The ACLU says police handcuffed, brought to jail, and questioned 10-year-old girl for a sketch she drew at school. Neither the school nor the police informed the girl's mother that she'd been taken from the school.
From an Oct. 18 ACLU press release:
On the morning of January 10, 2020, a parent complained to school officials about a sketch N.B. and other students had drawn in response to another student bullying N.B. The parent unreasonably insisted that school officials call the police.
After arriving on school grounds, police interrogated 10-year-old N.B., handcuffed her with excessive force, arrested her without probable cause, and transported her to the police station—all without letting N.B. see or speak with her mother. The police and school officials took these traumatizing actions despite the fact that N.B. was cooperative and did not pose any danger to any person or herself—and without accommodating N.B.'s disability, which was documented with the school.
That same morning, school officials called Ms. Taylor to the premises. After her arrival, however, the police and school officials detained her in another room, away from N.B. They refused to let Ms. Taylor see her daughter or fully inform her of the underlying situation, despite Ms. Taylor's repeated requests. After they finally released her from the room, Ms. Taylor learned, to her horror, that the police were taking her daughter to the police station. By the time N.B. was finally released to her mother at the police precinct, she was hungry, exhausted, and had been in the school or HPD's custody for over four hours.
From the ACLU demand letter:
On January 13, 2020, Ms. Taylor [the girl's mother] delivered a grievance letter to Honowai Elementary and Leeward District Superintendent Keith Hui. In the letter, Ms. Taylor explained how on January 10, 2020, she and her daughter had been illegally detained, her daughter interrogated without her consent, and N.B.'s documented disability ignored. Ms. Taylor explained:
Although I was at Honowai Elementary, I was not properly informed or had knowledge that my daughter was removed from the premises, handcuffed in the presence of staff and her peers, placed into a squad car and taken away. I was stripped of my rights. as a parent and my daughter was stripped of her right of protection and representation as a minor. There was no understanding of diversity, African American culture and the presence of police involvement with African-American youth. My daughter and I are traumatized from these events and sure that there is no future for us at Honowai Elementary. I'm disheartened to know that this day will live with [N.B.] as a memory forever.
