Officers Accused of Handcuffing 5-Year-Old

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Officers Accused of Handcuffing 5-Year-Old

Associated Press | May 5 2005

Comment: Notice they say the girl in the previous story punched the teacher. She did nothing of the kind. Go and watch the video.

FLASHBACK: Handcuffing Of 5-Year-Old A Picture Postcard Of America's Decline

CINCINNATI -- Two officers accused of handcuffing a 5-year-old boy after a fight on a school bus have been suspended with pay from police duties while the city investigates the allegations, authorities said.

Chief Tom Streicher assigned officers Douglas Snider and Kaneshia Howell to desk work Tuesday and took away their guns, police officials said. Mekel Finch, the boy's mother, sued the police department, the bus company and the driver in Hamilton County Common Pleas Court on Friday. She is asking for more than $50,000.

The lawsuit claims the driver improperly detained the boy after he was struck by another child on the bus on Jan. 13. The lawsuit also claims that Snider and Howell put the child in handcuffs "for an unreasonable amount of time." The child wasn't charged.

In a similar case, police in St. Petersburg, Fla., handcuffed a 5-year-old girl on March 14 after she tore papers off a bulletin board and allegedly punched an assistant principal in kindergarten class. Police were investigating why three officers pinned her arms behind her back and put on handcuffs as she screamed, "No!"

In Cincinnati, the bus company said it investigated and found nothing improper in how the fight was handled. Pete Settle, president of Petermann bus company, called the lawsuit frivolous.

Fanon Rucker, the lawyer representing Finch and her son Izell, said the other boy in the fight was not handcuffed.

Police, who notified city officials about the investigation earlier this week, referred calls seeking comment Thursday to the city solicitor's office. Messages were left at the police department for the two suspended officers, whose home numbers are not listed.

City Solicitor J. Rita McNeil said Thursday that she could not comment on pending litigation.

"The investigation has just begun, and all we have at this time are the allegations in the lawsuit," she said.

Finch said she complained to the Citizens Complaint Authority, and a police sergeant told her that notations would be placed in the officers' personnel files saying they behaved inappropriately.

Finch said her son now has nightmares.

"He's just really going through a lot right now," she said.