So it was for an autistic Temecula, California, high school student. Via ABC:
[Father Doug] Snodgrass said his 17-year-old son, whose name has been withheld at the request of his parents, transferred to Chaparral High School, a public high school in Temecula, for his senior year. District discipline records from his previous school, Temecula Valley High School, “showed 10 discipline referrals” between August 2011 and May 2012, according to court records, but Snodgrass said the reason for the transfer was the family’s move to a different section of Temecula.
He was placed into an art class at Chaparral where he met Daniel, who befriended him. Not having any friends, his father said, his son quickly latched on to Daniel.
Snodgrass’ son began texting round the clock with his new friend, which at first thrilled his parents, happy that their son had made a new friend, Snodgrass said.
What they didn’t know was that Daniel was an undercover police officer, who the family claims would pressure their son to procure drugs.
Before dealing with the guts of the problem, I can't help but note how ABC was constrained (/sarcasm) to note how the unnamed autistic student had "10 discipline referrals" prior to coming to a new high school. This smacks of the mandatory prior arrests/convictions used in every report of police involvement, even if it had absolutely nothing to do with the issue at hand.
In this case, however, it's particularly absurd as autistic students typically have behavioral management issues, and hence a behavioral plan in their IEP. Were the referrals for talking in class? Perhaps having shirt tails out? It's unknown. But it's also irrelevant, unless the student happened to be an autistic drug dealer in his old school, and given what happened, that seems remarkably unlikely.
So we have a lonely newcomer to a high school, who also happens to be autistic such that his social anxiety, a normal feature of autism, prevents him from making friends and being accepted, and the only guy in school who wants to play with him happened to be an undercover police officer? What could possibly go wrong?
On the second day of school, Snodgrass said, Daniel asked the boy to buy drugs. “He asked my son if he could find marijuana for $20,” Snodgrass said. ”Three weeks later my son was able to bring back a half joint he received from a homeless guy.”
Wow, they hooked a big fish here. But the cops weren't satisfied that they had plumbed the depths of this criminal's heinousness.
Later, Snodgrass said, “he asked to purchase my son’s prescription medication, but our son refused.”
After all, why not add insult to injury by making efforts to undermine this young man's health in their zeal to find a drug dealer? It's not like there was anything seriously wrong with this student that was more important than making a bust, right? Oh wait. There is:
Snodgrass said his son had been diagnosed with autism, bipolar disorder, Tourette’s syndrome and various anxiety disorders.*
What a fabulous life he must have had, being a big time drug dealer who took three weeks to get a half joint from a homeless man to appease his one and only new friend. Except for all that he suffered from otherwise. And so the police made sure to put a stop to this fab drug dealing lifestyle:
“Our son went to school the morning of Dec. 11 and he didn’t show up at home after school, because he was arrested in his classroom,” Snodgrass said. “Police went into his classroom armed, and handcuffed our son. We were not notified by anyone, and he was held for two days, and we were not able to see him,” although he said they got his medication to him the first night he was in detention through a nurse.
After diversion in juvenile court on the charge, and a due process hearing where the school's expulsion was reversed, "citing that the court knew my son was targeted and was special needs, and yet the district did nothing,” the parents filed suit, claiming the district administration continues to "harass and intimidate" their son. After all, he is a drug dealer.
In response, the district offered a press release:
“The district continues to act lawfully and in furtherance of its mission to educate students and better prepare them for successful adulthood. Any and all claims filed with the district will be considered and processed in accordance with district policy and procedure, and the law. The district continues to research and consider its options for addressing the administrative law judge’s decision, but no appeal has been filed at this point.”
Well, of course the district "continues to act lawfully." What else could it do? But the claim that its acting in furtherance of "its mission to educate students" falls a bit flat in light of the consequences of what happened to this autistic young man befriended by an undercover.
Snodgrass said his son is now three months behind in school and will not graduate as originally planned.
The wages of sin? More like the price of being a vulnerable disabled young man targeted by our heroic drug warriors and a school district that was only too happy to let the police have their way.
H/T Ed at Blawg Review, via Radley Balko
* Snarky Aside: Too bad that this young man didn't have Asperger's Syndrome, since the DSM-5 published May 18, 2013, has eliminated it. Cured!
Okay, more seriously, Asperger's has been swept into Autistic Spectrum Disorder in the latest version of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, the "bible" of its kind. But ask any Aspy and you will learn that despite the fact that it may be an ASD, the ignorance with which almost everyone approaches autism (duh, look at the retard) taints the crucial distinction that Aspy's not only have intellectual and social deficits, but also extraordinary intellectual skills in specific areas. But hey, why maintain a meaningful distinction when it's easier to save a page and throw everyone in the same hole?
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Source: http://blog.simplejustice.us/2013/05/24/drug-warrior-has-special-needs.aspx?ref=rss
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