Mom arrested at her son's school for not "signing in". School put on "LOCKDOWN".

St. Louis County mother furious after being arrested for consoling son.

(KMOV) – A mother trying to pick her special needs son up from school winds up in handcuffs and puts the school on lockdown.

“I was lying in bed when I received a frantic phone call from the teacher, Michael was panicking,” said Niakea Williams. Michael is Williams’ son and he suffers from Asperger’s syndrome.

After getting the call, Williams came up the Ferguson - Florissant school where she was buzzed in by school officials.

She got to her son’s classroom and immediately started to console him.

Then the school principal informed her she was violated school policy by not signing in. “I didn’t sign the book, but I had to check on my son. You can bring me the book, She said oh no, I’ve already called the police. You called what,” said Williams.

“They escorted me away from my son, who already has emotional distress. Four officers told me to turn around and put my hands behind my back, I was under arrest,” said Williams.

How many more stories like this do we need to hear?

America, WAKE UP. *grabs America by the shoulders and shakes*

There was no sense or logic from beginning to end, not by the so called Principal nor by the cops.

The Principal is an authoritarian/mini dictator.

And the cops, instead of shrugging their shoulders and laughing this off, acted like jack booted thugs by not only arresting the mother but also by placing the school on "lockdown"...

To those who would defend this insanity, people like you are putting the final nails in the coffin of this nation.

Removed reply. Too irritated to converse about this.

I agree, WAKE UP AMERICA....

Learn to follow the rules and you won't be arrested!

You people see the authorities wrong in everything that happens anymore.

If someone went in and started shooting or did something else wrong you would be complaining at the lack of security.

Everybody thinks they are above the rules anymore. Her son was in do danger and she should have signed in. They have those rules for a reason and don't want people just wandering the halls.

I know I will be the only one who thinks this way but that's how it works in just about every school in the country, when you go in you sign in at the office. I'm almost 50 years old and it was that way when I was in school.

Some common sense needs to be applied by the school, if she was buzzed in by a teacher or staff member then that would at least seem to imply they knew who she was. I am sure ,like it happens it just about every unexpected situation, the comm channels broke down. Maybe all the principal knew was that their was someone in the school that shouldn't be there. Still, take a few seconds and assess the scenario or at least figure out what is going on while the Police are on the way.

That being said, the mother also should have signed in if that is a policy she knew prior to this emergency. Just because she feels something is an emergency doesn't give her the right to do things her own way.

In the end both sides could have done it better.

That is just a WOW... That principal should be fired. Those police officers should be fired for not being able to think for them selves.

Are police just attack dogs now that when sicced onto somebody know no other response? They are not capable or allowed to think for themselves?

I would seriously like to hear the schools response/justification for this as well as the police dept.

reply to post by opethPA


I agree the mother should have known to sign in, but somebody let her in. My thing is the police reaction. They cannot differentiate between a mother comforting her son and a hostile situation?

I wonder if they are combat vets.

reply to post by gladtobehere

Williams came up the Ferguson - Florissant school where she was buzzed in by school officials.

Intrptr hangs head… even schools are operating like prisons now. What are we teaching our kids?

The boogeyman. Good primer for graduating into a world filled with "terror".

I'm getting the feeling there's a missing piece to this story....if the kid was in that much distress , the school nurse, medics, and probably police would have already been there and awaiting the mom. ...if the teacher was in that much of a panic, other teachers and the principal would have been alerted before the mom could have even had time to drive there....I get the fact she rushed in to take care of her son, but...if the teacher had that much of an emergency situation, I would think others would have been aware. I don't know....I think there's some thing missing to this story that has yet to come out.

They buzzed her in and then had her arrested?

A human with an actual functioning brain would have just brought the book over as suggested and let her sign in if it was even that important. They buzzed her in but she didn't stop. There's gotta be more to this. Or something.

People are so freaking stupid.

intrptr
Intrptr hangs head… even schools are operating like prisons now. What are we teaching our kids?
The boogeyman. Good primer for graduating into a world filled with "terror".

Except for the fact that schools have been controlling access into buildings for a long time.
I was in middle school about 25 years ago and they buzzed people in and had them sign in then also.
Controlled access into a building isn't a bad thing.

I'm dealing with similar attitudes of "our way or no way" from district employees in another large district. We've outright caught one of them sending fabricated emails to have our child advocate set-up and removed for cause (that worked before we realized what they'd done) and non-stop B.S.. I have to say, when Missouri wants to screw with parents? The laws we have do nothing whatsoever to protect the parents from being screwed to the wall, for pure amusement of the district people. The laws which do exist require positive action to mean anything (I.E...I have to sue the morons..or the law may as well not exist at all on things like the fine points of the Congressional Act relating to Special Needs).

Welcome to Missouri, unfortunately. For the many GREAT things about how our state functions? There are some damned serious issues we still have to hash out among ourselves and how a few laws work.

I feel for the Mom and hope she pushes this to the very last breath of legal life her case can muster against those sorry losers. It took more than just the principle, after all. I'd put my own cash on that. At least a few.

reply to post by ~Lucidity


The idiot principle looked in her "Book big of idiot answers" and found the page for "When parents don't care what you say".

On the left column she found "doesn't sign in" and on the right, it said "Call Police". So....what else could a diligent education professional do? Surely they can't be expected to make use of critical thinking or personal judgement. They aren't trusted with the personal initiative it would require.

(I don't know the above for certain, but I'm not purely kidding with no idea of how it works, either...I'm not too far off, if at all)

reply to post by gladtobehere


The shocking part of this is how dangerous and out of control LEO's have become. They are entitled to neutralize all perceived threats. A distraught mother has been the target of police murder many times. In my hometown, a mother was gunned down for wielding a vegetable peeler in her own kitchen. All ruled "justified". A couple of false moves and she could be dead right now. No exaggeration needed. Reality is surreal enough.

As for this principal, wannabe authoritarians and automatons are ruining the US. IMO, that's the main reason people distrust government. Everyone wants to get their emotional payoff from exerting force on someone else. sick.

RoScoLaz

opethPA That being said, the mother also should have

you pathetic slave.

This is how much I care about you calling me a slave because I was logical and honest in what I thought.

reply to post by Wrabbit2000

Maybe she oughta be working for tech support in India then and not at a school.

What the hell was she afraid the consequences would be if she bent the "rule" in this case. They probably knew the woman and her son's issues too. Which makes it even more stupid.

No wonder our brains are atrophying.

reply to post by opethPA

Except for the fact that schools have been controlling access into buildings for a long time.
I was in middle school about 25 years ago and they buzzed people in and had them sign in then also.
Controlled access into a building isn't a bad thing.

C'mon man. Next you'll be telling me that roadblocks and checkpoints on every roadway and corner "isn't a bad thing" either. That chip implants and google glass are the rave.

No disrespect sir, but you are a product of that generation that no longer understands what it means to live in the land of the free.

Enjoy you prison life. Don't get out of line.

You must realize this event the thread is about is a direct example of what a waste of time all this fear technology represents?

Did anyone read the comments in the link? One person stated that the school had been having problems with this parent - that she had threatened to stab one of the other parents. Methinks this story may be a little more complicated than is being presented.

reply to post by ~Lucidity


You know, that is an interesting question that might be fair to ask. That child advocate we had set up and removed for cause was fresh into this area from the St Louis district, as it so happens, and the back biting/infighting we were shocked to see here, she was used to as a routine part of her job, coming from up there. I got the impression that St Louis schools are fine if you're fitting in...but hell on Earth, in many cases, if you're not the "Comply" and "Obey" type of kid. Not all are, after all....

She could have been a witch over this for fear other faculty would turn her in for their own brownie points on a technical violation, if she didn't. I mean I have gotten that very strong sense of paranoid tension at some of the combined staff meetings at the district here.

intrptr
No disrespect sir, but you are a product of that generation that no longer understands what it means to live in the land of the free.

Enjoy you prison life. Don't get out of line.

You must realize this event the thread is about is a direct example of what a waste of time all this fear technology represents?

I have no kids so I don't really have the perspective or experience of a parent to say security checks into a school are good or bad. I'll leave that up to people that have to worry about that. What I do know is that in working in a hospital we have checks in and security at all doors, does that equal prison life also?


I do know exactly what it means to live in the land of the free.

I'm living life the way I want right now and have been for along time. I can make every choice I want and because I choose to not break the law, whether I think some are silly or not, I don't have to deal with the the Police.

Security doesn't equal a prison just like a lack of common sense, such as in displayed by all the parties in the OP's story, doesn't mean something is more secure.