Girl claims injuries inflicted by school officer
Dougherty County School Police are investigating a complaint of excessive force against a sixth grade girl arrested for protesting having her picture taken. Her father shows scratches on 11-year-old Treneashe Graddy’s neck and back. She says she was thrown to the ground and arrested at Southside Middle School yesterday. When school officials tried to take her picture for school identification, she refused because her hair was not fixed. School Police Lt. Laniece Pope tried to force the girl to take the picture, and handcuffed and arrested her when she resisted.
OK, let’s examine the worst case scenario and assume the girl was a little a-hole. So What? Why should she be forced to get a picture ID in the first place?
Two guesses.
State law.
School board policy.
1. it is policy to have the pics taken IN ORDER..Alpha ORDER so it is easier for the photographer..
2. Sending her to the BACK of the line?? is NOT orderly.
3. TEACHERS KNOW BEST.
I’d say the police was on a massive power trip because he believes he is the law. That appears to be a reocurring theme with police over the last decade or more.
That’s where all the smart money is IMO.
The Police are not “bad” but it does seem that the unwritten rule is that an officer HAS to get the last word. It seems like most abuse cases you see are more about police power tripping than anything else. Even the case with the black Harvard Prof was really about power and not race. Even if no law is being broken, it seems many cops just can’t simply walk away. There is an excellent manual they give to major league umpires where they stress that you don’t have get the last word. They don’t have to outshout or one-up the player. All cops should have to read it.
No I presume that all police are good until they do something like this. Once they do something like this I presume they are douchbags who think they are the law. That’s correct more often than not. Don’t get me wrong though, everyone is innocent until proven guilty.
Most police actually do serve and protect. Unfortunatly, an increasing number of police appear to have adopted the idea that they should serve and terrorize and do whatever the hell they believe they should do.
Afterall, it’s been shown time and time again that many police are, in fact, above the law.
The thing that bothers me the most is that someone would think I’m a loon for believing any of this.
lens42 said, on August 29th, 2009 at 9:33 pm
The Police are not “bad”
You’re a complete and utter moron.
Scary black 11yr old. You can see they needed to call the police on her.
And a school ID is so f’ing serious of a reason to call them about. Bet she was running rampant flinging the teachers desk and about to take some hostages.
Probably not her first time being arrested. Most likely her first run in with the law was for having crack in her diaper.
Police are not above the law they are the law. Respect, comply or, get beat tazzed or shot. But hey, lets give the school and the cops the benefit of the doubt. Because there sure is a lot to…, WTF are you drinking?!?
On first reading, I was thinking “Twyana Brawley.” Then I read Alfie ((HEY ALFIE!!!)) and thought he was being especially independent of mind, until I read his further posts.
Then I linked to the article: “”She put her hand around her neck, left a bruise around her neck. She handcuffed her, put her knee in her stomach and put her knee in her back, which caused injuries to her,” said mom, Katrina Jackson.” /// Not expressly 100% but this sounds like a quote from a percipient witness.
Good help is hard to find. If they were good, they’d be doing something else. Peter Principle.
Couldn’t the officer, or one of the school officials have just said, ‘look, let’s be clear, we can fix this in post,’ thus mollifying said young person?
School police, WTF! You have police in your schools? Christ, I’m glad my kids don’t go to school in the US.
There was never any need for any violence what so ever!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Ok, No picture – No school.
Not ok, No picture – police violence.
As a society we give police too much power to inflict violence where it is not needed.
Police believe they have unlimited powers, they don’t.
Their purpose is to allow for a fair, orderly and just society.
Indiscriminate police force defeats what we want as a society.
If she didn’t want to cooperate to have her picture taken, couldn’t they just suspend her for the day for not cooperating with school rules and send her home? That is what my elementary or middle school would have done. No need for the police or school cop to get involved…
Your child has just been injured by school security. Do you:
A – Take your child to the hospital
B – Call the real police
C – Call the school superintendent
D – Call the local news crew and get on TV
The girl was quoted as saying “If you take my picture I will tell my mom on you, you stupid fucking pig” which pissed off the cop at which point the occifer slipped and said “I saw yo mamma with a ho”. This was disturbing to the little girl as she thought the occifer said “You’re momma is a ho”. While laying there on the floor looking up at the little girl the occifer watched that little girl’s temper flare and became scared. Her mother was featured recently on TV. She’s the one that came running out of the house, swinging violently at cameramen on her lawn with a garden ho.
she just wanted them to use her Gitmo booking photo.
I’m just shocked ‘school police’ behave so badly.
Since they stopped calling them ‘minimum wage, uneducated security guards’ and started calling them ‘school police’, they’ve really gotten out of hand.
I have an idea. Why don’t we present them as real police, to make our point that all police are bad? No-one around here will know the difference.
I still say such posts are nothing but intellectual dishonesty but what do I know? I’m not a teenybopper from Brazil who knows how to increase clicks on a blog with dirty tricks to make big bucks, am I?
OK, you can delete this now:
[ed. posting guidelines]
It’s sounds like your schools are modeled on the prison system. Are these “school cops” armed? What’s unbelievable is you all seem to be ok with this.
Having worked in a school system before, I know JUST how bad those kids can get. It’s almost as though they’re begging to get arrested to earn some unspoken “badge of honor.”
Sadly, many (not all) school resource officers are the officers who aren’t fit for patrol duty for whatever reason: previous injuries on the job, too many problems with the captain, etc.
#21 Yes, Jim… They’re armed, and you can bet the kids are, too.
Clarification to my statement above: I know a number of these school officers, and many of them are excellent at their jobs. Patrol duty may be one thing, but I do see the students respond to them (usually).
Tabloid journalism reigns supreme once again on DU! Change the name to the Dvorak Enquirer and you won’t get filtered!
Where’s the other side of this story?
When has a camera and the possibility of a million dollar lawsuit ever stood in the way of the truth?
A friend of mine came home to Ireland because he didn’t want his kids educated in the US. I can see why. It sounds just desperate.
Alfred1 you really are an idiot and a troll.
We should not be surprised that our nation is becoming a police state because our schools are becoming more and more like prisons.
Police guards and zero tolerance policies do not engender an academic atmosphere.
Have gun, will murder, as the old police saying goes.
Book ‘er, Dan-o!
The sad part is they had to take her picture for the mug shot…
Couldn’t the officer have just lightly tasered her?
Not all schools in the US are like this – in fact *most* of them are not.
I wish someone would study the phenomena of adults working at a school suddenly acting like children.This seems to happen on a regular basis.
For our overseas visitors. Yes we have real police officers in our schools. Not renta cops. Most schools have metal detectors at the doors also. This is because our children have not learned to respect authority. They believe they can disrespect teachers and even harm them physically with impunity. More often than not their parents encourage this mindset. I will bet this family will get some money unfortunately.
There’s of course nothing to worry about here. After all, the cop was clearly physically threatened by the little girl. It must have been so scary for him.
And, on the off chance this little child was (and this is hard to believe) not a threat to the well trained and armed policeman – and if he did (ever so slightly I’m sure) step out of bounds, I’m sure the review of his actions (conducted by his co-workers and friends in government) will expose it all. Heck, he may face a few days off with pay.
Poor fellow. And I know I feel so much safer with that thin blue line between us and the vicious children doing up their hair.
She may have crossed the line and gone after a donut.