Federal appeals court rules cops who handcuffed 10-year-old girl for drawing offensive picture must face excessive force lawsuit

A teen is seen in handcuffs in this April 11, 2010 photo (AP Photo/Carlos Osorio).

A federal appeals court ruled that three Honolulu police officers are not immune from a lawsuit filed on behalf of a 10-year-old girl who was handcuffed and arrested at school for allegedly drawing an offensive and violent picture of another student.

A three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit issued an unpublished opinion in which it said the officers were not entitled to qualified immunity because it was unreasonable for officers to think it necessary to use handcuffs to transport a 10-year-old to the police station. The panel was made up of U.S. Circuit Judges Consuelo Callahan, a George W. Bush appointee, Andrew D. Hurwitz, a Barack Obama appointee, and Holly A. Thomas, a Joe Biden appointee.

Tamara Taylor and her daughter, identified in pleadings as “N.B.”, sued the City of Honolulu and the Hawaii Department of Education for false arrest, use of excessive force, and racial and disability discrimination after police handcuffed and arrested a 10-year-old Black girl who drew an offensive picture.

According to the complaint , school authorities at N.B.’s elementary school called police in January 2020 after N.B. drew a picture of a figure holding a gun. The picture also included phrases including, “Stand down B—-,” “Yo F—– days are over NOW,” and “Fake to me and DED!” Images of the picture itself have not been made public.

Per the filing, N.B., who according to the complaint has ADHD and regularly uses drawing as a coping mechanism, says she drew the picture at issue after being bullied by another child. The complaint said that N.B. did not intend to give the picture to the subject child, but another classmate later delivered it to that child against N.B.’s wishes. The parent of that child ultimately reported the matter to the school, thereby precipitating police involvement.

Taylor said in filings that officers arrived at the school and interrogated her daughter without her present. Per the complaint, N.B. commented to a school nurse that she “wondered what spending one day in jail would be like.” According to the complaint, officers became upset by the comment and responded by handcuffing and arresting N.B.

The Honolulu Police Department (HPD) denied any racial motivation underlying their treatment of N.B. and defended their actions as an appropriate response to a genuine threat of harm. N.B. was never criminally charged for her actions.

The ACLU sued on behalf of Taylor and N.B. and named the City and County of Honolulu, the Hawaii State Department of Education, the individual HPD officers, and the vice principal of Honowai Elementary School as defendants. The officers — Christine Neves, Corey Perez, and Warren Ford — moved to dismiss the claims against them on the basis that they are entitled to qualified immunity from the lawsuit.

Qualified immunity is a controversial judge-created concept that renders government actors immune from lawsuits for official actions unless a plaintiff can show that they were deprived of a right which was “clearly established” by case law or statute. The doctrine is often criticized for unfairly shielding law enforcement officers in cases involving excessive force or racial profiling.

The Ninth Circuit agreed with the district court that N.B.’s false arrest claim should be dismissed. However, the appellate court reversed and denied qualified immunity for the officers who handcuffed the young girl.

The panel of the Ninth Circuit reasoned in its brief opinion that, “no reasonable official could have believed that the level of force employed against ten-year-old N.B. as alleged in Plaintiffs’ Second Amended Complaint — namely, placing her in adult handcuffs to transport her to the police station — was necessary.”

Though many states lack specific restrictions on the use of handcuffs for minors, several states have introduced bills in recent years that directly address the practice of handcuffing while others have attempted to legislate arrests of small children more generally.

The lawsuit asks for compensatory and punitive damages and seeks to have the HPD and the Hawaii Department of Education enact reforms to protect minors from intrusive police action.

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