February 21, 2008
Cuffed Kid (and Parents) to Sue City for $15 Million
Last month, a Queens kindergartener was handcuffed after a temper tantrum at PS 81, prompting his parents to threaten a lawsuit. Now a lawyer representing Dennis Rivera and his parents reveals they are filing a notice of claim against the city for $15 million.
According to the notice, Rivera, who the Daily News reports as suffering from "speech problems, attention deficit disorder and asthma," suffered injuries to his wrists as well as psychological and emotional damage. His father said, "That was excessive force on a 5-year-old."
However, a school safety agent felt that the 68-pound child - a police report said he was "punching his teacher and swinging wildly at school aides, that he smacked the assistant principal in the face, ran into a corner, and began to throw things on the floor" - needed to be restrained, and Rivera was put in a chair with his wrists handcuffed behind him. His babysitter tried to pick him up, but the school safety agent refused to release him and insisted Rivera be taken to a hospital for psychiatric evaluation.
Dennis Rivera Sr. told the News his son sees a psychologist: "He still has nightmares, his dad said, but he isn't talking about the incident as much as he had been." The Department of Education had no comment, but after the incident was publicized, Schools Chancellor Joel Klein said he was awaiting more details but "I found it troubling...When you see a young kid in handcuffs, it's got to bother you."
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No no No no NO!
The City should counter-sue the family for filing a frivolous, and then the child as compensation for eating most of the school's twinkies.
And he looks so "innocent" on camera, thinking SHOW ME THE MONEYYYY.
--- lawsuit!
Well, maybe kids today shouldn't act like animals. It's about time there were some consequences for these idiots.
5 Year Olds shouldn't watch the Spider-Man movie. A little violent, much?
Disgusting. What happened to parents rasing their kids properly?
Let's see,
attention deficit disorder: lack of discipline; parents letting their kid have his way.
speech disorder: result of above A.D.D.; can't learn a damn thing if you're too busy disrespecting the teachers now.
asthma: being overweight have anything to do with it?
What kind of shitty kid gets nightmares from being handcuffed? Get the fuck over it kid. From the looks of it, it won't be your last time.
This fat little girl should stop crying. And her parents should be sued for conceiving and raising the brat.
i dunno, i don't really care about money and I think litigation hamstrings this potentially great nation of ours, but if a school safety agent cuffed my five year old and shipped him/her off into "the system" for psych evaluation - haha right. ONE way or another I would have several people's asses
If I had known that raising an out-of-control kid could pay this well I wouldn't have wasted all those years in grad school. I seriously hope this gets booted so far our of court that this kid loses a few pounds walking home.
What do you expect from parents who let their little boy have a ponytail? But why not let the kid have the money? He'll probably need it in a few years when he's 600 pounds and can't get out of bed, like that other tub of lard who sued the city because ten firemen still couldn't manage his incredible weight and bulk down some stairs.
Glad to see the parents rely on a psychologist to raise their 'uncontrollable' fat ass son.
He reminds me of the Stay Puff Marshmallow Man from Ghostbusters.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stay_Puft_Marshmallow_Man
The Resemblance is undeniable!
Yeah, i mean what happened to when you would get beat at school and THEN get beat at home for making the teacher beat you at school!
Maybe not that extreme, but ya know... accountability.
I'll bet anyone a cool $15 mil that these people will blow it all on colonic enemas, failed "investments," and lottery tickets before he's 18.
People who sue the city--their fellow citizens--disgust me.
That's just $15 million less for the school system, the elderly, the subway...
that's not a girl.
too bad the parents couldn't get him into some expensive private school like the other parents with retards on the UWS or have money to sue the city when the city won't pay the tuition to the private school because the public school for retards is not up to their standards.
Kids today are turning into wusses. Getting cuffed at school is definately not the worst thing I experienced growing up. Now, kids can't even choose their own teams for gym because they don't want to upset the kids who get picked last.
Kids today are turning into wusses. Getting cuffed at school is definately not the worst thing I experienced growing up. Now, kids can't even choose their own teams for gym because they don't want to upset the kids who get picked last.
This is ridiculous. Teachers have to put up with low pay, parents who don't take an iota of time or care with their own kids and now we must say or do nothing while being punched, hit or abused by out of control children?
Do we really know what happened? Kids become little monsters from being abused, one way or another, at home. Implicit in some of the comments is "spare the rod and spoil the child". Bad idea. He's a child. Its not his fault. Maybe the parents are to blame, but I hardly know anyone who can say that their parents did the right thing in raising them. Witness the billion dollar psych industry, therapy and drugs. But... that said... handcuffs? Brutal stupid tactic. I wouldn't take that so lightly. Have you ever been cuffed? (Remember the woman who died in custody at the airport recently while cuffed?) Litigation? Well... whatever. If you want a lawyer in a sitch like this, they all come running convincing you that you (and they) can make a fortune. It raises serious questions about the parents judgement, and implicates them in this poor kid's problems.
Did they just find the baby daddy on the Maury show?
I'm sure this isn't the last time that little gordito gets cuffed at school. I hope the lawyer who is stupid enough to take this case gets disbarred -- I'm a lawyer and I think this kind of frivilous lawsuit is repugnant.
I'm glad I saw this. After reading
http://www.villagevoice.com/news/0808,302529,302529,4.html
I was really concerned that SSO were unnecessarily cuffing kids, which I believe can be a pretty traumatizing experience. However, in this case, with all the assaulting of officials and people in authority, damn right the kid should be cuffed. And yeah, counter-sue all the way.
I vote for giving the kid an uppercut.
I wonder if the teacher could sue the student's parents for the trauma of having to deal with their out of control child day after day....
There were several students in my class who traumatized me when I taught. There's really no recourse. And the fact of the matter is, teachers are there to teach; the are not social workers, psychiatrists or prison guards (at least they shouldn't be).
i hope this case makes it to court. the kid will either misbehave the entire time & everyone will see what a little monter he is & realize the cuffs were justified or they will somehow get him to behave, & all of their medical excuses can be thrown out the window. either way they lose.
sorry slappy, the kid & the parents are to blame. little monsters aren't just created from being abused they are also purposely raised to be gangsta. wake up. his dad probably bought little jabba some ice cream when he heard his kid hit an adult. "dat's som gangsta sh!t rite dere, yo!" this entire family should be removed from the public school system.
What I've learned this week about kids and parents:
It's not OK for actors to smoke in movies.
It is OK for students/kids to throw temper tantrums in school and carry ak47's.
I wonder if the teacher could sue the student's parents for the trauma of having to deal with their out of control child day after day....
I'm going to go ahead and guess the kid's parents are judgment-proof.
Hey, don't tell me that's not a girl. All those masculine pronouns refering to the brat are typical Jen Chung goofs. They ain't fooling me.
As we speak I'm working on a special loogie coming at that girl's receding hairline.
Bit ballsy to ask for $15M --- the SI ferry victim lost his leg and he only got $6.5m
Best thing that ever happened to Mama - dreams of big bucks and she got to be on tv.
maybe the parents really are to blame,
that's what happens when you marry and have children too close in bloodline. See UWS.
Welcome to the police state. I don't think public schools should be in the business of forcibly restraining their children and then shipping them off to psychiatric facilities to be evaluated and possibly drugged against their parents' will. If the kid is unmanagable, expel his ass and let the parents send it to a private school or some sort of reformatory.
In a response to #16, about kids who have, Dyslexia, ADD. ADHD or other learning disabilities. Get you head out of your ass for calling these kids with disabilities, "retards." What do you know about the ability of the public system, which our tax $ goes to support,to handle the education of such kids? Your statement just sounds like sour grapes because
of the recent court case where the city must pay for the education of a special student that they can not handle.And the $ from that case was given to charity! Also your statement is off the mark for the article being commented about. As a parent of a "special" student I take great outrage at your statement. My kid most likely have a higher IQ than you but just learns differently!