Police Arrest Boy, 9, For Assaulting School Principal
By Dave
Reynolds, Inclusion Daily Express
August 25, 2006
CANTON, OHIO--A
9-year-old boy was arrested and charged with felony assault Thursday -- the
first day of school -- after he climbed onto a roof and threw rocks and a brick
at his school's principal.
The Canton Repository quoted police Lt. James Cole as saying the
"special needs" student was "disorderly and agitated from something that
happened inside the school", when he climbed out of a second-story window and
onto the roof of a one-story section of Schreiber Elementary School. Principal
Clifford Reynolds and firefighters tried talking the boy into coming back
inside the building when officers came to arrest him and take him to a
detention center.
His mother, Maria Muhleman, arrived as her son was led away in
handcuffs. She said her son sometimes has trouble communicating with people
because he has Pervasive Developmental Disorder, which is similar to autism and
Asperger syndrome.
"I was saying, 'He's autistic. You're going to take him in handcuffs?
Come on,'" she said. "We're talking about a 9-year-old with developmental
disabilities."
Muhleman told the Repository that her son became frustrated when other
children would not play with him.
"It's not because he's out of control," Muhleman said. "It's because no
one understands him."
The boy, who was not named in news accounts, was charged with felony
assault on a school employee, inducing panic and disorderly conduct.
The county's juvenile prosecutor said the boy was to meet Friday with
court officials to determine how the case should be handled.
Related:
"9-year-old accused of tossing brick at principal"(Canton
Repository)
http://www3.cantonrep.com/index.php?ID=304095
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