10-year-old Florida boy with autism arrested at school

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Thursday, April 13, 2017
Ten-year-old Florida boy with autism arrested at school
A 10-year-old child with autism was handcuffed, put in a police car and taken from his school before spending the night in jail.

A 10-year-old child with autism was handcuffed, put in a police car and taken from his school before spending the night in jail.

The boy's mom, Louanne Haygood, captured the incident and posted it to Facebook.

The sheriff's office says her son John was arrested for felony battery on a school board authority.

Louanne says he kicked a para-professional at his school last year. She knows he has a troubled history in school, but says his behavior is a result of his autism.

"To go and have him arrested on school grounds in front of other students, in front of personnel, during school hours, they could've come to my house at anytime to tell me what was going on," she said.

Louanne says the goal of the post was to call out the school district for not providing the right resources to handle a child like John.

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