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US sheriff defends deputy’s handcuffing of disabled 8-year-old

Screen grab shows officer Kevin Sumner after applying handcuffs around SR’s biceps.

The sheriff’s office in Kenton County, Kentucky, has released a statement defending a cop caught on camera while handcuffing a an eight-year-old boy with mental disability.

In a statement issued to the Guardian on Tuesday, Charles Korzenborn, the sheriff in Covington, Kentucky, responded to a video released earlier, showing Kevin Sumner handcuffing the boy for 15 minutes.

The video accompanies a federal lawsuit by the American Civil Liberties Union.

The officer, in violation of the US Constitution and Americans with Disabilities Act, handcuffed the 8-year-old boy as well as a 9-year-old girl, both of whom were disabled, read the lawsuit, also joined by the Children’s Law Center.

The sheriff said the deputy was acting based on “what he is sworn to do and in conformity with all constitutional and law enforcement standards.”

“I steadfastly stand behind deputy Sumner who responded to the school’s request for help. Deputy Sumner is a highly respected and skilled law enforcement deputy, and is an asset to the community and those he serves.”

Shot last November, the video shows the third grader, identified as SR, shouting: “My arm! Oh God. Ow, that hurts.”

“You can do what we have asked you to do, or you can suffer the consequences,” the police officer tells the child.

According to Korzenborn, Sumner had been called to the school by staff during school hours “after school administrators’ efforts to de-escalate and defuse a threat to others had proven unsuccessful.”

The lawsuit, however, accuses the cop and his department of laws that ban the forceful restraint of children.


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