Police Handcuff Child with Autism and Mother Calls for Change

The mother of an autistic child handcuffed by police is seeking not only answers but change after a disturbing incident.

A mother in Craven County, New Bern, is protesting and calling for both answers and change after her autistic son was placed in handcuffs following an outburst at a local mall.

Sasha Strayhorn attended a recent Board of Alderman meeting demanding answers after the traumatic incident.

For Sasha and her son Kayden, a trip to the local mall soon turned into a traumatic incident after an outburst escalated and police were called about a young boy striking his mother.

Sasha said that her son Kayden is autistic and nonverbal and said that even though this wasn’t the first incident that had occurred between them and not the first time police were involved, in the past, police had been able to talk Kayden down without having to physically restrain him or place their hands on him.

Strayhorn said that regardless of whether a child has special needs, there should never be a reason to place them in handcuffs.

“This is unacceptable. This shouldn’t happen to my child or anybody else’s child,” Sasha Strayhorn said.

In a statement made during the Board of Alderman meeting, the New Bern Police Chief, Patrick Gallagher, said that the officers intervened in the incident when they received a complaint and responded to the altercation at the mall, seeing the commotion between Sasha and her son Kayden.

Chief Gallagher said in his statement that no additional force was used during the incident.

“Out of safety for the mother and the child, officers separated the two and handcuffed the child. The child was not injured and was placed in the backseat of a patrol car,” Gallagher said.

During the meeting, Chief Gallagher said that they

Chief Gallagher said they will be releasing the body camera footage.

Despite this, Sasha Strayhorn said that it’s not enough, and more need to be done to ensure that this doesn’t happen again in the future.

“Every law enforcement, I don’t care if you’re across the world, they all need training, they all need it,” she said.

After the incident, the Board of Alderman had no comments on the incident due to the ongoing nature of the investigation. However, if there are any changes to the story, we will keep you updated.

Police Handcuff Child with Autism and Mother Calls for Change – Conclusion

This isn’t the first incident of this kind where police have become involved, and it won’t be the last. Still, it does reiterate the need for police and law enforcement agencies to receive adequate training when it comes to dealing with people on the autism spectrum, but also mental health conditions.

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