Colorado police pepper-spray misbehaving boy, 8

[jen276here]

Thoughts?


Colorado police pepper-spray misbehaving boy, 8 - Yahoo! News

DENVER – Eight-year-old Aidan Elliott had thrown a TV and chairs at his Colorado elementary school and was trying to use a cart to bust through a door to an office where teachers and other students fled for safety.

No one could calm the boy, not even the staff in a program for children with behavior problems like him. So they called police, who had intervened with Aidan twice before.

Police found him with a foot-long piece of wood trim with a knife-like point in one hand and a cardboard box in the other.

"Come get me, f-----," he said.

When they couldn't calm him down, one squirted Aidan with pepper spray. He blocked it with the cardboard box.

A second squirt hit the youngster in the side of the head, and down he went, according to an account of the Feb. 22 standoff in a police report first obtained by KUSA-TV.

Aidan and his mother went on national talk shows on Wednesday to say using pepper spray on an unruly 8-year-old was too much.
Police and officials at Glennon Heights Elementary in Lakewood, Colo., say it could've been worse.

"Had the officers chosen to be hands-on with him, the potential for him getting some type of injury and, maybe even officers, would have been much higher," police spokesman Steve Davis said.

"It was the best choice made," he said.

Aidan started acting up while on the bus to school, the police report said. He began screaming and then continued after breakfast while throwing chairs at his teachers.

"He was being very aggressive, very violent," said Melissa Reeves, the school district spokeswoman.

There were eight students with Aidan in the classroom, Reeves said, and teachers removed them after he became violent. They barricaded themselves in an office, as he tried to bust in, Davis said.

Aidan was swearing and shouting expletives at his teachers and threatening them, Davis said. He taunted police when they arrived.

"I wanted to make something sharp, like if they came out, `cause I was so mad at them," the boy said on NBC's "Today" show. "I was going to try to whack them with it.”

After hitting him with the second squirt, officers took Aidan outside for some fresh air to help dissipate the spray. Paramedics were treating his red, irritated face with cool water when his mother arrived.

According to the report, Mandy Elliott asked her son what he did.
When he told her he had been hit with pepper spray, she is quoted as saying, "Well, you probably deserved it.”

It wasn't the first time officers had been called to pacify Aidan, Davis said. They'd been able to talk him down in two other incidents.

On Wednesday, Mandy Elliott said she wished authorities had chosen to talk him down. She also wanted police to get special training in dealing with children. Aidan has since transferred to another school.

When asked about the pepper spray and what he did, Aidan said: "I kind of deserved it."

[CW&M Mom]

After reading what awful things that child was doing...I don't have issues with the pepper spray.

I think that child might need some serious psyche...maybe even being committed temporarily..something is not right. Maybe detachment disorder??

Did the mom put him on tv?

[CW&M Mom]

The mother sounds like probably most of the problem.

She wanted them to talk him down??? He had made a knife...and was threatening everyone with it. He was lucky he didn't get shot. I'm fairly certain that if my child had a knife and was threatening the school and police with it...I'd be dang thankful that all that happened was police sprayed them with pepper spray instead of shooting him/her.

and the news..saying he was misbehaving..was a bit much. The kid was being very violent. It should say:


Colorado police pepper-spray VIOLENT boy, 8

[abond0017]

I also agree the pepper spray probably saved him and them from injury. My youngest bro has had violent tendencies in the past...and at only 9 he was surprisingly strong during his outbursts.

[3timesoccermom]

I shudder to think what he'll be like in a few years.

[Smee]

I think I'm ok with taking down with pepper spray anyone who is threatening others with a weapon whether they are 8 or 80. It says staff with training in dealing with behavior problems couldn't calm him, and the police tried to calm him as well. What kind of training does the mother think the police are going to get that the school staff doesn't have?

[aimeebee]

Interesting. There was a huge news story like this about a daycare here. The cops tazered the little boy and then there was a huge backlash about it. I think the pepper spray is better than tazering. What a world we are living in, when cops have to called in for 8 year olds behaving badly!! Definitely sounds like the mother needs some parenting classes or SuperNanny or something!!

[honeybear1]

After reading what awful things that child was doing...I don't have issues with the pepper spray.

I think that child might need some serious psyche...maybe even being committed temporarily..something is not right. Maybe detachment disorder??

Did the mom put him on tv?

I saw him on two different morning news shows yesterday (CBS and NBC, I think), with Mom. I couldn't watch it, I definitely think that he should be in some kind of treatment center, not on the news after something like this.

[roxygirlie1021]

I think using pepper spray was a great idea. And I agree, there have to be some serious issues going on with this child for him to be acting that way. What 8 year old makes a knife and intends to whack people with it because he is mad at them? It's a sad world we are living in right now...makes me want to home school my children one day!

[bali1228]

I'm totally ok with this.