The American Civil Liberties Union of Hawaii and a Honolulu attorney are calling for $500,000 in damages and new state policies managing how police and public school employees handle situations with students after the mother of a 10-year-old Black girl living with disabilities alleged officers used “excessive force” to handcuff, interrogate and arrest her daughter following a complaint from another parent.
Tamara Taylor alleges that in January 2020 another parent at her daughter’s school, Honowai Elementary, asked school administrators to call police after viewing a picture drawn by her daughter and others depicting another student who was allegedly bullying the 10-year-old. The Waipahu school already had seen the picture, according to Mateo Caballero, Taylor’s attorney, but called HPD after the parent insisted.
“Not because there was any danger to anyone,” said Caballero in a statement to the Honolulu Star-Advertiser. “Ultimately, schools are places for learning and exploring, and here, while the drawing may have called for some response by the school — involving counselors and Ms. Taylor, not the police — it should not have resulted, under any circumstances, in a ten-year-old in handcuffs.”
On Monday the ACLU of Hawaii and Caballero sent a demand letter to the Honolulu Police Department, the state Department of Education and the state Attorney General’s Office describing the incident.
Taylor complained about the treatment from the three officers who responded by contacting the Police Standards Office with her concerns. She tried to address the issue without counsel for several months, according to Caballero.
“Once she got in touch with my office earlier this year, it took some time for us to investigate the claims and put the letter together,” he said.
On Jan. 10, 2020, a parent complained to Honowai Elementary School officials about a sketch the 10-year-old and other students drew, and pushed staff to call police, according to Caballero.
Officers allegedly interrogated the 10-year-old about the picture, handcuffed her with “excessive force,” arrested her “without probable cause” and took her to the police station. The girl was not allowed to speak to Taylor despite the mother’s loud, repeated requests, delivered through tears, according to the letter. Police asked the 10-year-old whether she had hit anyone, and she said no.
That same morning, school officials asked Tamara Taylor to come to campus. But when she arrived, she was detained in another room, away from her daughter, and staff and police “refused” to let her see her daughter or let her know what was going on. She asked that school officials not call police but was told by a school official that it was the “parent’s right if she wants us to call the police for her.”
When Taylor was finally allowed to leave the room, she learned her daughter was under arrest and headed to the police station.
“Although I was at Hono‑ wai Elementary, I was not told that my daughter was removed from the premises, handcuffed in front of staff and her peers, placed into a squad car and taken away. I was stripped of my rights as a parent and my daughter was stripped of her right to protection and representation as a minor,” said Taylor in a news release. “There was no understanding of diversity, African-American culture and the history of police involvement with African-American youth. My daughter and I are traumatized from these events and I’m disheartened to know that this day will live with my daughter forever.”
When the 10-year-old was finally released to her mother, she was “hungry, exhausted, and had been in the school or HPD’s custody for over four hours,” according to a news release.
Acting Honolulu Police Chief Rade Vanic did not reply to a request for an interview about the allegations.
“The department is reviewing the letter and will be working with Corporation Counsel to address these allegations,” said HPD spokeswoman Sarah Yoro.
Interim state schools Superintendent Keith Hayashi also did not respond to a request for an interview.
“The Department of the Attorney General is aware of the letter and will work with the Department of Education to respond,” said Gary Yamashiroya, special assistant to the attorney general.
In addition to $500,000, Taylor is asking the DOE and HPD to enact new policies managing how police and public school staff handle allegations against students.
“DOE and HPD must do more to reduce police presence in schools, which only contributes to a less-inclusive school climate,” said ACLU of Hawaii Legal Director Wookie Kim. “Instead, the school community should use less-punitive approaches to addressing school-based disputes. That means DOE should be turning to its counselors, nurses, school psychologists, and social workers first — and not to police.”
ACLU Taylor Demand Letter by Honolulu Star-Advertiser
