Black boy, 12, with autism, is tied up by cops and suffers a concussion after his mother enrolled him in a law enforcement-run tennis program to try to teach him a positive attitude toward cops
- Shelia Jackson wanted her son to have a positive impression of the police
- However, one day she came to the program and found him in handcuffs
- She said he eventually went to the emergency room and got a concussion
- The police announced that they would investigate the incident internally
A Virginia woman speaks out after she claims her 12-year-old autistic son was concussed by a police officer at a local tennis program in a bid to foster a positive relationship with the police force.
Shelia Jackson has enrolled her young son, Curtis Hayes, in an after-school tennis program run by the Richmond Police Athletic League.
Her uncle was a police officer, and she wanted her son, who lives with autism, “to have a positive attitude about cops and not all the negativity he sees on TV,” as she put it.
However, on November 3, Jackson showed up on the Virginia Commonwealth University tennis courts to see Curtis on the floor and in handcuffs.
A Virginia woman speaks out after claiming her 12-year-old autistic son Curtis Hayes (pictured) suffered a concussion at the hands of a police officer at a local tennis program in a bid to promote a positive relationship with the police force
She said they eventually had to go to the university emergency room, where her son was diagnosed with a concussion.
She said staff told her Curtis was frustrated with his tennis serves and asked him to practice alongside everyone else.
Jackson said Curtis told her a police officer raised her voice at him and he walked away.
She believes the officer may have viewed this behavior as defiant, but Jackson says her son “knows how to try to regulate himself” and that walking away was his way of doing it.
However, as Jackson puts it, the officer may not have been aware of this and instead grabbed the 12-year-old.
She said: “When I got here, my son was lying on the ground with handcuffs just inside the opening of the fence. There was an officer holding his head, there was an officer on his left leg, someone on his right leg, there was an officer on his right kneeling with his shoulders down, and then another officer stood up .’
Richmond police told Jackson that Curtis headbutted an officer while he was in their custody and they handcuffed him because they thought he was going to run away, according to CBS6.
Shelia Jackson (pictured) signed her son up for an after-school tennis program run by the Richmond Police Athletic League
On November 3, Jackson showed up on the Virginia Commonwealth University tennis courts to see Curtis on the floor and in handcuffs
It was the handcuffs that caused Jackson to have a stroke because he didn’t understand why a 12-year-old child with special needs was being treated this way.
“That’s not how you should treat him, not just my son, anyone,” she said. “Where’s the training? Are you just going to practice and not realizing it?’
She has both spoken to police officers and paid for a police report, but the report did not describe the incident and no one has given her a satisfactory answer.
University police said they responded to a call related to the incident, but neither the child nor his mother were there when they arrived.
It was the handcuffing that made Jackson stroke because he didn’t understand why a 12-year-old child with special needs was being treated like this
Shelia said Curtis’ grades have dropped since the incident and her son barely made it through the school day
Richmond Police said there was an internal investigation into the incident but gave no further details
Jackson says the incident impacted Curtis’ well-being as he went from having excellent grades in school to not making it through a few days of school.
“As soon as the concussion comes, it’s like bambam bam. I’m like, ‘Oh my God,’ it’s something every day,” Jackson said.
Richmond Police said there was an internal investigation into the incident but gave no further details.