How do you calm down a disruptive 2nd-grader? Well, if you’re in Colorado, you pepper spray him of course.
Colorado police are standing by their decision to pepper spray Aidan Elliot, a second grader who got angry and threatened his teachers.
Elliot, 8, became so out of control toward his Colorado elementary school on February 22, he started spitting and tossing chairs around. He even threatened teachers and his fellow students with a sharp piece of wood that he wielded like a knife.
Teachers there became so worried that they barricaded themselves in a nearby office and phoned the police.
Police say they had no choice but to use pepper spray on the boy.
Little Aidan, who’s in a class for children with behavioral issues, says his teachers had put him in a corner for acting up in class and had phoned his mother. His confinement enraged him.
When asked whether he really intended to hurt anyone, Aidan responded: “A little.”
“I kind of deserved it,” he acknowledged.
On Wednesday morning, however, Aidan Elliot told Meredith Vieira that he doesn’t think he would have hurt anyone and says he’s not sure why he sometimes acts out.
“I don’t know,” Aidan said Wednesday on NBC’s Today. “That’s just the way my body goes. I can’t really control it for some reason.”
Mandy Elliot, Aidan’s mother, says she’s angry at the police. She thinks they should have just talked her son down.
“I do want them to get training like other local police departments in our area have for a crisis situation with children,” Mandy says. “I don’t think it’s right for an eight-year-old to get pepper sprayed.”
Mandy says Aidan has no anger issues outside of school. She says he’s currently in therapy and doctors have yet to determine why he has such outbursts.
Check out Aidan’s video interview with the Today show below.
What do YOU think? Should Aidan have been pepper-sprayed? Are preschoolers next?
“Drop the rattle…NOW!”
Related articles
- Police pepper spray tantrum-throwing 8-year-old (cbsnews.com)
- U.S. police pepper-spray 8-year-old boy (thestar.com)
- Police Use Pepper Spray On Pissed Off Second-Grader (dreamindemon.com)
Get Blippitt via RSS feed, Facebook, Twitter, Google+,
and be sure to get our Daily Email Broadcast.
