A Chicago mother filed a lawsuit Thursday against Chicago Public Schools, claiming her 6-year-old daughter was handcuffed at school as punishment for taking candy off a teacher’s desk, WLS reports.
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In a statement to The Associated Press, the district said the guard has been fired and a “do not hire” note was placed in his personnel file.
The school’s security guard held the student under a flight of stairs by the boilers for an hour until the child’s mother, Marlena Wordlaw, came to school.
An angry Wordlow said she couldn’t believe Yarbroug’s reaction.
Marlena Wordlow told ABC-7 she plans to name both CPS and the security guard in a lawsuit alleging excessive force, false imprisonment and intentional infliction of emotional distress.
In addition to being outraged that her young daughter would be disciplined in this manner, Wordlow also maintains that the “stolen” candy was actually inside Madisyn’s lunch, according to the New York Daily News.
She told ABC7 Eyewitness News a security guard at Fernwood Elementary School put her daughter in handcuffs in March for allegedly taking a piece of candy. Madisyn was “crying, sweating, and visibly scared and distraught”, according to the lawsuit. Madisyn, Wordlow says, is now afraid of the dark and terrified of anyone wearing a police uniform. “This is false imprisonment”, said Jeffrey Granich, Wordlow’s attorney. Wordlow went to the school that afternoon to drop off money for another child, and then stopped by her daughter’s classroom to check on her.
The Chicago Board of Education is listed as defendant in the suit along with the security guard, who has not been arrested nor charged with a crime, according to Chicago Police.
The school district claims it took immediate action against Yarbrough upon becoming aware of the incident.
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“The Chicago Public Schools system has a responsibility to make sure nothing like this happens again”, Granich said.
