Boy Arrested for Drawing Inappropriate Stick Figures by Police in Colorado, Taken Away in Handcuffs

I don't agree with the whole arresting or hauling out in handcuffs of this child, but I'm sorry, I don't feel this is normal. However, as with most breaking news stories, we don't know all of the back history involved. Is this something the child has done in the past, or is this a first "offence". Has he been violent, had outbursts, bullied etc etc etc.

I have a child with ADHD with the possibility of an ODD dx coming in the near future. If I ever found a picture like this in his room or school workbook, I would be VERY concerned. ADD/HD can affect children very differently. Sufferers of ADD/HD can be violent, have uncontrolled outbursts and can be totally impulsive and reckless and not think of consequences. If you show me a child with these symptoms and then tell me he's drawing violent pictures depicting REAL LIFE people...I'd be scared as hell. This is not a "normal" kid that's angry and draws some stick figures shooting each other. This child clearly labelled the picture with himself as the aggressor. With all the violent acts happening at schools these days, this is a red flag. Like my opinion or not...I'm betting if you were the parent of a child in this kids' class you'd have concerns.

Michelle

Some of the replies to this are insane, this is normal..i mean really, if we could look inside peoples minds the amount of sick, twisted and demented crap we think of from time to time would get us all locked up. He just decided to draw what he was visualizing...honestly, this is natural and so trivial that the response by the police and members on this thread truly is baffling.

reply to post by Michelle129th

The parents said "Tim" is being treated for Attention Deficit Disorder

The school was aware that the boy was in treatment

They were aware of the condition. Just to help out a bit~

Drawing a picture like that ( encouraged or not).... This kid has more problems than just ADD...

No, I don't think he should have been arrested... But he clearly needs more help than he is getting.

reply to post by Whereweheaded


your kiding right, he lives in the usa, where violence is all over the place, tv, games, toys, you ant be seriosu right..
whats he gonna draw bambi,

reply to post by dukeofjive


So are you trying to convey that the childs picture " promoting" killing teachers is acceptable behavior?


Yup, that's right, justify his actions, give him excuses...and carry on right?

I feel sorry for this young lad and his family. I bet life was already hard enough for them.



The people who need to be arrested are the ones who made it illegal to draw stick figures. Democrats and Republicans are going to ruin America with their tag team raping of the Constitution and shredding of our liberties. All professional politicians need to be replaced with Citizen Statesmen who will represent us instead of ruling over us.

reply to post by groingrinder


This isn't about the legality of the Constitution, or whether the child in question was in his rights to express himself. That isn't the issue. We all know ( I would hope we all know ) that the First Amendment Right grants him the freedom of expression. What is in order here is the question of his sanity, based on his picture suggesting " teachers must die".

Does he mean what he stated? Or is it just like some of the posters here believe? Normal behavior or not?

reply to post by Whereweheaded


Maybe we should arrest the writers and producers of the Die Hard series of movies? After all they went waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay beyond merely drawing stick figures holding guns. How is it that drawing stick figures holding guns can be illegal, but making a realistic movie is NOT illegal?

I have drawn such pictures in much greater detail and I haven't killed anyone.............yet.

reply to post by Whereweheaded


So now you are saying that all mentally handicapped people should be arrested. How very tolerant of you.

reply to post by groingrinder


I see your point, but are you saying that entertainment and educational centers are now one and the same? Sounds to me, IMO, that instead of addressing the issue at hand, there are those who wish to justify the actions, and blame it on something, anything....that would take the blame from say?....possible poor parenting skills? ( Just saying as example, I'm not suggesting the parents in question are bad parents).

reply to post by groingrinder

So now you are saying that all mentally handicapped people should be arrested. How very tolerant of you.

Nope, if you re-read the actual posts form page 1, you could have answered that question before wasting thread space.

Instead of reading a few lines from someones post, I suggest re-reading the statements in their entirety.

Allow me to edit, and make the search easy for you:

Though I dont condone arresting a child,

Had he written "Walker must die" instead they mightve given him an A.

And people think the UK is a nanny state?

Also, not sure why people here are indicating that this kid is going to be some sort of serial killer when he's older, even the Simpsons as a family show has worse violence than what this kid did, Itchy and Scratchy, it's just cartoon violence, that's all.

It's just pathetic and I'd sue the police and the teachers who informed on this kid.

reply to post by Unity_99


You're right. Kids do things like this to vent these emotions. It is much more healthy than bottling them up. It is much more healthy than denying that people ocassionally feel rage and anger.

If was a kid in the modern day my life would be hell. When I was little I had a list of kids I didn't like. I didn't really want to kill them. I wrote out the names of people that I didn't like. By writing their names and venting frustration or anger I worked through my anger.

When my parents split up for the first time I went through a mentally tough time. I was in elementary school at the time. I drew pictures of me with a sack on my back like a hobo. I even wrote, "I've had enough I'm running away." It was my way of verbalizing pain and anger when I felt no one would listen.

I would hate to think what they would do to me in the modern system. I grew up with no psychiatric interventions. I have never been on psychological medications. I have never been arrested for anything violent, and never attacked anyone unprovoked. I learned how to address my anger and learned how to handle my differences others peacefully.

Also these are pre-teen years. Soon his testosterone is going to fire off many times in a day. Teenage boys get mood swings, anger, violence, sexual things, lots and lots to work through to get them through the hoops, and they need understanding, guides and good folk helping.

I completely agree. Some kids can't be reached. However, 95% of kids are lost because they don't have a strong family support system.A strong support system that will teach them how to handle their emotions is extremely important. Teaching them that naturual emotions and moods need to be hidden or denied is abusive and destroys them mentally.

From doctor Sarah Thompson, M.D

All people have violent, and even homicidal, impulses. For example, it's common to hear people say "I'd like to kill my boss", or "If you do that one more time I'm going to kill you." They don't actually mean that they're going to, or even would, kill anyone; they're simply acknowledging anger and frustration. All of us suffer from fear and feelings of helplessness and vulnerability. Most people can acknowledge feelings of rage, fear, frustration, jealousy, etc. without having to act on them in inappropriate and destructive ways.

Some people, however, are unable consciously to admit that they have such "unacceptable" emotions. They may have higher than average levels of rage, frustration, or fear. Perhaps they fear that if they acknowledge the hostile feelings, they will lose control and really will hurt someone. They may believe that "good people" never have such feelings, when in fact all people have them.

This is especially true now that education "experts" commonly prohibit children from expressing negative emotions or aggression. Instead of learning that such emotions are normal, but that destructive behavior needs to be controlled, children now learn that feelings of anger are evil, dangerous and subject to severe punishment. To protect themselves from "being bad", they are forced to use defense mechanisms to avoid owning their own normal emotions. Unfortunately, using such defense mechanisms inappropriately can endanger their mental health; children need to learn how to deal appropriately with reality, not how to avoid it.

Now had the kid mentioned "killing off that Bieber kid " who sings, in conjunction with " music sucks", I wouldn't have minded!

reply to post by Clairaudience


It makes people uncomfortable. Today that is all it takes for Americans to start throwing each other under the bus. (Does that turn of phrse mean I am dangerous.) If you excercising your rights makes another person uncomfortable the first response is usually that you need to stop. That is the new American way.

I don't recall drawing anything like that as a child. I would occasionally draw army men shooting aliens or tanks shooting each other, but never depicting MYSELF shooting other people, let alone directly labeling the targets; in this case the teachers. And nor have I ever seen any other kids draw things like that.

Clearly something is not right in this kid.

The kid clearly has problems AND SHOULD BE EXCUSED FROM SCHOOL until they are sorted out. Compulsory attendance has not done anyone any favors.

Many have said that something isn't right with this kid. Maybe. But he is 11 years old. Jail or Juvie will really help him hone is serial killer craft I'm sure!

The police have no business in this issue. If he needs help, he needs help. If the teacher and administration are fearful, they can kick him out of school. If they are not fearful, then he should be there growing up among his peers.