handcuffed and arrested for doodling

(Posted Image)Picture of the Dangerous Criminal, Alexa Gonzalez, (a student Junior High School 190 in Forest Hills, Queens)
She was handcuffed and detained at police precinct for doodling on her desk with erasable marker.



Queens girl Alexa Gonzalez hauled out of school in handcuffs after getting caught doodling on desk

BY Rachel Monahan
DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITER

Thursday, February 4th 2010, 11:57 PM

A 12-year-old Queens girl was hauled out of school in handcuffs for an artless offense - doodling her name on her desk in erasable marker, the Daily News has learned.

Alexa Gonzalez was scribbling a few words on her desk Monday while waiting for her Spanish teacher to pass out homework at Junior High School 190 in Forest Hills, she said.

"I love my friends Abby and Faith," the girl wrote, adding the phrases "Lex was here. 2/1/10" and a smiley face.

But instead of simply cleaning off the doodles after class, Alexa landed in some adult-sized trouble for using her lime-green magic marker.

She was led out of school in cuffs and walked to the precinct across the street, where she was detained for several hours, she and her mother said.

"I started crying, like, a lot," said Alexa. "I made two little doodles. ... It could be easily erased. To put handcuffs on me is unnecessary." Alexa, who had a stellar attendance record, hasn't been back to school since, adding, "I just thought I'd get a detention. I thought maybe I would have to clean [the desk]."

"She's been throwing up," said her mom, Moraima Camacho, 49, an accountant, who lives with her daughter in Kew Gardens. "The whole situation has been a nightmare."

City officials acknowledged Alexa's arrest was a mistake.

"We're looking at the facts," said City Education Department spokesman David Cantor. "Based on what we've seen so far, this shouldn't have happened."

"Even when we're asked to make an arrest, common sense should prevail, and discretion used in deciding whether an arrest or handcuffs are really necessary," said police spokesman Paul Browne.

Alexa is the latest in a string of city students who have been cuffed for minor infractions. In 2007, 13-year-old Chelsea Fraser was placed under arrest for writing "okay" on her desk at Intermediate School 201. And in 2008, 5-year-old Dennis Rivera was cuffed and sent to a psych ward after throwing a fit in his kindergarten.

A class action lawsuit was filed by the New York Civil Liberties Union last month against the city for using "excessive force" in middle school and high schools. A 12-year-old sixth-grader, identified in the lawsuit as M.M., was arrested in March 2009 for doodling on her desk at the Hunts Point School.

Alexa is still suspended from her school, her mother said. She and her mom went to family court on Tuesday, where Alexa was assigned eight hours of community service, a book report and an essay on what she learned from the experience.

"I definitely learned not to ever draw on a desk," said Alexa. "They told me with a pencil this could still happen."

rmonahan@nydailynews.com

I think that is really great. They should have drug her through the streets all the way to the courthouse. It is high time that they put a stop to this kind of terrible crime and destruction................................ B) B) :ph43r: :ph43r: :D :D

No - Seriously I think that this is totally absurd and uncalled for. It would have been different if it was some kind of a permanent marker, a sharpe knife or a dremmel tool.

If anything they should have made her clean it up, or even clean it up and write a paper about why she should not do this again.

It seems like some of the school systems and administrators are totally out of touch with reality. I think that the police officials were also wrong in this type of situation. They should have had the insight to evaluate what the culprit had actually done and if so would have seen that it was only an erasable marker.
If anything they should have chastised the school officials for even calling them. This distraction took some of the police officers away from their goal of fighting crime.

They sure as hell wouldn't have wanted for me to have been the parent or grandparent of that young lady.... :angry: :angry: :angry: :angry:

There would be some pretty uptight parents and grandparents if that happened to our 12 y/o here! Imagine what’s burned into that young ladies mind now probably for life about officials and I’m sure the thoughts aren’t positive.

Don't you know that. :angry: :angry: :angry:
She'll likely carry that for many years to come.

there would be at least 2, if not 3 people looking for work the next day.

1, the teacher
2 the princial
3 the LEO who made the arrest.

and I might take it up the chain, depends on the answers I got along the way.

Surely there is more to the story than that, perhaps that cute little girl has done other more nefarious things and this incident was the straw that broke the camel's back? :huh:

If not, then that is a severe over reaction!!

Is it just me or does that 12 year old look more like 16?!

If we were caught doing something like that back in the 60's, we would be cleaning all of the desks in our class, after school.

Why isn't that still done??? SEIU unions?

Why isn't that still done???

Why? becasue it is not the PC thing to do. you just can't punish kids anymore. :rolleyes:

I agree Mike.
The problem should have been resolved between the school teacher, principal, counseler, student, and the parents of the student. There was no need to even call the police officials to start with.
The young lady did not actually destroy any school property and was not a violent threat to anyone.

common sense has definitely left the building there and is not expected back any time soon :o :o

Go visit some schools in the bigger cities and take a look. You'll be shocked I'm sure!

Some claim it is due to all of the hormones used in food.

When I was just a young man a deputy sheriff brought me home to my parents handcuffed and seat belted in the back seat of his cruiser. :o

When he explained to my dad why he had detained me it just pissed my dad off and he asked the deputy if he didn't have more important things to do other than harassing me. ;) ;)

I know there's always 2 sides to the story but give me a break. <_<

Well way out here in Indian Territory we have some big schools and I've been to a few of them. ;) I was just making an observation. I know a sure sign of getting older is thinking that either teens look older than they should or younger, depending upon the circumstances. :lol:

Oh and Kenny once again I was just making an observation, there is either a lot more to this story (I mean we all know the media is truly fair in their reporting, right? <_<) or someone should be / will be fired over it.

I wasn't always a perfect angel growing up and the one time a police officer brought me home I needed to be brought home and my mom did what she needed to do.... she grounded me for a month. :ph43r:

I agree she does look older Cat, at least older than the ones I’m used to seeing here. My DD says she looks between 13-15.

I also thought that she looked a bit older than a 12 year old. Well alot older than any 12 year olds did back when I was about 12. Ha
The way that the young ladies put on the makeup, fix their hair and dress now days they can often appear to be a whole lot older than they really are.