It happened in the Williamsbridge section of the Bronx.
"I was scared," said Alex Saunders, 10 years old.
More than a few 10 year olds, like Alex Saunders, may have been scared to find themselves in police custody, and escorted by officers out of his middle school.
"I was feeling bad," Saunders said.
It was over a fight at the school on Friday, the parents of an unidentified child filed a complaint with police charging Alex with assaulting their 10-year-old son. Alex says he was the victim, and not for the first time.
"I jump on the chair and the other five boys hold me," Saunders said.
"And the other five boys held you?" asked Eyewitness News reporter Art McFarland.
"Yes," Saunders said.
"While the boy whose parents reported you to police beat on you?" McFarland asked.
"Yes," Saunders said. Alex's mother had been called to the school, informed of the pending arrest, and followed to the precinct. She says she was separated from Alex and waited for three hours before Alex was released into her custody. She says Alex told her that he had been handcuffed.
"Take him out of school, and the principal allowed it to happen, take him out of school and carry him to the precinct, 47th Precinct and handcuffed him there. Now my child is treated like a criminal," said Stephanie Williams, Alex's mother.
The Department of Education said there will be unspecified disciplinary action over the incident at the school.
"I want to know if there is a law that you can have police to come into a school and take, arrest, your child," Williams said.
