Shackled Covington students leads to lawsuit

In the video, a young child sits with his back to the camera, kicking and crying as his small arms are bound in handcuffs, his arms so small the handcuffs wrap around his biceps.

“You don’t get to swing at me like that,” a sheriff’s deputy says in the video. “You can do what we’ve asked you to or you can suffer the consequences.”

The American Civil Liberties Union released the video on Monday after filing a federal lawsuit against the Kenton County Sheriff’s Department. The video of the boy in handcuffs was taken by school personnel.

The federal lawsuit filed in Covington accuses Kenton County deputy and school resource officer Kevin Sumner of shackling two Covington elementary school students that suffer from attention deficit hyperactivity disorder.

The child in the video is an 8-year-old boy identified in the lawsuit only as S.R., a student at Latonia Elementary. The other child is a 9-year-old girl identified as L.G., a student at John G. Carlisle Elementary.

The ACLU filed the lawsuit, along with the Children’s Law Center and law firm Dinsmore & Shohl, on behalf of the students’ families, claiming the actions violated Kentucky law and the Americans with Disabilities Act.

The plaintiffs seek compensatory damages for the trauma inflicted on the children as well as a change in policy.

“Unfortunately, students with disabilities, particularly students with disabilities that include behavioral challenges, are often subjected to physical restraint and handcuffing in school,” said Claudia Center, an attorney with the ACLU. “Handcuffing is a bit more unusual. Students with disabilities bear the brunt of this intervention.”

The ACLU cited a U.S. Department of Education study in 2014 that found that while students with disabilities make up 12 percent of the student population in the United States, they account for 75 percent of students who are physically restrained by adults in school.

Both incidents happened in 2014.

The lawsuit claims S.R. was in handcuffs for 15 minutes after a teacher and the vice principal complained that he wouldn’t follow orders. Sumner, in an investigation report filed months later, wrote that S.R. tried to punch him in the elbow, the lawsuit stated.

L.G. also was placed in handcuffs around her biceps after not complying with a teacher and trying to leave the isolation room, the lawsuit stated. The experience so distressed L.G. that she had to be taken by ambulance to a local hospital for psychiatric assessment and treatment.

“As a result of the handcuffing, she suffered, and continues to suffer from emotional distress,” the lawsuit stated.

Prior to both incidents, S.R. and L.G. were diagnosed with ADHD. S.R. has also been diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder. The school was aware of this and had a behavioral plan in place to deal with the students’ conditions, the lawsuit claims.

Kenton County Sheriff Chuck Korzenborn declined to comment until he sees the lawsuit. Covington school officials wouldn’t comment about the specifics of the case, citing privacy concerns.

A statement released by the school district Monday said staff has cooperated with the children’s legal counsel, and the sheriff’s office is looking into the complaints.

School resource officers are assigned to “maintain the safety of the students and staff” and are “not called upon by school district staff to punish or discipline a student,” according to the district’s statement.

A call to Covington Schools District Superintendent Alvin Garrison was referred to district spokeswoman Debra Vance, who said the district had no comment beyond the statement.

Kentucky administrative regulations prohibit using restraint as punishment or to force compliance. In addition to the Kenton County Sheriff’s Office and Sumner, the lawsuit also names Korzenborn as a defendant. The lawsuit seeks an order that would require the Kenton County Sheriff’s Office to provide additional training for school resource officers in dealing with special needs children.

There are better ways to de-escalate conflicts with children that have ADHD and avoid using force, Center said.

“These types of forceful physical interventions, using force, using handcuffs, in addition to traumatizing children in schools, it’s contrary to any type of education,” Center said. “Children can’t access education if they are traumatized. It is not only causing trauma, but it is making it impossible for the children to learn.”