What to Know
- New footage has surfaced of a 2018 incident in which an 8-year-old boy was handcuffed by Key West Police officers
- Officers were called to the boy's school after he allegedly hit a teacher
- Police said the officers followed standard operating procedures
Police in Key West are facing criticism after new footage has surfaced showing officers handcuffing an 8-year-old boy.
The incident happened at a school in December 2018, but police bodycam footage was recently posted on social media by civil rights attorney Ben Crump, who called the incident involving the child who he said has special needs "unbelievable."
According to an incident report, officers were called to the school because the boy allegedly hit his teacher. The incident began in the lunch room when the child wouldn't sit properly and the teacher asked him several times and he refused, then he punched her in the chest and cursed at her, the report said.
In the video, officers made the boy stand against a cabinet and begin to frisk him before placing him in handcuffs.
"You know where you're going?" one officer asks the boy. "You're going to jail."
In a brief statement, Key West Police said that based on the report, the officers followed standard operating procedures.
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Crump said the officers used "scared straight" tactics on the boy.
"He's 3.5 ft tall and 64 lbs, but they thought it was appropriate to handcuff and transport him to an adult prison for processing!! He was so small the cuffs fell off his wrists!" Crump tweeted.
