Police Use Pepper Spray to Subdue 8-Year-Old at School
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A second grader's violent outburst led to the 8-year-old boy being pepper sprayed by police -- twice -- at his school.

"Today" reports Aidan Elliot threatened two teachers, throwing chairs and yelling, "If you come out, you're gonna die." The teachers locked themselves in an office and called police.

"He was violent, he was verbal, he was abusive," Peg Kastberg, superintendent of Jefferson County Schools, tells "Today."

The boy reportedly threw a TV cart and pulled wood trim from the walls, the news show reports.

"I wanted to make something sharp, for, like, if they came out -- 'cause I was so mad at them," Aiden tells "Today." "I was gonna try to whack them with it."

Aidan's mom, Mandy Elliot, tells "Today" no other students were in the classroom at the time of the incident, and calls the use of pepper spray "excessive."

"The school he was at was for children who have social and emotional behavioral issues ... They know what the kids are capable of before they took him on. They could have also called and asked for a special unit who deals with children from the police department in these crisis situations," Elliot tells "Today.
This was his third incident involving police at school, "Today" reports. No charges were filed.

"I kind of deserved it," Aidan tells "Today."

Eliott tells the news show her son's violent behavior occurs only at school, but that Aidan has not been diagnosed with any disorder. She says she would like to see police training, for officers dealing with similar situations.

"I don't think it's right for an 8-year-old to get pepper-sprayed," she tells "Today."

I’m sure she will sue the police department, the school and the local government for not making rules against this. Maybe she should be sprayed with pepper spray.

Study: Half of Teens Admit Bullying in Last Year

Half of teens admit bullying in past year. Credit: AP
Half of high school students say they've bullied someone in the past year, and nearly half say they've been the victim of bullying, according to a national study released Tuesday.

The survey by the Los Angeles-based Josephson Institute of Ethics asked more than 43,000 high school students whether they'd been physically abused, teased or taunted in a way that seriously upset them. Forty-three percent said yes, and 50 percent admitted to being the bully.

The institute's president, Michael Josephson, said the study shows more bullying goes on at later ages than previously thought, and remains extremely prevalent through high school.

"Previous to this, the evidence was bullying really peaks in middle school," Josephson told The Associated Press.

He said the Internet has intensified the effect of taunting and intimidation because of its reach and its permanence.

"It's the difference between punching someone and stabbing him. The wounds are so much deeper," Josephson said.

Josephson added the survey's results don't surprise him because his group has conducted similar studies without publishing the results. But he said he still finds the numbers "alarming."

In the survey, 10 percent of teens admitted bringing a weapon to school at least once, and 16 percent admitted being drunk at school.

Josephson said that means victims of bullying are in danger of striking back violently.

"You have a combination that is a toxic cocktail," Josephson said.

The study reported responses from 43,321 high school students from around the country, and the margin of error was less than 1 percent.

Rick Hesse, a professor of decision sciences at Pepperdine University, said the survey involved voluntary self-reporting and was therefore not a random, stratified sample of the U.S. population. But he said the large number of people surveyed and the lack of corrupting factors mean certain valid conclusions can be drawn from the results.

The study's release comes in a year of several high-profile suicides related to bullying, including that of 15-year-old Phoebe Prince of Massachusetts, who prosecutors say was relentlessly bullied by the six girls charged in her death.

On Tuesday, the U.S. Department of Education sent letters to schools, colleges and universities around the country warning them that failing to adequately address ethnic, sexual or gender-based harassment could put them in violation of federal anti-discrimination laws.

Copyright 2010 The Associated Press. The information contained in the AP news report may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or otherwise distributed without the prior written authority of The Associated Press. All active hyperlinks have been inserted by AOL. This article was written by ANDREW DALTON, Associated Press Writer.