Bianca Digennaro said on Tuesday in tears that in the midst of a “mental collapse” her son, then 8 years old, was arrested inside her school, located in the Florida Keys, and put as a criminal to jail, with handcuffs, photo for the record and DNA samples from his mouth, and announced the filing of a federal lawsuit against the authorities of Key West.
Unbelievable!! @KWPOLICE used “scared straight” tactics on 8yo boy with special needs. He’s 3.5 ft tall and 64 lbs, but they thought it was appropriate to handcuff and transport him to an adult prison for processing!! He was so small the cuffs fell off his wrists! pic.twitter.com/iSTlXdKas6
— Ben Crump (@AttorneyCrump) August 10, 2020
Digennaro today attended a press conference with a group of lawyers, led by Ben Crump, to announce a civil rights lawsuit for the “severe psychological injury” caused to the child by key west school, police and judicial authorities.
They noted that the “traumatic” experience of arresting, incarceration and filing a criminal charge against the student occurred in December 2018.
Digennaro said it ‘never easy’ to watch the video that came to light this week, where the child is sitting, very calm, and the police arrive to arrest him, with the difficulty of putting the handcuffs on him because they are too big.
“I’m sad because I wasn’t there to protect my son,” the woman said, who was unable to come that day because she was undergoing an operation to remove a tumor.
Digennaro recounted that he has since fought a nine-month battle to have his son removed the assault charges, for which he had to hire a criminal lawyer and pay for costly medical examinations.
“My son has a disability and the authorities tried to make him a criminal at 8 years old,” Diegennaro, of Italian and German origin, lamented.
According to the plaintiff, her son, now 10, suffers from Attention Deficit Disorder/Hyperactivity (ADHD), with episodes of “depression and anxiety,” which lawyers said school authorities were well aware of.
She stated that sometimes her son has “tantrums” and refuses to be touched, even by herself
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