{"id":16143,"date":"2015-10-01T20:19:44","date_gmt":"2015-10-02T03:19:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/?p=16143"},"modified":"2015-10-01T20:19:44","modified_gmt":"2015-10-02T03:19:44","slug":"lawsuit-stops-alabama-cops-from-spraying-students-with-tear-gas-and-pepper-spray","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/?p=16143","title":{"rendered":"Lawsuit Stops Alabama Cops from Spraying Students With Tear Gas and Pepper Spray"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong><span style=\"font-size: 14pt;\">By Richard Cohen<\/span><\/strong><br \/>\n<strong><span style=\"font-size: 14pt;\">President, Southern Poverty Law Center<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 14pt;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/12\/Southern-Poverty-Law-Center.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\" size-full wp-image-8108 alignleft\" src=\"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/12\/Southern-Poverty-Law-Center.jpg\" alt=\"Southern Poverty Law Center\" width=\"150\" height=\"149\" \/><\/a>We\u2019ve just won a huge court victory in our fight to stop the shocking abuse of children by police officers who patrol the hallways in public schools.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 14pt;\">Our clients were among hundreds of Birmingham, Alabama, students doused in the face with a painful combination of tear gas and pepper spray.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 14pt;\">They hadn\u2019t committed any crime. They were just being kids.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 14pt;\">Wednesday, a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.splcenter.org\/news\/2015\/10\/01\/splc-wins-lawsuit-challenging-use-pepper-spray-alabama-school-district\">federal judge ruled <\/a>in our case that police violated the constitutional rights of children by spraying them for \u201cnormal adolescent behavior\u201d \u2013 like \u201cbacktalking\u201d and \u201cchallenging authority.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 14pt;\">What\u2019s more, the police illegally failed to ensure the children were decontaminated afterward, leaving them to suffer in pain.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 14pt;\">One of our clients was a girl in the 10th grade who was simply walking to class in tears after a boy made inappropriate remarks.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 14pt;\">After being told by an officer to \u201ccalm down,\u201d she was sprayed in the face and handcuffed. She was five months pregnant.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 14pt;\">Another was sprayed for cursing teachers, then handcuffed and driven to court. Her eyes were swollen for three days, and welts on her faced lasted over a week. She even suffered hair loss and had to wear a wig to school.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 14pt;\">It\u2019s mind-boggling that anyone in the police department \u2013 much less the school system \u2013 could think this is the way children should be treated. How could this go unchecked?<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 14pt;\">The truth is, children are being pushed needlessly into the justice system in schools across the Deep South, particularly in heavily African-American school districts like Birmingham. It\u2019s part of a broader pattern of overzealous policing that targets minority communities and criminalizes children.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 14pt;\">Is it any wonder that so many minority children in our country grow up not trusting the police?<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 14pt;\">It\u2019s clear that no one else was standing up for the vulnerable schoolchildren and their families in Birmingham. So thank you for standing by our side \u2013 and theirs.<\/span><\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 14pt;\"><em><strong>The SPLC is dedicated to fighting hate and bigotry and to seeking justice for the most vulnerable members of our society<\/strong><\/em><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>By Richard Cohen President, Southern Poverty Law Center &nbsp; We\u2019ve just won a huge court victory in our fight to stop the shocking abuse of children by police officers who patrol the&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1120,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[16,648],"tags":[1305,8,1698,1699],"class_list":["post-16143","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-home-main-slider","category-other-voices","tag-civil-rights","tag-lawsuit","tag-pepper-spray","tag-tear-gas"],"yoast_head":"<!-- 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