding investigations into child abuse and/or neglect. We grew up having to listen to our mother practice her court statements on us. But, you're right about "these days". These days neither some parents, teachers nor cops possess the knowledge nor the maturity to exercise their authority and judgement to control a SIX YEARS OLD CHILD. My only hope is that they don't use that approach with the newborns as they tend to be unreasonably noisy and have a preference for relieving themselves in public. Perhaps they will just ticket the soiled, noisy kids?

The inmates have been running the asylum for years now and that's not on the teachers. There's not a teacher in the world who wants to work within a system of minimal discipline. Admin., parents and society are to blame on this one. Your mom would be greatly disheartened by the sad state of affairs.

 

[jcpro]

Many teachers have the knowledge and maturity but are more or less legally bound from exercising it. What method (without physical contact) of manipulation/intimidate/bargaining would you use to stop the child from assaulting other kids? You should probably exclude intimidation as well, as that might get you into legal trouble.

Newborns are unable to attend school and are unable physically assault other kids. Their bodily functions and unreasonable loudness cannot be "controlled" with verbal "manipulation" either.

I was not there nor am I an educator or, in this case, a glorified baby sitter. But, it would seem that a bunch of adults failed to control a SIX years old. That I have never seen nor heard about. I asked around, since, and nobody else either. Intimidation is a valid tool- social exclusion or depravation are as old as the child rearing itself and does not have to resort to violence. The very young kids do not posses the judgement to know boundaries. It is the job of the parents to establish them. That's achieved by applying positive and negative reinforcements. In this case, simply putting the kid in an empty room and dimming the lights(not off) would have solved the little temper tantrum under a couple of hours without the whole circus.

 

[derrick76]

How many of you jokers are around 6 year old kids on a regular basis?

 

[Smallcock]

I was not there nor am I an educator or, in this case, a glorified baby sitter. But, it would seem that a bunch of adults failed to control a SIX years old. That I have never seen nor heard about. I asked around, since, and nobody else either. Intimidation is a valid tool- social exclusion or depravation are as old as the child rearing itself and does not have to resort to violence. The very young kids do not posses the judgement to know boundaries. It is the job of the parents to establish them. That's achieved by applying positive and negative reinforcements. In this case, simply putting the kid in an empty room and dimming the lights(not off) would have solved the little temper tantrum under a couple of hours without the whole circus.

Are teachers allowed to do this in 2020?

Second, perhaps the teachers have been thru this numerous times and after all is said and done, the behaviour persists.

It’s my understanding that the tribunal didn’t rule that cuffing the kid was the wrong course of action but that they did it only because of the race of the child.