A Miami police officer is at the center of controversy after admitting to handcuffing, and pulling the ear of, a five-year-old boy after he bit another student at school.
An Internal Affairs report explains that Jose Feliciano bit a classmate he had a history of violence with and cursed at an Eneida Hartner Elementary School teacher before he was sent to the counselor’s office.
The incident happened in February over a toy. But it’s how the child was disciplined that has his parents fuming.
Veteran officer Paul Gourrier was already at the school for an unrelated incident and got involved.
Mari Bonilla, Jose’s mother, told a reporter in Spanish that she’s furious and her son has been traumatized.
“I should be reprimanding my child,” Hector Feliciano told WFOR. “An officer handcuffing him is unacceptable.”
At least one parent with a child at the school has gone public, questioning Gourrier’s actions.
“That teaches a five year old a lesson?” Tim Mendez asked. “What sense does that make?”
The Miami-Dade County school system has since explained, via a statement, that Gourrier is not assigned to any Miami-Dade schools but the officers that are have been “specially trained to deal with children using abundant care and compassion.”
“We do not condone this action on the part of other law enforcement entities, even if was done as part of a demonstration to teach a lesson,” read the statement.
Police Chief Rodolfo Llanes suspended Gourrier for two days without pay in June, according to reports. Gourrier later told investigators that he would not have made the same decision if given a second chance, according to a CBS report.
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