Do me a favor read the whole article to get a grip on how this little boy went beyond a temper tantrum:

An eight-year-old boy was pepper sprayed by Lakewood, CO, police after they deemed that the angry child was posing a serious threat to his teachers. Aidan (no last name, to protect the child) was, according to police reports, climbing a TV cart in the room and spitting at teachers; he also broke wood trim from the wall, and was attempting to stab his teachers with it.

"I wanted to make something sharp if they came out because I was so mad at them," Aidan said. "I was going to try to whack them with it."

The incident, which occurred at Glennon Heights Elementary School on Feb. 22, was not the first for the child, who, both he and his mother admit, has anger issues. The police had been called on two previous occasions, although events did not escalate to the point of pepper spray in those incidents. Aidan’s mother now says she does not think the actions taken by police were appropriate, and that they should have simply talked him down, as they have in the past. But, police disagree that this time was like previous incidents.

“If you come out, you’re gonna die,” Aidan screamed at teachers, who had locked themselves in another room, according to police reports.

Peg Kastberg, superintendent of Jefferson County Schools, confirmed the boy’s behavior in a report on NBCs Today Show. “They [the police] tried to deescalate the behavior that occurred. He was swinging a stick; he was using it as a weapon. He was violent, he was verbal, he was abusive.”

“The officers told him to drop it, he wouldn’t,” Steve Davis, spokesman for the Lakewood Colorado Police Department, said in the Today Show report. “Our officers had to do something to diffuse the situation in a hurry before someone got hurt.”

“The officers made a great choice that day in choosing the pepper spray,” Davis said.

“I think it was excessive,” his mother said, although she admitted on a Today Show interview with Meredith Vieira that she could understand the police officers’ position “to a degree.” But, she insisted that, because he was in a classroom in the school that was specifically for children with behavior problems, and since they had dealt with Aidan’s anger and behavior issues in the past, that school authorities and police should have handled it differently, without pepper spray, and with a different section of the police force that deals specifically with situations involving children.

But, even Aidan realizes he has problems. “I kinda deserved it,” he said. “When I behave like that, I’m thinking my future is going to turn around into the homeless, bad things way.”

“I just get angry a lot,” he said to Vieira.

His mother said they do not really know what causes his angry outbursts, and that they do not have these issues at home. He does see a therapist weekly, she confirmed, but said that doctors have not diagnosed him with anything.

“I don’t know. That’s just the way my body goes. I can’t really control it for some reason,” Aidan said about his anger issues at school.

Regardless, his mother does not agree with the action by police. She concluded the interview by saying that she wants the police department to get proper training in handling crisis situations with children, and reaffirming her conviction regarding her son’s situation: “I don’t think it’s right for an eight-year-old to get pepper sprayed.”

Aidan is now enrolled in a school for children with behavioral problems; no charges have been filed.

I saw the interview, his mom says he never acts out at home or at 'nanas' yeah right, or is it that there is no enforcement of any rules and is soon as angelic Aiden starts hyperventilating he gets what he wants - before it escalates further. I just don't get it anymore, I was told if the cops were ever called out on me, I was on my own. My mom told me she would never bail me out, and I would probably want to stay with the cops because there'd be a whoopin waiting for me at home. This is the THIRD time the cops had to be called to corral this kid - and mom's upset at the police???

Criminy what are we coming to?

would she be happier if they tazed him?

well I wonder if she's ever been in fear of great injury by her own child.. That would make her think a tad bit differently

haha. you said "Criminy" Next thing you know, you'll be screaming "GET OFF MY LAWN".

I saw this and at first..."Whoa dude...." then thought...well...they can't hit the kid...which is what Mom and Dad should be doing so...

The kid himself didn't seem to think the officer/security was out of line...."Well...I get angry a lot..." This is a sign that the kid acknowledges he has a problem and needs help. Mom and Dad should step up. Counseling, medication, a** beating...all great treatments.

Parents need to get more involved in their kids lives and all the do-gooders need to STFU and give rights back to the parents. Parents also need to be held more accountable for what their kids do and how they act.

Interesting that I tell my kids this..
I think that mom needs her own therapist as well, to deal with the reality that her kid is needing way more assistance that what he's getting.

For the police!
Littel Effer is lucky that's all they did.


Tazer would have been great!

Awww...look at Aiden....flopping like a fish out of water!
Throw him back!

I'll bet that the reason the charming little *effer "isn't that way at home" is because his spineless mother caters to his every whim and caves immediately to the slightest hint of a temper tantrum. There are no boundaries set at home... so when he gets to school and is confronted with the real world, he comes unglued.

Props to the kid for admitting he has issues, hopefully he can get things under control before he's a teenager or adult and a cop shoots him instead of pepper-spraying or tazing him.

Shoulda got the biggest baddest cop on the force to come in and take the stick away from the little effer. Then when he got stabbed, shoot the little bastage. Or at least charge him with ADW (Assault with a Deadly Weapon).

Where's "Reform School" when you need it?

I'm glad (and probably everyone else is too) that I never had any kids. I'd probably be in jail for spankin' them. Like we all got.

Ok, let the flamin' begin.

I thought it was probably about the only option the cops had. You can really wrestle with the kid as you'll get hit some excessive force BS. I'd of rather seem him tazed just for the principle but at least the pepper spray gave him something to cry about Sorry ass parenting right there.

Maybe they will get a reality TV show. HaHa

Good question!

I think the problem is, the kid's never been whacked. They should have tazed him, then gone Rodney King on his ass for about an hour. Just about when he thinks he's gonna die, then one of them moves in real close and quietly explains that beating his ass to near death was really fun, and they can come back any time and do it again, just for shits and giggles.

He'd be a little angel after that.

I agree. When I read it it sounds like the kid is smarter than his parents in recognizing he got what he deserved and is flat out telling them he has a problem he cant control.


PS.....I would rather be tased than pepper sprayed!

This is why I would hate to be a cop, do the right thing and this is what happens.

Puppy Lake

This must be the result of the "time out" era
What he really needs is a good a$$ whoopin

Nah that's just my Utah showing, it happens sometimes We have to come up with interesting non-cussing ways to vent our frustrations where I come from. I also use "heck" a lot, "frick" can be substituted for the other f word, mahluckalucks were used in place of jugglies, and "2 hoots" or 'darns' in place of damn I never got why substituting a word made it better when really the intent was the same - but you get less people giving you an earful about cussins so

Besides I don't have a lawn and GET OFF MY ROCKS just doesn't seem to carry the same weight!

As a male teacher, I would have just taken the stick out of his hand and hauled his ass off the tv cart by the back of his pants. You would not believe how many tough guys there are when there is a female teacher and then it turns into "yessirs" when a good sized, pissed off, male teacher enters the situation.
I have been told I am going to get my ass kicked so many times, all I do is stand and stare, everytime they cave. One even started crying because it was his last bluff and it did not work. This kid was used to intimidating teachers. NOT THIS TEACHER.

Good for you, I pray that finally coming into contact with somebody that doesn't budge helps those little tyrants turn into something decent later in life.

Of course my Mom scared a fellow classmate straight once. She volunteered to help out on a fieldtrip, and got assigned the worst kid in the class as part of the group. He immediately started in with some of his crap on the bus, I don't remember exactly what she said, although I'm certain it would probably result in a lawsuit anymore, but the look on his face was pure terror. He was angelic the whole rest of the field trip I think they just need someone who won't budge and isn't afraid of dishing out a little tough love.
It was kind of funny to me even then. I always thought, if those kids had my mom NO WAY would they even think on pulling the pranks they do, that would never fly at home. Then to see it in action was some concrete confirmation!

I was reading this, and thinking, where are the spankin's that shoulda happened long ago...

I think many parents are lazy. It is perfectly legal to perform corporal punishment on yore children. Yes, even in Cali. Many parents are too damn lazy to look it up, they would really just rather say "What is a parent to do, I'll get thrown in jail for spanking my little angel." And who they say it to was probably too lazy to look it up and contradict them.

My daughter was a wild child, with the normal "diagnoses'" of ADD or whatever designer syndrome was available for local consumption that week. But I worked with her, helped her bleed off some of that energy and enforced pretty strict rules in our home.

Challenge your children! Idle hands are the devil's workshop and all that rot!!

and the cop who peppersprayed the kids... You are a big fat panseyass!!!! You don't deserve the uniform.

Just sayin...

John

I would gues that the mom should be filing the lawsuit for "excessive force" any minute now...

If this kid doesn't get some serious help, we'll be reading about him later. Probably after he brings a gun to school and gets "put down"...

I have had/been both,,,,the jury is still out on which I'd rather have again

I'm with you guys, the cops did what they had to. Kid was way out of line.

What if the kid has actual mental issues? Beatin him and yellin will only create some sort of psycho mass murderer when parents aren't around anymore. I'm all for a good spanking, but only when the kid should have known better. Otherwise, I deserve it.

Another thought, what if the kid doesn't act that way at home because he is getting one-on-one attention?

I'm likely wrong, but we can't know that for sure.

Why is this even on TV? They can't hit the kid in school, so what should they have done? Maybe give him a kiss and ask him never to do that again? Back in my day they gave out a$$ whippins! I got one and I remember that day like it was yesterday. I'm glad I don't have kids!

They did try to talk him down, then the cops decided it had escalated beyond that, which is when they employed the pepper-spray. The other 2 times they had been called out the cops talked him down, so it had been done before, and they did have experience with the kid.

Excellent point rushjunkie about the one-on-one attention. I commend you for coming up with it. My only response would be this kid doesn't attend regular school, he attends schools for the behaviorally challenged - I would hope they would realize if that is what he needed, although my hope wouldn't be said with much confidence in the school system.

Without a doubt if I ever have kids I'm using that line, "You want something to cry about, I'll give you something to cry about!"
heck it worked on me, I remember that, all of a sudden my sniffling got under control

What I don't understand is this kid is 8 years old right? A grown person can take the stick away from the kid.....cuffing the kid would make a huge impact. When kids start to act this way and they notice that they are getting away with it, they just escalate it. He knew the cops have already come out and all they did was talk to him....soooo he decides to take it to the next level.
The first time he pulled this crap, they should have slapped cuffs on him and put him in the back of the police cruiser for about 5 minutes and I GUARANTEE it would have stopped. Make an impact on the toughest kids first and everyone else sees the example, it calms situations down quickly. No need for pepper spray.

When kids are this out of control, they don't get "chances" let them know the consequences are going to fit the behavior the FIRST TIME. Yes, I have dealt with many Emotional Disturbed, and extremely mentally handicapped kids. It works on them too.

This kid probably tortures animals...

Yep, Tazing is my choice, you may piss down your leg, but it don't hurt for the next hour and it's cheaper than the chiropractor, there's a reason we call pepper liquid hell, been tazed 4-5 times, been pepper sprayed directly and indirectly (secondary contamination, back before we knew that foam is better than stream and stream is better than fogger..especially in Oklahoma winds) at least a dozen times.

Lena, years ago I live with a roommate and she had a bratty spoiled child. I was watching him and he started swinging a whistle on a chain around and around and almost hit the tv, so I start to grab him, he was around 8 or 9 maybe. Well the phone was right next to him so he grabbed it and said he was going to call 911 for child abuse, cause they were teaching it at school I guess... so I said go ahead, by the time they get here you will have something to cry about.. he hung up.. Well this kid as of today has been in and out of jail, drinks a ton, steals moms rent money for beer, pills, tatoos.. whatever and the kicker is, his mom still supports him and gives him money, he is 30 years old now. All kids need a Azz whooping.

someone needs to beat that kid and his loser mom and knock some eff*in sense into both of them.

My oldest got mouthy with me once and I turned around and got him QUICK....then I got the "I'm calling the cops, you can't hit me" BS (obviously I didn't do it hard enough). Yes, public school is the issue there "No one can touch you in a way you don't like, blah, blah, blah".

I handed him the phone and said "Go ahead and call". He did, PD showed up and after talking to my son out back for 5 minutes called me and the hubby into the conversation. He then looked at my son and said "That is not abuse, that is discipline. If you talk to your Mom that way THAT is what is going to happen!" He then told him to call when I took a brick or bat to his head but otherwise to stop being mouthy and he wouldn't get smacked again!

Always did like a (real) man in uniform

I'm a firm believer that the punishment should fit the child.

Take my son, for example. He's 2 1/2 now, and has misbehaved often enough to get a wide sampling of punishments (though he's generally a very well-behaved kid). We did spankings, but the problem was you had to practically beat the kid to get a reaction out of him. I've spanked him across the back of the legs, tops of the hands, and butt, hard enough to leave welts, and he just kind of looked at me with a "why'd you do that?" look on his face. I'm not willing to do anything beyond that, not with a 2 year old.

However, if I take his favorite toys and make him sit in the corner in time out, and he loses his effin' mind crying, sits in the corner for a bit and calms down. After a decent amount of time of him being calm, I let him out, and he's perfectly compliant with my wishes. He's gotten familiar enough with the concept now that we can threaten him with "time-out" and he falls right back into line. Looking back on it, that was the most effective punishment for me as a kid as well. Spankings only hurt while they happened, but grounding and privilege loss was crippling for much longer.

Trust me, I have no reservations about spanking my kids when they were out of line, but "time out" seems to work a lot better, and I don't feel so bad punishing him either. If there comes a time when spanking is more effective, you can bet your ass that's the method I will employ. Like I said, punishment means something different for every child. We'll see what my daughter's buttons are (she's 6 weeks old).

BTW, as for this kid: he's obviously calling out for help. My guess is there's no rule enforcement at home, so he can do whatever he wants. Has nothing to do with beating the kid into line, but it does have to do with establishing rules and enforcing them. You can't expect an 8 year old to know his ass from a hole in the ground, let alone figure out what's right and what's wrong. Poor kid won't have a chance unless Mom or Nana start laying down the law in whichever way makes the kid think "man, this sucks."

LOL:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yVcePxjFujs

If she thinks the pepper spray was too much, maybe they should of used the police K9 unit instead!

Oh God Rockwood....I am ROFLMAO!!!

I am all for the cops on this one, but i think there could have been a smarter easier way to disarm an 8 year old I mean come on..., you could have thrown silly putty at the kid and had the same effect, but maybe that pepper spray will make him remember next time. who knows, definatley a problem at home with parenting, even if it is a "mental" or behaivoral condition, why has nothin been done for this in the past ?
I have a kid with issues and i will still spank his ass if it warrants it and also use the time out method as rockwood was sayin, just depends on the situation and severity. But the main deterent is actually being a f-n parent and paying attention to your child.

That kid was way out of line and a danger really who knew if he was packing or not? I wonder how mommy would feel if they had subdued him with the police dog? Some people are so far out of touch everybody deserves to be safe the wack jobs that flip deserve whatever comes there way!