A New York mother has been left outraged after her daughter was handcuffed to a chair at her middle school following a fight with another student.
Christine Henson, 46, went to go pick up her daughter Faith, 12, from IS 584 in the South Bronx on November 19.
But when she arrived at the school her daughter was nowhere to be found.
School officials allegedly walked Henson to a room inside the school on Saint Ann’s Avenue when she made the horrifying discovery.
The frustrated mother told Daily News: ‘My daughter was treated like a criminal. She was really violated. It doesn’t make sense.’
Faith was struggling and panicked while handcuffed to the chair with her arms behind her back, Henson said.
She told her mom she had been in handcuffs for three hours.
The mother remembered questioning the school safety officer about why her daughter was in handcuffs and requesting that they be removed, to which the agent replied that the girl was not going anywhere.
Christine Henson, 46, was horrified to discover her daughter, Faith, 12, was handcuffed to a chair at her middle school
Henson claims she was not given any explanation as to how her daughter ended up in handcuffs. The school safety agent allegedly blocked her from standing near the sixth grader.
The agent reportedly told Henson that police needed to come to unlock the handcuffs.
But when six officer arrived, Henson said the agent was the one who had the key to free her daughter’s hands.
A representative from the NYPD told DailyMail.com that she was handcuffed following a fight with another student and started to become ‘increasingly agitated.’
The department wrote: ‘The School Safety agent attempted to place the student in Velcro handcuffs, the student was not compliant, and the School Safety Agent was unable to place her in the Velcro handcuffs.
‘The student was then restrained using metal handcuffs.’
Police said the mother was informed about the situation and the child was handcuffed for about 15 minutes, not three hours.
Child and civil rights advocates asserted that handcuffing Faith was unnecessary and unacceptable, regardless of how long she was restrained.
‘If there is no immediate threat, these students should be receiving support. Situations can be de-escalated in ways that don’t require restraints,’ Rohini Singh, director of the School Justice Project at Advocates for Children, told Daily News.
Rev. Kevin McCall echoed this sentiment, telling the outlet: ‘You send your child to school to learn enough, not to be placed in handcuffs.
Police said Faith was handcuffed to the chair following a fight with another student
‘We don’t need the police inside our schools.’
Faith said she was completely baffled when she was handcuffed and was caught off guard when school safety agents restrained her.
She told Daily News: ‘It was just out of nowhere.
‘They did it sneakily. I was confused on why they did it. It felt terrible. It didn’t feel right. They just did it. They didn’t say why. Now my wrist hurts.’
Henson said she took Faith to an urgent care the next day and her daughter has not been penalized at school.
But the sixth grader is still stunned from the incident and wants to transfer schools.
‘I feel frightened, I don’t even want to go to class,’ she said.
On November 22, Henson filed a request for Faith to be immediately transferred, but was initially told she had to have filed the incident the day off.
A school official said the earliest she could switch schools would be next fall.
But McCall said that once the situation became widely known, the school offered to have the student transferred.
‘School and district leadership is reaching out to this family to ensure they have the supports they need, and mental health and emotional supports are available at every school,’ public schools spokesperson Jenna Lyle told Daily News.
Faith said she wants to transfer out of IS 584 in the South Bronx after the November 19 incident
‘We are taking steps to ensure that these resources are known to this student.’
Henson wants to sue the school over this incident.
‘The school just glossed it over and expected me to bypass it as if nothing occurred. They want this to disappear,’ she said.
DailyMail.com has reached out to NYC Public Schools for comment.
