Georgia parents say son with autism handcuffed in school

From WTOC-TV in Georgia:

JEFF DAVIS COUNTY, Ga. -- Outraged parents are speaking out after they say their 8-year-old son was handcuffed in school.

Christopher's parents say the school resource officer at Jeff Davis Elementary put the cuffs on their son.

Burtis and Michelle Taylor sift through police reports and other school incident reports involving their 8-year-old son, who is a special education student.

"He has autism, ADHD and bipolar," said Burtis Taylor, which they say can cause him to have severe behavior outbursts from time to time.

"If he's having an outburst, hold him and I hold my wife hold him if that's what you have to do it. It will pass and he will say he is sorry and it's over in a few minutes," said Taylor.

But he says one day, the school resource officer took it too far.

"We got a phone call as we usually do to come and get him and we live 18 miles in the county and we don't have the money to come and get him every day," said Taylor.

Once they got to the school, they say they were shocked to see their son in handcuffs.

"Why were handcuffs put on a 8-year-old child with autism, ADHD, bipolar? You got three grown men, why put the child on the ground and handcuff him with his hands behind his back," said Taylor.

We did speak with the superintendent Dr. Lula Mae Perry who tells us she can't talk about this situation. She did say that teachers are trained to handle certain situations but they will call in a resource officer if they need help.

"We haven't received an apology. We got threatened our child was going to juvenile court for being a delinquent. We have reports that say aggression is a part of autism, we are talking about an 8-year-old child not 18," said Taylor.

The school resource officer is employed by the Hazlehurst Police Department but works in the school.

Christopher's parents say while their son may have been acting up, he is still a child and not a criminal.

"If this is the last thing we do, this will get straightened out. Our child deserves an education," said Taylor.

We did try contacting the Hazlehurst Police Department. They did want to comment on the situation.

The parents tell WTOC they will be meeting with the district in the next couple of weeks.