DOJ weighs in on shackled KY students

The Department of Justice issued a statement of interest concerning a federal lawsuit filed after two Covington elementary school students were handcuffed by a school resource officer (SRO).

The statement offers advice to the District Court regarding several details of the lawsuit. It specifically argues that the Americans with Disabilities Act does apply to SROs and that policies of schools should work to dismantle the "school-to-prison pipeline" created by criminalizing misbehavior.

The DOJ said this statement is not meant to take a position on the merits of the case, but should be a framework to assess the claims made by the students' families.

The lawsuit, filed in Covington in August, 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 ACLU filed the lawsuit, along with the Children’s Law Center and law firm Dinsmore & Shohl, on behalf of the students’ families. One student was a 9 year old fourth grader at John G. Carlisle Elementary at the time of the offense in 2014. The other student was an 8 year old third grader at Latonia Elementary.

After filing the suit, the ACLU released a video showing one of the students in cuffs.

"The United States seeks to confirm that statutory and regulatory authority well establishes that the ADA applies to police interactions," the statement said.

The department then argues that SROs should not criminalize behavior that school officials could handle. Overreaction to students' misbehavior pushes students out of school and into crime, according to the statement.

"The United States has a strong interest in eliminating the school-to-prison pipeline, which has a disproportionate effect on students with disabilities and students of color," the department said.

The statement also says that the students' young age should be considered, despite the defendants stating that they were attempting to strike people and, in one case, flee.

The department cites the "strikingly similar" case of Hoskins v. Cumberland County Board of Education, which found that an 8-year-old's Fourth Amendment rights were violated when he was handcuffed by an SRO.

The outcome of the lawsuit involving the Covington students may be decided next year. The deadline for discovery in the case is Dec. 31.

Enquirer archives contributed to this report.