6-year-old girl held at Jacksonville mental health facility for two days under Florida's Baker Act
Body camera video shows Jacksonville officers discuss Baker Act of little girl
A little girl with special needs was Baker Acted and as she headed to a medical center, a Jacksonville officer told her she was going on a ‘field trip.’ Officers are heard saying the child seemed ‘pleasant’ and maybe school staff ‘pushed’ her ‘buttons.’
JACKSONVILLE, Fla. - A six-year-old girl who allegedly acted out in her special-needs class on February 4 was held at a mental health center in Jacksonville, Florida, without seeing her mother for two days, according to the Florida Times-Union.
Bodycam footage shows Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office deputies responding to the call about a six-year-old Love Grove Elementary School student. A social worker called the police and said the child was a “threat to herself and others,” adding that she was “destroying school property, attacking staff, out of control, and running out of school,” according to an incident report.
The report states that the girl has been diagnosed with a disruptive mood dysregulation disorder and has been prescribed Adderall.
King was taken to River Point Behavioral Health center in Jacksonville under the Baker Act, a Florida law that provides emergency mental health services and facilitates temporary detention of someone who is unable to make decisions about treatment. She was there for two days. The mother told the newspaper that her daughter was given anti-psychotic medication without her permission.
The bodycam footage shows two officers escorting King into the police car and conversing about the incident, with both mentioning that the girl may have been pushed over the edge by school staff.
“Because they said this is the fourth out of five days she’s been acting like this,” the female officer said. “Well then, I think [the problem] might be y’all … She is fine. There is nothing wrong with her.”
In the video, the officer said the little girl was going on a “field trip” as she drove her to the behavioral health center.
Several sections of the bodycam footage have been redacted and footage from the incident within the classroom was not available, according to local media reports.
The child's mother and her legal advisers said they would launch an investigation into the Baker Act’s use on young children, especially those with known special needs, according to the Florida Times-Union.