ACLU of Colorado filed a lawsuit Tuesday against the Douglas County School District, Sheriff Tony Spurlock and several school resource officers for handcuffing an 11-year-old boy with autism for scratching his classmate. 

ACLU is suing for the violation of the child’s rights under the Americans with Disabilities Act and the Fourth Amendment. Arielle Herzberg, ACLU staff attorney, said the child has “suffered both physically and emotionally” as a result of the incident.

“The Douglas County School District and Sheriff’s Office have a pattern and practice of their officers mishandling situations involving students with disabilities and unnecessarily ensnaring them in the criminal legal system,” Herzberg said.

“Handcuffing kids should never be used as classroom management and making parents pay thousands of dollars in bond for their safe return is unacceptable.”

The child, referred to as A.V., was a student at Sagewood Middle School in an affective needs classroom. On Aug. 29, 2019, A.V.’s classmate wrote on him with a marker and in response, A.V. scratched the student with a pencil, according to the lawsuit.

After A.V. scratched the student, he voluntarily left the classroom at the instruction of the classroom aide and was working with the school psychologist to calm down, ACLU said.

At this point, the school resource officers stepped in. At Sagewood Middle School, school resource officers are deputies who work for the Douglas County Sheriff’s Office.

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Body camera footage shows two deputies talking to A.V. who is standing silently and not answering questions. Then, the officers grab A.V. by each arm and begin to forcibly pull him, trying to get him out of the school.

A.V. screams and cries, repeatedly asking the officers to “stop” and saying “you’re hurting me.” The deputies then handcuff A.V. behind his back, at one point aggressively grabbing onto the back of his neck to stop him from moving.

Deputies eventually put A.V. in a patrol car where he was left for hours while still handcuffed, according to the lawsuit. While locked in the patrol car, A.V. was in significant distress and banged his head against the plexiglass repeatedly, sustaining injuries.

Without receiving any medical attention, A.V. was then taken to a juvenile detention center and held in custody for hours until his parents were able to post a $25,000 bond.

“When we saw him, his forehead and arms were so swollen and bruised,” said A.V.’s mother, Michelle Hanson. “A.V. doesn’t headbang. He must have been extremely dysregulated.”

Hanson said A.V. would not eat or speak after being bailed out. She described him and their entire family as “traumatized” by the incident and said A.V. now suffers from severe anxiety and PTSD.

This isn’t the first time DCSD’s practices regarding students with disabilities have been called into question.

In the 2018-19 school year, DCSD restrained and secluded more students than any other district in the state, according to a report by Chalkbeat Colorado. And district data shows that from 2016 to 2019, over 70% of DCSD’s restrained students had some form of learning needs.

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During the 2018-19 school year, special education students in Colorado were nearly three times as likely to be referred to law enforcement than average students, according to a Colorado Department of Education report.

In addition, Latinx students were more than five times as likely to be referred to law enforcement than non-Latinx students. A.V. is Hispanic.

“Students — particularly students of color and students with disabilities — are experiencing significant harm at the hands of (school resource officers) under the guise of school safety,” said ACLU Cooperating Attorney Jack Robinson.

“Children like A.V. don’t need handcuffs or criminal charges, they need compassion and an understanding of the needs of students with disabilities.”

None of the involved deputies were disciplined following the incident with A.V. According to ACLU, Deputy Sidney Nicholson was promoted to solo status days after the incident and months later, handcuffed another student with disabilities.

ACLU said Nicholson this time handcuffed a 12-year-old student who became escalated, left the student handcuffed for several hours and resulted in criminal charges against the child.

Hanson is being represented by Herzberg, Robinson, ACLU Legal Director Mark Silverstein and Senior Staff Attorney Sara Neel.

ACLU of Colorado asks anyone who has experienced similar incidents with school resource officers to contact the organization at aclu-co.org/counselors-not-cops.