Poor Alexa Gonzalez. The cherub-faced 12 year old was handcuffed and marched to the precinct for doodling on her desk.
And no, her doodles weren't malicious or incitative to violence. Nor were they permanent. They were innocent, erasable messages of peace, saying "I love my friends, Abby and Faith." But New York public schools want to show that they're serious about their zero-tolerance policies, even if that means handcuffing an innocent twelve year old girl in front of students and faculty, as tears stream down her cheeks in emotional distress. Of course, her New York injury attorney is crying 'foul' and promising a lawsuit will ensue in addition to the current ACLU civil rights lawsuit underway.
But Alexa hasn't been the sole New York student that has fallen victim to school security officers.
The school security officers fall under the authority of the NYPD, although they technically haven't been trained properly by the NYPD. As a result, there is now a civil rights lawsuit filed by the ACLU in New York, against the NYPD for repeatedly violating students' civil rights through wrongful arrests and the excessive use of force.
You see, the failure to adequately train these officers has led to cases of officers physically assaulting students; often for non-criminal conduct. And although New York law permits officers to make a warrantless arrest based on reasonable suspicion, a New York injury attorney involved could easily attempt to assert the tort of false arrest, given that many of these cases do not technically even involve a crime. Furthermore, a wise New York injury attorney could assert assault or battery in these cases, as well as negligence on the part of the NYPD, for not taking adequate precautions in properly training the school security officers. Indeed, the NYPD owed a duty to the school's students and by providing improperly trained officers, there could very easily be grounds to say that such a duty was breached.
As for poor little Alexa Gonzalez-- she certainly won't be doodling on her desk again!
Related Resources
- Find A NY Injury Attorney (FindLaw)
- Girl's Arrest for Doodling Raises Concerns About Zero Tolerance (CNN)
- Can Your Child Be Strip Searched at School? Supreme Court Mulls Issue in Savana Redding School (FindLaw's Law & Daily Life)
- School Search and Seizure: An Overview of the Law (Youth Advocacy Project)
- ACLU Lawsuit Challenges Abusive Police Practices in New York City Schools (ACLU)
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