ACLU in Colorado sues school, sheriff over handcuffing of child with autism

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. — ACLU of Colorado filed a lawsuit Tuesday against the Douglas County School District, Sheriff Tony Spurlock and several school resource officers for handcuffing an 11-year-old boy with autism for scratching his classmate.

ACLU is suing for the violation of the child’s rights under the Americans with Disabilities Act and the Fourth Amendment. Arielle Herzberg, ACLU staff attorney, said the child has “suffered both physically and emotionally” as a result of the incident.

“The Douglas County School District and Sheriff’s Office have a pattern and practice of their officers mishandling situations involving students with disabilities and unnecessarily ensnaring them in the criminal legal system,” Herzberg said. “Handcuffing kids should never be used as classroom management and making parents pay thousands of dollars in bond for their safe return is unacceptable.”

The child, referred to as A.V., was a student at Sagewood Middle School in an affective needs classroom. On Aug. 29, 2019, A.V.’s classmate wrote on him with a marker and in response, A.V. scratched the student with a pencil, according to the lawsuit.

After A.V. scratched the student, he voluntarily left the classroom at the instruction of the classroom aide and was working with the school psychologist to calm down, ACLU said.

At this point, the school resource officers stepped in. At Sagewood Middle School, school resource officers are deputies who work for the Douglas County Sheriff’s Office.

Body camera footage shows two deputies talking to A.V. who is standing silently and not answering questions. Then, the officers grab A.V. by each arm and begin to forcibly pull him, trying to get him out of the school.

A.V. screams and cries, repeatedly asking the officers to “stop” and saying “you’re hurting me.” The deputies then handcuff A.V. behind his back, at one point aggressively grabbing onto the back of his neck to stop him from moving.

Deputies eventually put A.V. in a patrol car where he was left for hours while still handcuffed, according to the lawsuit. While locked in the patrol car, A.V. was in significant distress and banged his head against the plexiglass repeatedly, sustaining injuries.