Handcuffs on 13-year-old 'excessive,' parents say

Video of a Clearwater teen being cuffed on a school bus after shouting prompts her parents to formally complain. Her dad is outraged.

	Cuffed Did a St. Petersburg police officer overreact when he handcuffed a 13-year-old girl on a school bus? Yes, the officer's reaction was excessive No, it was necessary in this case
	See video from Tampa Bay's 10

For the second time this year, a handcuffing is raising questions about the way police handle incidents involving Pinellas County students.

The parents of a 13-year-old Clearwater girl say a St. Petersburg police officer overreacted when he handcuffed their daughter aboard a school bus.

Their attorney today will ask the Pinellas-Pasco State Attorney's Office to drop a charge of disorderly conduct. School officials already have cleared the girl, saying they saw nothing in a videotape of the Nov. 11 arrest that violated the student code of conduct.

The tape shows the officer, Roberto Rolon, boarding the bus along a Safety Harbor roadside after another student threw a hard object, believed to be a golf ball, out a window. The flying object caused a car to swerve and nearly hit Rolon's police motorcycle as he drove home from work.

The tape shows the officer walking to the back of the bus after the girl, Ashley Marie Mitchell, stands and shouts that she was not the student he was looking for.

Moments later, Rolon approaches the girl as she again denies involvement. The tape shows him twisting the girl's arm behind her back and marching her to the front of the bus as he says, "I don't play. ... I don't play."

The girl was handcuffed to a railing in the bus stairwell while Rolon tried to find out which student threw the object. A 13-year-old boy later confessed.

The bus was filled with students from Safety Harbor Middle School.

"The video speaks for itself," said Clearwater lawyer John McGuire, who is representing Ashley. "I have three children myself close to that age. I wouldn't be happy either if I were the parents."

Luis Mitchell, the girl's father, said she might have used a "lower tone" with the officer but showed no disrespect.

"To arrest my daughter and put handcuffs on her - I think that was a bit excessive," Mitchell said. He said he was outraged when he saw the tape for the first time Monday. School officials released it as the parents pressed for details of their daughter's arrest.

"I support her 100 percent," Mitchell said. "There's no crime in standing up and saying, "I didn't do something."'

The family has filed a formal complaint against Rolon, but no lawsuit is planned, Mitchell said.

The episode marks the second controversy this year over a St. Petersburg police officer handcuffing a student while in the care of the school district.

In March, a videotape showing officers handcuffing a kindergartener at Fairmount Park Elementary School made international news and sparked a vigorous debate over child discipline.

It also brought policy changes in the Police Department and school district that limit when officers can interact with students. School superintendent Clayton Wilcox was scheduled to view the tape of the latest arrest this morning.

"I'm at a loss for words," Luis Mitchell said Tuesday. "I can't even believe that a police officer would actually handcuff my child just knowing what has happened recently with the St. Petersburg Police Department."

Department spokesman George Kajtsa said a complaint by Ashley's parents has prompted an internal investigation by the traffic bureau where Rolon is assigned. Bureau-level investigations are used for less serious alleged infractions, such as an officer's use of profanity.

Kajtsa said police officials could not talk about what happened once Rolon got on the bus, since the incident is under investigation. In such cases, an officer could face a reprimand and potentially time off without pay, depending on his prior history, Kajtsa said.

Rolon, 43, has been with the St. Petersburg Police Department since 1982. He has received several letters of appreciation from the public and a handful of formal commendations from the department, including one for his handling of a homicide case.

Last year, Rolon was the subject of an internal affairs investigation for pushing a rookie officer and using profanity during a training session, Kajtsa said. He received a notice that went in his file.

In 2003, a bureau-level investigation sustained an allegation that Rolon tried to prevent a man from closing a door on him by putting his foot in the door, a violation of department procedure. He received a written memo, Kajtsa said.

Later that year, another bureau-level investigation concluded that Rolon grew frustrated with how a probationary officer was dealing with a situation and tapped his foot as a signal of his displeasure, Kajtsa said. Rolon received a verbal reminder to use nonphysical communications in the future.

On Nov. 11, Rolon was driving home from work on Ninth Avenue near Withlacoochee Street in Safety Harbor on his department-issued motorcycle, according to Kajtsa.

A Cadillac swerved in front of him nearly hitting his motorcycle. The car stopped on the side of the road, where the driver explained that something hard had been thrown from a yellow school bus traveling north on Ninth Avenue.

Rolon pulled the bus over and explained to the driver what had happened.

After handcuffing Ashley, he tried for several minutes to find out who threw the object. The boy who later confessed has since moved to Germany.

Ashley was turned over to the Sheriff's Office, which patrols Safety Harbor. Deputies handcuffed the girl again and called her mother, who came to pick her up at the scene. She later was treated for a bruise at Mease Countryside Hospital, her parents said.

In the videotape, as no one steps forward to claim responsibility for throwing the object, Rolon tells the students he is disappointed in them. He tells them he knows their parents and that his own children attend Safety Harbor Middle.

He lectures them on how to behave in the presence of a police officer.

"When any law enforcement officer tells you to do something or not to do something, you do exactly what you're told," Rolon said. "If you do something different, you're in violation. ... I'm not one of your kids. I'm not one of your homies. I'm not one of your friends. I am not afraid of any one of you or all of you put together. And if you want to play with me I will play back.

"And law enforcement officers always win."

Luis Mitchell said that sounded like officers are above the law.

"I don't agree with that," he said. "We're talking about children here."

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