6-year-old autistic boy handcuffed by Florida SRO

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ZOLFO SPRINGS, Fla. (WFLA) - A 6-year-old boy with autism was handcuffed by a school resource officer for being disruptive. His mother is outraged and demanding changes.

Child was out of control, on the ground, bashing their head, kicking and screaming,” described Capt. Paul Davis with the Hardee County Sheriff’s Office.

The SRO wrote in an incident report: "The child was not responding to any of the commands from either teacher. I also observed the child was banging his head backwards onto the floor. The floor in this classroom is concrete and I was afraid the child would hurt himself."

At one point, a teacher went to get Elias’ father at the front of the school. The SRO was alone in trying to control the child, so she placed handcuffs on Elias to restrain him.

The SRO stated in the incident report: "It was very difficult for me to control the child alone as the child is large in size (approx. 100 lbs). The child continued to pull away from me, still trying to kick me and stomp my feet. At one point the child attempted to grab my gun from my duty belt."

Capt. Davis feels the SRO followed protocol.

“She used good judgment; the child could have busted his head open. We have a responsibility to keep the children safe, to keep the teachers safe, the officers safe,” he said. “We are there to help them, not hurt them and that’s what we was doing.”

Villa is trying to find a new school for Elias.

Numerous attempts were made to contact the school district. They did not respond to our request for comment.