There have been some developments so we must, I think, revisit the case of the Dakota Ridge kid, if only to remind ourselves, principals and the cops that it is rarely a good idea to put kids in handcuffs.
In short, knock it off.
You may remember the case of Blake Benson, a now 17-year-old Littleton student, who one day last presidential campaign season decided he wanted to stand up for his man, John McCain.
It was Nov. 3, and Michelle Obama was scheduled to deliver a speech at Dakota Ridge High School in Littleton. Benson brought a McCain yard sign to school.
No signs, administrators told him. A T-shirt was OK, but no signs. Benson went to work cutting up various signs, and fashioning a shirt that read: NOBAMA. On the back, he taped the word PALIN. He wore it all day with no problems.
School let out. Obama supporters had gathered in front of the school. He joined them, still dressed in his NOBAMA shirt.
“I knew Mrs. Obama was going to be at the school, and I just wanted to show how I felt about it, who I supported,” he said. “And honestly, I wasn’t worried about getting into trouble.”
Trouble, though, soon arrived. A campus security guard walked up and told the boy to leave. “I’m not leaving,” he replied.
He fetched a school administrator. By then, Benson was joined by two friends.
A Jefferson County sheriff’s deputy showed up next. He marched the boys into the school.
“Are you going to leave?” the deputy asked.
“No,” Benson told him.
“He began shouting at us, screaming that our lives were over if we didn’t quit this (expletive). He completely tried to intimidate us. I didn’t give him the reaction he wanted, so he said he was taking us to the station.”
He marched Benson to a conference room, and handcuffed him. And he wrote out a summons — “interference with staff of an educational facility.”
“I knew we weren’t going to jail or anywhere,” Benson said. “He didn’t read us our rights. I just smiled at him because I knew it was a joke.”
He remained handcuffed for an hour and a half, he said, long enough for the event to be completed. He walked home.
Early last month, the Jefferson County D.A.’s office dropped the charge against the boy. A one-day suspension was rescinded.
“There is no more classically protected speech than peacefully protesting against one candidate and for another,” said Daniel Recht, a Denver attorney who took the case on behalf of the American Civil Liberties Union. “What Blake Benson was doing is as American as apple pie.”
Now, listen to the kid:
“Looking back, I didn’t even feel like an American citizen because I couldn’t do what I was always taught I was free to do.
“I couldn’t express what I felt because I was in handcuffs in the office the whole time. Would I do it again? I would, even if they arrested me again.
“And you know the worst thing? Nobody ever apologized.”
And this is a kid who has committed to join the U.S. Army following graduation.
“I want to go over, join the war on terror and try to make a difference and help people,” Benson explained.
So everyone, knock it off.
Bill Johnson writes Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. Reach him at 303-954-2763 or wjohnson@denverpost.com.
