Mom Of Teen Cuffed For Sleeping During Court Field Trip Says Daughter’s Fatigue Was Due To Family Not Having A ‘Permanent’ Home

Latoreya Till, Eva Goodman

Mom Of Teen Cuffed For Sleeping During Court Field Trip Says Daughter’s Fatigue Was Due To Family Not Having A ‘Permanent’ Home

The mother of a 15-year-old Detroit teenager put in handcuffs during a group trip is calling out the acting judge.

Latoreya Till condemned Judge Kenneth King for placing her daughter in cuffs after she fell asleep in the courtroom earlier this week, arguing that the family’s living situation has greatly impacted the young girl’s life.

Latoreya Till spoke about the matter during a phone interview, claiming that her daughter Eva Goodman is now afraid to return to work and face her peers following the incident. She stated:

“My daughter is hurt. She is feeling scared. She didn’t want to go to work. She feels like as if her peers went against her. She was real nervous and intimidated.”

She added about the family’s current housing situation:

“We have to bounce around currently because we don’t have a permanent address. And so, that particular night, we got in kind of late. And usually, when she goes to work, she’s up and planting trees or being active.”

Eva Goodman works with a local non-profit organization called The Greening Project, which works to improve the “green infrastructure” of the city. On Tuesday (August 12th), Goodman and others associated with the project attended 36th District Judge Kenneth King’s courtroom to watch proceedings and learn from the judge. However, Goodman allegedly fell asleep multiple times, which caused the judge to grow frustrated.

In Video footage, Judge King yelled at Goodman to wake up before claiming she’d be detained if she drifted off again. King then had officers take Goodman outside of the court where she sat for two hours before being allowed to return. The judge furthered the teen’s reprimanding by berating her for falling asleep and threatening jail time. It’s reported that he also asked her coworkers to raise their hands if they felt she should spend time behind bars.

In addition, the teen allegedly had to remove her clothes and put on a green jumpsuit, though it’s clarified no one was present while she undressed.

Judge King reaffirmed his decision in a separate interview, making it clear he doesn’t think he was “heavy-handed,” adding:

“Do I have any reservations?…No, I don’t because I’ll do whatever needs to be done to reach these kids and make sure they don’t end up in front of me. So that was my own version of scared straight.”

Judge Kenneth King

Till went on to state that upon watching footage of the incident herself, she doesn’t feel her daughter was giving King “attitude” as he claimed, and added that Goodman isn’t aware of courtroom etiquette as she’s never been inside one or in trouble.  Till is reportedly exploring legal action against King.

Do you think Judge King was wrong? Tell us in the comments below!

[VIA]