Do I concede that the pepper-spray went too far? Sure, I suppose so. This all comes down to bad parenting and a shit-bird kid. The cops came into a situation and made a judgment call on an asshole kid - too many asshole kids grow up to be bigger assholes because they weren't put in their place when it should have occurred. Then the mom just exacerbates the situation and the kids behavior further for more trouble down the road. If there was a rule that if a kid acted like a punk like that and got peppered, I bet the little punk wouldn't be too willing to take it there too many times. Middle eastern man caught stealing = hand cut off. Result? Allot less stealing. This is extreme, but you see my point. Yes, i know it's not the policemans job to parent - but for crissakes, when will the parenting start? We'll be paying for him in lockup in no time.
Cause and effect works both ways.
Had he put his hands on the kid he would have been sued.
The parents are certainly not adequate teachers in that regard either.
I agree with all the above. It's not the police's job to parent. They made a split second judgment call. I do wonder about specifics - if the kid was "barricaded" in a bunch of desks, how immediate was the danger?
If the cop that pepper sprayed him was incapable of taking away a wooden knife and restraining a kid that is a fraction of his size he should not be a cop!
Prince, that's a big 8 year old. Most of the guys on this forum seem to be "big" (y'all's joking about "big" aside), but if you've got a couple of average joe cops with a raving kid, it's a different story. Ever seen someone completely lose it? I don't mean just mad or hysterical, I mean someone with "problems" have an attack of some sort. It's scary.