Diabetic High School Girl Beaten by Police Officer and Arrested -- For Falling Asleep in Class

[marmar]

from AlterNet:


A student who was arrested and beaten for falling asleep at school is now suing an Alabama city, its police department and some school employees for civil rights violation, battery and negligent supervision and hiring. The Courthouse News Service reports that after the diabetic student fell asleep while in a room reserved for “in school suspensions,” a school police officer slammed her face into a cabinet and then arrested her. The incident occurred at a high school in Hoover, Alabama.

Ashlynn Avery, who has diabetes, asthma and sleep apnea, was suspended for cutting class, and had to sit in the in-school suspension room. While she was reading “Huckleberry Finn,” she dozed off. First, the in-school suspension supervisor walked over to her cubicle and struck it, which caused the cubicle to hit Avery’s head, according to the lawsuit. She woke up, but soon fell back asleep. The supervisor, Joshua Whited, then took the book from her and slammed it on on, which caused the book to hit the student in the chest.

Avery was then told to leave the room, according to the complaint, and police officer Christopher Bryant followed her. Bryant slapped her backpack, and then “proceeded to shove Ashlynn face first into a file cabinet and handcuff her,” the complaint states. While in the car, Avery vomited. She was taken to a hospital and had to wear a cast as a result of her injuries.

“Ashlynn required follow-up care to her shoulder, arm, and wrist, Ashlynn also required extended mental counseling for trauma caused by the defendants,” the lawsuit states. The Averys are seeking "compensatory and punitive damages for civil rights violations, battery and negligent supervision and hiring," the Courthouse News Service reports. ..........(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.alternet.org/news-amp-politics/diabetic-high-school-girl-beaten-police-officer-and-arrested-falling-asleep-class

[premium]

1. And cops wonder why they have such an image problem?

[KamaAina]

2. I can't find a picture,

but let's just say it wouldn't surprise me if Ashlynn happened to be African American.

[chillfactor]

4. it does say in the full article....

that the school is located in a "community of color"...

[malaise]

24. I'll take that answer for $2,000 Alex

[LeftInTX]

35. That's the first thing I thought too............

[pnwmom]

55. Her mother's name is Tieshka, so you are probably right. n/t

[Aerows]

79. You'd be right

[Blue_Tires]

3. if this is true, that student is about to own the county and everything in it...

[pnwmom]

56. Depends entirely on who's on the jury. n/t

[Savannahmann]

5. Waiting for the dedicated defenders of the police to start in.

Should be anytime. The usual they have a hard job, suspect was probably belligerent, and challenged their authority.

Every six months, we should give our cops a polygraph, to determine if they are lying under oath, presenting false information, and abusing their power. We probably won't catch all the bad ones, but we'll get most of them, which is a damned sight better than we are doing now.

[AnotherMcIntosh]

6. Why would we have to give them a polygraph?

[Occulus]

19. Because they're allowed to legally lie for any reason to any person at any time

and no profession should be able to get away with that.

I also support monthly steroid and drug testing (edit: for every officer of every force everywhere, paid for by themselves, out of their own pocket) with a penalty of mandatory termination without any chance of appeal or reinstatement for failure to pass.

Our police are completely out of control, coast to coast. We need to reign them in. We also need to abolish their unions. Police should not have the right to organize or collectively bargain, and I say that as a member of the APWU for seventeen years.

[AnotherMcIntosh]

41. Yea, but we already know that.

Steroid and drug testing would be good. Termination would be good. I would also support restitution to compel a return of all money received since the previous steroid and drug test.

Supervisor should be held accountable. If they cannot or will not control the LEOs under their command, fire them.

[Archae]

42. Polygraphs are *NOT* "lie detectors."

They are nervousness detectors, subject to the biases of the operators.

[Archae]

51. So you don't mind losing your job over woo?

http://www.skepdic.com/polygrap.html

[noamnety]

67. I would encourage you to rethink your position here.

I'm speaking as someone who has failed three polygraphs. Never accused of a crime, btw - I simply volunteered to take one because I was a counterintelligence geek and my people kept asking me what to expect if they got randomly pulled for one. I never dreamed I'd have a problem getting through it.

I don't usually see things as black and white, so any question became a philosophical thing for me. That doesn't mean I would be jumpy or trigger happy with a gun. It means if I'm asked something like would I betray a family member, I start envisioning hypotheticals - ironically, like what if a family member committed a crime, wouldn't I turn them in? And then I can't give them a clean NO, which is what they needed in the polygraph.

It tests the way your body physically react to thoughts, which is different than testing whether you are telling the truth, or what your decisions would be on the job or in a moment of crisis.

Personally, I would rather have cops who can see multiple sides of an issue, instead of ones who see things in black and white terms. We run into problems like the ones described in the OP when they can only see rigid right and wrong - "she's sleeping, she shouldn't be, she must be punished" - vs. "She can't stay awake, I wonder what the root cause is? Maybe there's something going on here."

[Manifestor_of_Light]

73. polygraphs are not admissible in evidence. They don't prove anything.

[DiverDave]

75. Polygraphs CAN be beat

I did it.
They asked me if that weed was mine, I said no, and the machine agreed...
That was geez, 36 yrs ago...how time flies.

[Archae]

81. I know, and it's when law enforcement depends on them it really gets bad.

The FBI had a Soviet "mole" in their ranks, yet the polygraphs could never find the perp.

It wasn't until the guy had his finances looked at, since he was buying luxury stuff, that he got caught.
Yet the same guy passed polygraph "tests" with flying colors.

[truedelphi]

8. When I reported on how a mentally ill man

Who was in his own home, but decided to smash a few things up, his neighbors called the police, assuming they would know how to reach a competent mental health support crisis crew. Instead the police came to this man's home and shot and killed him.


And someone here told me the police had no choice - that they are busy people and they can't waste time waiting for someone to calm down, nor can they wait for mental health professionals to come in and deal with the man.

What was especially sad was that normally this man's mother was there caring for him, but she had finally, after many years, taken a vacation. After all, if he stayed in the house, how could he come to harm!

[pnwmom]

57. Yeah, they're so busy they send them in to watch high school study halls. n/t

[DebJ]

85. That is not the response of all officers. I have met quite a few who are

compassionate, and caring, who listen and understand, and then follow the law and
do what is necessary, when dealing with these types of cases.

[backscatter712]

9. We should require them to wear cameras that are on, recording and streaming everything they do...

Those cameras should have no off switch, and disabling one, or even letting its batteries run out, should be a firing offense. There should be no such thing as "Oops, we lost the footage."

And ALL of this footage should be archived and available by subpoena or FOIA request.

[Ian David]

31. Like this?

Wearing a Badge, and a Video Camera
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/04/07/business/wearable-video-cameras-for-police-officers.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0

[backscatter712]

34. Yeah, like that.

Like I said, the officers should be assuming they're on camera for every last second they're on duty. Maybe that would keep our cops honest.

[Occulus]

21. You just replied to one of them, I think

[backscatter712]

7. 99% of cops give the good ones a bad name... n/t

[Savannahmann]

72. I don't believe it's 99% good

I never see a cop wearing a seatbelt. I see many of them holding cell phones to their ears while driving. Hundreds of dollars in fines for me and thee. No biggie for them. Every cop will lie to a suspect in an effort to get them to confess. If you lie to a cop, that is a felony in my state. They tell routine lies everyday. They abuse the database all the time. Running neighbors through, girls and boys they meet. Every day every cop abuses the power entrusted to them.

It only gets worse from there. It keeps getting worse until one gets caught really doing something bad. Then we hear how they are selfless servants of the community. So there aren't 99% good. It just depends on how bad they are. They do not obey the laws they enforce. They won't testify against each other, because it's cops versus everyone.

[Bake]

83. Read it again ...

The poster is saying the 99% are the bad actors. The 1% are the "good ones."

Bake

[Rex]

10. Fire them. Make them all unemployed.

Each person involved that let this happen...fire them...make them find work elsewhere. Fucking assholes. Way to treat an innocent, easy to prey upon, girl with diabetes you big fucking tough guys!

[LittleBlue]

11. Poor little girl

Fire the scum who abused her

[PD Turk]

13. Enough!

Just about every day I read a story about cops going off the deep end, abusing their authority and beating or shooting people for no reason. And all too often the story at the punishment end of things is either them getting off with no punishment or getting a slap on the wrist.

Enough!! It's high time we got the damn cops under control in this country

[Dragonfli]

50. SOP, I have never witnessed police act any other way, what is unusual

is that the officer didn't charge her with resisting arrest and assaulting a PO. Where I lived most of my life, that was the bonus prize for getting your ass kicked for their amusement, resisting is the prize for bruised flesh and ribs, as well as joint pain torture (a favorite way for them to get their jollies); assaulting an officer was the prize for broken ribs and concussions as well as shoulder dislocations, broken wrists or broken ribs resulting from their "fun", the charge is as serious as needed to justify their "self protection". The police reports are works of poorly written fiction that everyone in court knows are lies but that are accepted as gospel nonetheless.

I suppose they behave differently to rich white guys in suits, or those living in posh neighborhoods; I can't speak to that as I am not rich and don't wear a suit, my neighborhood was multiracial and very poor, we learn at an early age that you run if you see a cop, it doesn't matter that you've done nothing, what matters is they are more dangerous than the drug dealers.

[PD Turk]

53. They killed my best friend's uncle

He was diabetic and I guess he had become disoriented, but here in Oklahoma, especially back then, I'd bet my bottom dollar they thought he was just "another drunk Indian". They beat him to death, there was a mark from a revolver butt clear as day on the top of his head

[Dragonfli]

62. I'm sorry for your loss, I wish I could say I thought it a rare thing, we both know it isn't

I can guess the rest of the story - "no officer was ever investigated or charged in the death".

We were taught as children to never go to a cop if we were lost or in trouble, we were told to go to a public store and ask the clerk to call home for us. My parents knew the score and my gramms was visibly terrified of them, I think because her first husband was an early union guy that died young of an "aneurysm" and was coincidentally found near the site of a labor rally that was busted.

[PD Turk]

63. yep

it was the early 70s and nothing happened to the cops at all, they went on like nothing happened.

[davidn3600]

14. Quick...someone post the pic of the cop delivering milk so we feel better about the police state!!!

[Logical]

25. LOL, +1000

[newmember]

37. lol

[KamaAina]

40. ...

Doesn't make me feel a whole lot better about this, though, seeing as how that cop is up in Boston and had absolutely nothing whatsoever to do with this atrocity.

[AnotherMcIntosh]

43. How do we know that he is not taking the milk away?

[KamaAina]

44. DUzy!!

[CincyDem]

76. Ruh roh - that's "red cap" milk.

Everyone know that whole milk thing will eventually kill ya. I won't be able to forgive them beating up on a young woman (likely african american) who found herself out of balance until I see some cop delivering SKIM milk to a rich white household. That's the only way justice can be served.

[KamaAina]

84. Another DUzy!!

[azurnoir]

15. More info from CourtHouse news, I'll venture a guess that this student is Black

http://www.courthousenews.com/2013/05/07/57383.htm

[BainsBane]

16. the criminalization of childhood

is everywhere now. How much does this have to do with the for-profit prison industrial complex?

[BainsBane]

17. 70% of school house arrests are children of color

This from the same article: "The case is another example of abuses committed by school police officers. Activists have long decried the “school to prison pipeline” which disproportionately affects communities of color. A PBS factsheet, as the Courthouse News Service notes, states that “70 percent of students involved in 'in-school' arrests or referred to law enforcement are black or Latino.”

[redqueen]

27. Thanks for the statistic. Doesn't surprise me at all.

Some people seem to think these school arrests are more a result of teacher and administrative incompetence and not racism. lol

[AnotherMcIntosh]

45. Ship all the manufacturing jobs out of the country and this is what is left.

What do the kids have to look forward to?

[Arcanetrance]

18. Disgusting this shit is why a friend of mine quit the force the corruption and violence

Force the good ones out overtime leaving nothing but the bad. Sadly our society as allowed this to happen and supports a police state cause they feel safe I've seen a few threads today by one such person

[Quantess]

20. Anyone wanna bet she's black? (no text)

[pnwmom]

58. Her mother's name is Tieshka, which probably adds to the likelihood. n/t

[AverageJoe90]

22. It's like going back to the 1950's all over again.....

But then again, this IS Alabama, so maybe not.

Hope this poor girl gets some MAJOR vindication, though: Firing that asshole cop & supervisor & holding them in a prison cell would be a good start.....even better if her family gets a truckload of compensation, too.

[AnotherMcIntosh]

49. It wasn't this bad in the '50's.

Some LEOs used cattle prods, but it was a rarity. Now, every police force has Tasers. Nobody holds them accountable for electrifying the citizenry.

Some cops delivered unnecessary and excessive violence. But now it is commonplace. It's happening throughout the country.

Police departments are getting tanks, wearing black uniforms with Ninja masks, and treating the public as the enemy.

In the '50's, the police reported to superiors who responded to mayors and other politicans. Now, they are out of control throughout the country.

[AverageJoe90]

54. Where did you grow up, btw?

I hope you don't mind me asking that question. TBH. Some police departments were really decent overall, but some others, not quite so much(see: Bull Connor's Birmingham).

[AverageJoe90]

68. Rowlett, Texas.....just east of Dallas.

Mostly peaceful community, and the cops were pretty decent.......we did have the Routier murders, though.

Anyway, I'm glad to hear you had a good experience up there in the Windy City.

[AnotherMcIntosh]

70. Good to hear that Rowlett had decent cops. Maybe they still do.

[Initech]

23. Damn if I fell asleep in class the teacher would be like "GTFO".

But to call the cops who proceed to get violent? Holy crap.

[backscatter712]

32. When I was a kid, the teachers would prank the kids that fell asleep.

For example, one of mine from junior high saw a kid sleeping, very quietly ushered the rest of the class into the hall, crept back into the room, slapped a book shut to startle him awake, then told him "What are you still doing here? School ended an hour ago?" The look on his face was priceless!

[noamnety]

69. The thing that's worked best in my classroom

Is to nudge them awake, and ask them to go get a drink of water. The act of walking down the hall and getting a drink is far more effective at waking them up out of their stupor than ordering them to be awake, and it isn't perceived as shaming or being bullying.

[Autumn Colors]

77. My brother fell asleep in science class in 8th grade

Mrs. B. threw an eraser and smacked him in the head with it.



EDIT: This was in the early 1970s.

[Bernardo de La Paz]

26. That police officer is the kind of "good guy" that NRA wants in schools. nt

[Buzz Clik]

28. "Nobody sleeps on my watch, or I kick your ass!"

Remind me -- why do we call them pigs?

[Scootaloo]

64. Because some people are speciest against Sus scrofa

The pig is a noble, lovable, and intelligent animal, and surely deserves better than to be compared to American cops.

[HereSince1628]

29. We need good guys with guns in the schools to shoot the bad guys

This spring the default attitude is that people do bad things because they are criminals or are crazy. The appropriate cop response to both appears to be battery (in the interest of protecting an officer fearful of his own safety, of course).

[Th1onein]

30. What are these barbaric jerks doing in our schools with our KIDS?

I don't think that they are there for protection. I think that, the end result is that we have more young people entering our criminal justice system because of this.

Cops are killing innocent people, and now they are beating up on our children. Get 'em out of our schools, and off of our streets!

[Dawson Leery]

33. Too many police.

The more laws which are made to curtail freedoms, the more need for these thugs.

[redqueen]

36. It's nice that no one has insinuated that this student or her mother is lying.

Maybe the 'its only a civil lawsuit!' brigade simply hasn't found the thread yet.

[LeftInTX]

38. Why were police even involved with a sleeping student??

This is just sooo wrong on so many levels.

The student did nothing illegal and I don't see that she was suspected of doing anything illegal.

Police are there for possible legal issues, not students sleeping.
They aren't there to discipline students.

I have nothing against police on campus.
My son was involved with some illegal stuff (I won't elaborate, but he sure wasn't sleeping and he was a potential danger to other students) when he was in high school and I was glad that they had police on campus.

The district was sooo wrong to allow this.
The school faculty/staff should address a sleeping student, not the campus police.

[Occulus]

39. Her sleeping may well have been related to her diabetes

in which case, no form of punishment was ever even slightly warranted.

She should sue both the school district and the police department for their 2013 budgets as a maximum upper limit. Both entities should be financially punished enough that it threatens their operations. No other award will drive the point home; if they can afford the award she receives, it simply isn't high enough.

Punitive damages should inflict lasting pain. Otherwise, they aren't punishments, but expenses, and that is NOT enough for things like this.

I'd vote to bankrupt both if I were on the jury. It's the only thing that sends the message home.

[LeftInTX]

46. I'm sure it probably was.

When I said faculty/staff, I implied the school nurse too.

With a sleeping student in ISS/D hall they should have tried to wake her first. If that doesn't work, they should try talking to her to figure out the problem and send her to the school nurse. Even if they can't get a straight answer from her, they should have sent her to the nurse.

Sure there are a few kids out there who "fake sleeping", and there are kids who have trouble staying awake in class because they stayed up late, but that is not an issue for the police.

A student that isn't particularly responsive needs to be taken to the nurse.

This is just so wrong on so many levels.

[pnwmom]

59. Or how about her sleep apnea?.

[Lunacee_2013]

48. As a type 1 diabetic, I've always been a little worried about having a really low blood sugar

episode in public. If I drop below 50 I can get a little argumentative and I'm afraid some cop might take that as me being resistant or something, and tase me. It happened to another diabetic in a different town that's not too far away from here.

[Newest Reality]

52. Interesting

I wonder how much the jackboot effect represents the state of the system in general and if it can be considered an indicator?

There are separate events and there are interrelated aggregates of culture, law enforcement, politics and economics.

[treestar]

60. How can one be arrested for falling asleep in a class?

Is that illegal in that state?

[muntrv]

61. And the NRA wants to put armed guards in schools. This is a preview of what really will happen.

[Nay]

65. She just won enough $$ for college. nt

[MrScorpio]

71. Yay, Cops. They're the best! nt.

[undergroundpanther]

74. Glad this didn't happen in my school...

My best friend had severe gray's disease and conked out in class often.Bullies would pick on him I would defend him back then. If a cop hurt my only friend in school like that, you bet I'd be on that cops shit list because I'd defend my friend. I don't care if the bully wears a fucking badge,a bully is a bully and I hate them all..And because I was hated by everyone in school for reasons I still don't get back than, I had nothing to lose by standing up, and still have nothing to lose,my conscience will not make a bystander of me. I don't give a rat's ass what the bully says or thinks he is or what excuses he pulls out of his ass for hitting that poor girl.He's a bully therefore a scumbag asking to be stomped.

After all, all authority is nothing but an empty sound,nothing more.

[MineralMan]

78. So, I followed the links and found the Courthouse News story

this alternet story is based on. The incident happened in 2011. I assume the lawsuit is just beginning to be processed, but couldn't find any current stories about it. I'd really like to read some story from a site that has more up-to-date information on this old story.

[surrealAmerican]

80. "In school suspension" ...

... is not "in jail suspension", the police officer should not have been there in the first place.

Wouldn't it be nice if the schools were interested in protecting their students, instead of having them arrested?

[Bake]

82. Just an isolated bad apple, no doubt ...

Bake