Autism

[davlav]

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? nebraska

My son who has severe Autism was restrained by a school resource officer due to him trying to bite his teacher. He was bruised up pretty bad all over. Autistic children have a fight of flight response. Should we pursue any legal action?

[CdwJava]

Originally Posted by davlav

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? nebraska

My son who has severe Autism was restrained by a school resource officer due to him trying to bite his teacher. He was bruised up pretty bad all over. Autistic children have a fight of flight response. Should we pursue any legal action?

Wait ... you are asking if you should pursue legal action against the officer who had to physically restrain your child to prevent injury to another person????

What would you have preferred? The teacher to have been bitten or torn up in an assault? If that happened, perhaps you might find yourself sued by the teacher. I suspect that had the teacher been a family member or close friend of yours, you would be pretty thankful that the officer was there to hold the attacker at bay.

The law allows law enforcement to use reasonable force to prevent assault or injury - even when committed by an autistic child. The law does not give a child of special needs or even mental illness a green light to harm others as a result of his problem(s). He may not be liable for criminal prosecution if he is sufficiently autistic, but that does not mean the authorities have to stand back and allow him to harm others.

If the officer utilized unnecessary and excessive force then there may be grounds for a suit. But, simply having bruises that were incurred as a result of being restrained is not proof of excessive force.

If you feel that unnecessary force was used, consult an attorney and make a personnel complaint against the officer.

- Carl

[captain149]

As a parent of an autistic 6 year old child I agree with the response. My wife has had to restrain him from running out of buildings and into the street. Recently some guy called the police after yelling to her to stop strangling her kid. There was a witness eating lunch in her car and she said at no time did my wife lose her cool or use unnessary force but she did have to wrestle him to the ground to gain control of him. Lighten up, would you prefer your child run out of the building and get hit by a car? Or hurt someone else? I suggest family/parent support groups for parents of autistic children. You can get other ideas from parents and support. Good luck. Its a daily struggle.