Tuesday, September 13, 2005

Handcuffs and pepper spray

Picked up one of my Regent Park children at Sick Kids Hospital last night. He had an altercation with his principal earlier in the day (ie the principal was chasing him around the playground – at least until the child climbed a tree), and so the principal called the police.

When the police arrived, they got him out of the tree, handcuffed him and threw him into their cruiser. But the kid didn’t like being handcuffed and so started kicking up a fuss in the police car. Then the police pepper sprayed him to get him under control.

Did I mention that the child is 10 years old? He’s got red marks all over his wrists and is still shaken up after the temporary blindness and face-burning episode yesterday. Okay, so the kid went a bit wrangy, but do two police officers really need handcuffs and pepper spray to control a small 10-year-old child?

Today was spent taking him back to Sick Kids for a psych assessment. He’ll probably be off school for a few days at least. Way to start a new school year.

Please pray for this child, his family and the various teachers and other professionals working with him. And also pray that a suitable mentor (I know you’re out there) will be found to watch over him when I leave for Zimbabwe.

3 comments:

Leslie said...

unbelievable, those things really upset me. I am praying that a good mentor will show up soon.

Gordon said...

:o(

The @ said...

please tell me its not who I think it is :(