Judge Kenneth King who put teen in handcuffs & jail clothes for falling asleep in court on field trip pulled from bench

A MICHIGAN judge has been temporarily removed from the bench after forcing a young girl into jail clothes and handcuffs during a field trip.

Detroit judge Kenneth King was removed from his court docket on Thursday to undergo “necessary training,” according to the Associated Press.

AP

ABC 7

It comes just two days after a group of teenagers visited King’s courtroom for a field trip put together by The Greening of Detroit, a local non-profit.

During the visit, a 15-year-old girl fell asleep.

The judge was supposedly offended by her actions and ordered her to change into jail clothes and handcuffs.

King defended his decision when speaking with local ABC affiliate WXYZ .

“Do I have any reservations? Do I think I was heavy-handed in what I did? No, I don’t, because I’ll do whatever it needs to be done to reach these kids and make sure that they don’t end up in front of me,” King said.

“That was my own version of Scared Straight.”

The judge claimed to the outlet that he had an issue with how the young girl was acting in the courtroom.

“It was her whole attitude and her whole disposition that disturbed me,” he told the outlet.

“I wanted to get through to her, show how serious this is and how you are to conduct yourself inside of a courtroom.”

Not only did King order her to be put in handcuffs, the judge reportedly threatened to send the teen to juvenile detention .

“I think maybe she needs to go to the juvenile detention facility,” King said to the teen, according to video of the incident obtained by WXYZ.

“Why are you being disrespectful to this court? You sleep in bed at your home, not at court.”

Now, two days after the incident, the judge has been removed from his criminal case docket, according to the Associated Press .

A statement obtained by the outlet from 36th District Court Chief Judge William McConcio reveals that King is set to undergo training to address any “underlying issue” that contributed to the courtroom incident.

“We are dedicated to ensuring that our court continues to uphold the highest standards of fairness and respect,” the statement read.

King is expected to continue to be paid during the training, for which a time frame was not immediately available.

The judge has reportedly contacted the teenager’s family, offering to mentor her.

However, her family has denied the offer, according to WXYZ.

A MOTHER’S DEFENSE

Latoreya Hill, the mother of the young girl, identified as Eva Goodman, told WXYZ that her daughter was signed up for The Greening of Detroit’s summer program to stay busy.

Hill, a single mother, told the outlet that their family does not have a permanent residence.

She pointed to this as the reason why her daughter fell asleep.

While the judge labeled the behavior as “disturbing,” Hill accused King of “belittling” her daughter.

“To belittle her in front of the whole world and her friends, to make her feel even more worse about our situation,” Hill told WXYZ.

“The fact that he was talking about ‘you go home and get in your bed’, how do you know my baby got a home, how do you know my baby got a bed, her own bed she could sleep in, she don’t have that right now, so she was tired.”

She continued in tears, saying “Would you want someone to treat your child like that? Would you even treat your child like that.”

Hill explained that her daughter had never been inside a courtroom before and was left so nervous by the incident “she didn’t know how to act.”

In the days since, Hill has removed her daughter from the summer program, saying she was frustrated with how the situation was handled.

The Greening of Detroit has also lambasted the judge’s actions, saying it left the 15-year-old “traumatized.”

“Although the judge was trying to teach a lesson of respect, his methods were unacceptable,” chairperson Marissa Ebersole Wood said in a statement obtained by ABC News .

“The group of students should have been simply asked to leave the courtroom if he thought they were disrespectful.”