Cops Pepper Spray Stick-Wielding Eight-Year-Old
Police in Colorado were called to an elementary school to handle a violent second-grader who had "broke wood trim off the walls and was trying to stab teachers." So they did what any good cops would: They pepper sprayed him.
Aidan, the eight-year-old, has clear anger-management issues. Police have been called to his school in Lakewood on at least two occasions (they managed to talk him down without resorting to pepper spray). This particular outburst may have been more intense, however:
According to the report, Aidan "was climbing the cart and spitting at teachers. He also broke wood trim off the walls and was trying to stab 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 report goes on to say Aidan, "was holding what looked like a sharpened one foot stick and he screamed, 'Get away from me you f—-ers.'"
Lakewood Police officers ordered the 8-year-old to "drop the stick." When he refused, they sprayed him with pepper spray twice until he dropped the piece of wood and was handcuffed.
Now, don't get us wrong! There are occasions where it's okay to pepper spray a second-grader, such as if the second-grader is holding a gun, or if the second-grader is Hitler. And, obviously, it could have been a really sharp wooden stick—a stick so sharp that the officers, plural, couldn't manage to disarm Aidan. But: Perhaps Lakewood Police Department spokesman Steve Davis could choose his words a little more carefully here?
"I think they not only made the right choice, they made a great choice that day to use the pepper spray."