A Chicago mother filed a lawsuit Thursday against Chicago Public Schools, claiming that her 6-year-old daughter was handcuffed at school as punishment for taking candy off a teacher's desk, WLS reports.
The alleged incident, at Fernwood Elementary, dates back to March, but Marlena Wordlow says she felt no one at CPS was giving her justice, the news station reports.
Wordlow says her daughter, Madisyn Moore, was pulled out of class after allegedly taking candy off a teacher's desk. The child was allegedly handcuffed by a school security guard and then left under some stairs at the school to teach her a lesson, Wordlow says.
Wordlow told the station that her child was left alone under the stairwell by the boilers for more than an hour.
"He was pulling Madisyn from under the stairs with her hands behind her back. I don't know how long she was under there, but she was sweating. She still had on a jacket. It was warm outside, so I'm trying to figure out why she still had her jacket on," Wordlow said.
According to the New York Daily News, Wordlow said that the security guard told her that he was teaching the child "a [f—king] lesson."
"He said, 'I'm teaching her a [f—king] lesson. She took a piece of candy and I handcuffed her under the stairs,’” Wordlow told the Daily News.
Wordlow's lawsuit accuses the security guard of excessive force, false imprisonment and intentionally inflicted emotional distress, WLS reports. Madisyn, Wordlow says, is now afraid of the dark and terrified of anyone wearing a police uniform.
The lawsuit says that the child was "crying, sweating and visibly scared and distraught," according to the Daily News.
"I would like to know why he hasn't been prosecuted. This is a battery. This is false imprisonment," Jeffrey Granich, Wordlow's attorney, told WLS.
CPS fired the guard after the incident and put a "Do not hire" note in his personnel file. The district said that it took immediate action. However, Wordlow says that neither the school district nor the police department has been helpful since the incident unfolded.
Wordlow removed Madisyn from the school but said that CPS did not help enroll her daughter in a different school, WLS reports.
According to the Daily News, although the guard was fired, police did not press charges.
"The Chicago Public Schools system has a responsibility to make sure nothing like this happens again," Granich said.
Read more at WLS and the New York Daily News.