ACLU Settles Lawsuit Over Arrest Of Third Grader

TIVERTON, RI — Back in 2014, a Tiverton student made up a story about classmates and told a school bus attendant that two girls had “chemicals” in their backpacks. The authorities were called. The bus was stopped, and Tiverton Police officers took the two 8-year-old girls off the bus. They searched their backpacks and took the girls to the police station, without calling their parents. The American Civil Liberties Union sued and on Tuesday, the ACLU announced a settlement was reached.

Under the settlement, the ACLU said, the Town has agreed to pay $40,000 in damages and attorneys’ fees to the family and has also adopted a formal protocol to deal with any similar incidents in the future.

The lawsuit, handled by ACLU volunteer attorneys Amato DeLuca and Miriam Weizenbaum, had argued that the Tiverton officials’ actions violated the child’s constitutional rights to due process and freedom from unreasonable searches and seizures. A copy of the protocol can be found here. Background information on the case can be found here.

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