fw: Special Needs Student handcuffed to wheelchair

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************ Special Needs Student handcuffed to wheelchair By Mike Essian, WINK News Oct 28, 2008 at 5:23 PM EDT http://www.winknews.com/news/top/33465074.html (Please Watch WINK News Video) COLLIER COUNTY, Fla. - A special-needs student in Collier gets handcuffed to a wheelchair at school Tuesday morning.The student reportedly hit a teacher and needed to be restrained, but the parents think using handcuffs went too far. "They had him on a chair and he was sitting with his (hands) tied up and I looked at him and he was just so sad," Sagrario Szanto said. She arrived at Palmetto Ridge High School Tuesday morning to find her 17-year-old son , in handcuffs. The sheriff report says was not having a good morning at school and he hit his teacher in the face, several times."The typical procedure is first to try to, what we call, de-escalate verbally, to try to calm the student down, to try to talk the student down," Dr. , assistant superintendent of student conduct for the Collier School District, said. A spokeswoman for the Collier County Sheriff's Office says the teacher tried to calm the student for ten to 15 minutes before calling in the Youth Resource Deputy to help. According to the Sheriff's Office, the policy is to try to de-escalate the situation using as little force as necessary."Law enforcement can go from

physical restraint, to taser, to taking the student and arresting them and taking them downtown," said. It never progressed that far, but for 's mom, it progressed too much. "Putting him in the handcuffs? No, that was wrong," Sagrario Szanto said. was not arrested, but left school early with his parents. His dad says they've asked the school for special assistance for 's behavior for the past two years but have received no help. He thinks that help could have prevented this from happening. The teacher says he will not press charges.