Student arrested for burping, lawsuit claims

(CBS/AP) 

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. - A 13-year-old was handcuffed and hauled off to a juvenile detention for burping in class, according to a civil rights lawsuit filed against an Albuquerque public school principal, a teacher and a city police officer.

The suit was filed Wednesday, the same day the district was also sued by the family of a 7-year-old autistic boy who was handcuffed to a chair.

The Albuquerque Journal reports the unnamed seventh grader was arrested last May 11 at Cleveland Middle School after he "burped audibly" in his P.E. class. "Criminalizing of the burping of a thirteen-year-old boy serves no governmental purpose," the lawsuit said. "Burping is not a serious disruption, a threat of danger was never an issue."

The lawsuit alleges the boy was transported to the juvenile center without his parents being notified. It also says he was denied his due process rights because he was suspended for the rest of that school year without "providing him an explanation of the evidence the school claimed to have against him." He was not allowed to call witnesses or defend himself against the burping allegation.

The boy was never charged. He scored a - 2 on a scale of 1 to 10 according to a risk assessment given by the jail staff, 10 being extremely dangerous.

It also details a separate incident this school year when administrators became suspicious because the boy had $200 in his pocket. He claimed it was because he was going to go shopping after school, but administrators accused him of selling pot to another student. The boy asked to call his mother; instead, they forced the student to strip down to his underwear while five adults watched.

He was not charged with any crime related to that incident either.

A spokeswoman for Albuquerque Public Schools said she had not seen the lawsuit and could not comment.

[amerilatino]

Why does it seem like so many of our dumbest and most inept end up in public school teaching and management??? Is it any wonder why although this is one of the richest countries in the world, the U.S. is now #35 in education??? My first daughter, valedictorian of her class, was told by a school CAREER COUNSELOR that plastic arts concerned ARTWORK MADE WITH PLASTICS. A veterinarian friend's daughter was given time out for insisting that her SCIENCE teacher was wrong in stating that snakes were invertebrates. Several staffers in a Georgia middle school (for which district I work), including the principal and public safety officer, were let go because they were using a vacant classroom as a jungle club motel room. I have seen footage of board members napping through meetings on crucial matters, then waking up with a sheepish smile to take a vote. Education is the fertilizer and the water for the seeds of tomorrow, to think that a lot of it is in the hands of people like this spells a dim future for this country.

[G3O_L]

I'm apalled that the people you describe exist in the public school system. A *science* teacher who believes snakes are invertebrates?
But a similar situation holds true for universities, too. Despite being an institution of higher education, many professors (not all, but many) are woefully inept at education.

[obbop]

Well, there ARE disruptive vile spawn of parents who allow the fruit of their loins to run amok and make a teacher's tasks incredibly difficult.

And, there ARE teachers and often too-highly paid school administrators unworthy of being in authoritative positions.

Also, the USA educational systems in general are designed and intended to exist as indoctrinators of young minds to OBEY our ruling masters; to be good little compliant citizen-sheep OBEYING always the USA ruling class, corporate USA, wealthy/powerful special-interest groups AND the immense all-powerful bureaucracies and bureaucrats and the minions within (typically better paid and with pensions/perks/etc. better than the masses in the private economic sector)... powerful forces all that separate the ruling masters from the masses of We, the People.

OBEY!!!!

One-size-fits-all schooling.

You WILL obey.

Always.

Compliance to Authority (Peace be upon it) always.

The pegs (vile spawn of the commoners) MUST fit into whatever "hole" the masters have determined you commoner filth MUST fit into.

And, always, OBEY.

The masters and their lackeys WILL determine what is best for you AND your spawn.

Love it or leave it.

Are you a terrorist or a supporter?

Think of the children.

Oh, yes... I WAS an educator once.

I saw out-of-control brats but saw even more brainwashing of youth by our rulers.

"There's class warfare, all right, Mr. (Warren) Buffett said, but it's my class, the rich class, that's making war, and we're winning."

"There has been class warfare going on," Buffett, 81, said in a Sept. 30 interview with Charlie Rose on PBS. It's just that my class is winning. And my class isn't just winning, I mean we're killing them."

[rock0223]

The more crowded, the more crazy.

[MalloryDavis]

The government does things like this to kids to KEEP THEM IN THE SYSTEM! FtG! FNM! This kind of cr@p is so not right. Strip searching? I hope the family and the kid get enough money-from those who should be sued-to live comfortably for the rest of their lives. I also hope that the people of NewMexico wise up and start fighting this obvious corrupt system. We can't fight for our rights...the government has taken them away...So fight anyway...

[wilmbear]

forcing a young child to strip in front of adults for no reason is sexual assault and I hope they charge the adult with it so they can never teach or work with children again; if they had seen the child selling drugs thats one thing, and even then a parent should have been present. Whats next cops strip searching people on the street who look like drug dealers or gang members or someone they don't like the look of. Everyone haas the right to feel safe in their own person and they robbed this child of that. What long term psycholocial damage have they done.

[raifteri]

Being a former teacher myself, I would like to hear the rest of the story. I guarantee this is not the first time this kid has had run-ins with the administration. Some of these kids are very savvy about the system (which is too tolerant anyway) and they know how to get away with behavior that creates a major nuisance but cannot be considered bad enough to be suspended. This was probably the last straw. Oh, and I'm a liberal, so don't be thinking I'm some sort of right-wing, stuffy teacher. The fact is, there is not much respect left for the teacher in the classroom or the coach in the gym. If the administration went to this extreme, there was a reason and the media is irresponsible if they don't do a follow-up on this one.

[Lerianis4]

No, the system is not too tolerant and the bottom line, coming from volunteering in schools, is that the principals and others LOVE to go on a power trip.

I've actually had to TESTIFY IN COURT on the kids side when I have seen the principals and teachers doing that.

Much more common than a 'out of control' student who knows how to 'punk the system'. In fact, come to think of it.... NEVER seen a case of that, to be blunt.

[Lerianis4]

Oh, and Rafferti.... I do NOT think that you are a liberal in the slightest after reading your post.

You have ABSOLUTELY NO IDEA what schools are actually like today.... I just bet you are 75 years old and went to school 55 years ago, when adults expected children to automatically 'respect my authoritay!'

Sorry, but the smart parents like myself teach their children that ANYONE, including an adult who is not their parent, has to EARN respect before it is given to them.

[pr_boxer]

Wow! this kid was completely out of control, allowed to continue the guy may have "cut a fart" or some other dangerous activity.

[davo1958]

If he had farted, they would have had to taser him and give him a beat down.

[djseavy]

Better get used to it. We're heading for a police state 100 miles an hour. Everyone that participated should be fired and be held liable in a whopping civic suit. If that was my son, the school would be named after him when I got through with them.

[AnnieDanny]

What is this? It's all one side of the story. Doesn't seem like adequate journalism to me.

[Lerianis4]

Annie, sometimes there is only one side of the story. In this case, coming from OTHER articles about this? The school is WAY out of control and overstepping their bounds, to be blunt.

[gtpillsdotcom]

Those adults who watched the 13 year-old being strip searched need to be arrested for sexual abuse.

"Loudest Burp wins" Yes. we did the same. But we did not scare the teacher and principal.

ACLU are you watching?

gtpillsdotcom

[Lerianis4]

No. If anything, those laws should be done away with, those 'used to harass and discriminate against' sexual abuse law, just like the sodomy laws were gotten rid of.

Now, EMOTIONAL abuse? I can see that here and these people should be arrested and jailed for a few days to get it through to them that they do NOT have unchecked power.

I'm honestly wondering from other articles on this same case whether the kid was being harassed because he dared to talk back to the administrators when they overstepped their bounds at ANOTHER point in the past.

[rwsmith29456]

Even if he burped loud and long there is no reason to involve police. What did the school expect? That he would be jailed and fined for breaking the burping ordinance? Anyone having a hand in this should be punished.