A 15-year-old student in Detroit was struggling. On a field trip with her classmates to a district courtroom,
she just couldn't keep her eyes open. It's a sadly common occurrence: teens with too many responsibilities and often intense academic and social pressure simply can't seem to get enough rest. She started the day off already exhausted, and couldn't hide it during her field trip.
But when Judge Kenneth King saw her, he didn't see a teen overwhelmed with pressures and burdens.
He saw a "disposition that disturbed me." So, did he try to work with her teachers to get her more resources?
Nope.
He ordered her to be placed in handcuffs, forced her to remove her regular clothing and wear actual jail clothes instead, and threatened to throw her in juvenile detention. He said: "I wanted this to look and feel very real to her."
All because she was tired.If a judge overreacts this badly to a sleepy child, he should not be presiding over real cases. He obviously has extremely poor judgement and shouldn't be entrusted with sitting on the bench! Demand he be disbarred now!With every new detail we learn, the situation only appears to get worse. According to
a complaint filed by the girl's family,
the judge streamed this teen's humiliation live on YouTube for the whole world to see, threatened to put her in a holding cell in the courthouse's jail, separated her from her peers and "imprisoned her for hours," as well as "
conducted a fake trial [of her conduct] with her classmates (and possibly his internet followers) as her jurors and his audience."
After news outlets began reporting the story, he had the nerve to offer to mentor her as a way of supposedly rectifying the situation.
Judge King claims he was trying to 'teach this student a lesson' - but all he did was inflict
humiliation and emotional and psychological abuse on a kid. On top of that, the judge didn't even have the authority to punish this child!
She was there as an observer - not as a defendant coming before him to plead her case.
This was a gross misuse of authority and shows that his main priority is to
intimidate and overpower the people who come before him.
We must take a stand against this abuse of power. This man's actions show he cannot be trusted to uphold the law fairly and justly. We must ensure that those who are entrusted with the responsibility of dispensing justice do not use their position to inflict harm. Sign the petition to demand that Judge Kenneth King be disbarred immediately. 