Peel police launch review after 6-year-old girl handcuffed at Mississauga school
Police in Peel Region have ordered a review of an incident last September in which officers handcuffed a six-year-old girl at her elementary school.
Peel Police Chief Jennifer Evans made the announcement at a meeting of the board on Friday, adding that the review will be conducted by 12 Division Superintendent Rob Ryan and Insp. Rad Rose.
Evans says she personally met with the director of the Peel school board and will report back to the board when the review is complete.
"I'm happy to hear that, but is that the broad statement that's made every time they're caught with their pants down?" the girl's mother said to CBC Toronto following the announcement of the review.
CBC Toronto is not identifying the woman to protect the child's identity.
Earlier this month, police told CBC Toronto they visited the Mississauga school after the girl was reportedly acting violently, kicking and punching school administrators.
Decision follows complaint by mother
The child had previously been suspended by the school and officers had been deployed in the past for similar incidents involving the girl, according to Peel Regional Police spokesman Sgt. Josh Colley.
When two Peel police officers arrived on the scene and weren't able to calm down the child, they handcuffed the six-year-old's hands and feet for "the safety of other students and ultimately the child," said Colley.
The girl's mother went on to launch a complaint with police, saying there is no scenario where a child should be forcibly restrained. She also said she took her daughter to multiple doctors after she was previously suspended, but that the child has no known medical problems.
"There's nothing a 48-pound, six-year-old girl could've done," said the mother.
'What they did was not right'
The school board would not comment on the specific case, citing privacy laws, but said it does believe teachers and the administration did the right thing.
The African Canadian Legal Clinic is working on the case and said it plans to lodge a complaint to the the Office of Independent Police Review Director, believing this case to be racially motivated -- something both police and the school board denies.
"For anyone to think that racism played a part in this," Sgt. Josh Colley, said, "it's disgusting."
For her part, the girl's mother says she hopes the review will mean that not only the officers involved in the incident, but for the entire police board, is retrained on race.
"I'm not looking for anyone to lose their job or their source of income, but obviously they need to know what they did was not right."
