A 15-year-old girl who was ordered to be handcuffed after falling asleep in a Detroit courtroom during a field trip has filed a lawsuit against the judge, accusing him of "ridiculing" her in front of her peers.
The girl, 15-year-old Eva Goodman, and her mother, Latoreya Till, are seeking more than $75,000 in connection to the Aug. 13 incident during a visit to 36th District Court in Detroit, where Judge Kenneth King "berated" the teen for nodding off.
King, who has since been removed from the bench, then ordered the girl to be handcuffed, jailed and detained for hours, according to the lawsuit filed Wednesday.
"He treated her like an inmate," the girl's attorney, James Harrington, told Newsweek. "He handled her like a convicted criminal."
"Common sense and the facts demonstrate that a grown man became rattled by a young girl that he falsely concluded to be and cast as a delinquent, who was actually a fragile teenager forced to attentively face a past trauma during an actual court proceeding that had ended, before shutting down during class," the lawsuit reads.
As a result of King's alleged anger, he then "immaturely decided to teach" the teen a lesson in front of her peers, as well as to broadcast the proceedings online, the filing claims.
Till and her daughter filed the federal lawsuit Wednesday in U.S. District Court in the Eastern District of Michigan. The 56-page filing accuses King of false arrest and imprisonment, as well as violating her civil rights.
Harrington said the girl, who wants to be a surgeon, visited King's courtroom as part of a field trip organized by a nonprofit group and had no prior knowledge of the event.
Things then went awry when Eva nodded off, she and her attorneys claim.
"An otherwise shy, polite and courteous [Eva], who was not interested in the practice of law and who had had a rough night's sleep, unintentionally expressed her disinterest in the proceedings by nodding off after being exposed to a court hearing that forced her to relive a traumatic event, causing her to shut down," the lawsuit alleges.
King then "publicly berated and humiliated" the girl and falsely labeled her as a juvenile delinquent before ordering her to be handcuffed and detained for hours, according to the suit.
King, who has been relieved of courtroom duties until he completes sensitivity training, declined to discuss specifics of the case in a statement released Wednesday by his attorney.
"As a friend, law school classmate and legal representative for Judge King, I know the man, the father, the husband, the lawyer and the judge, very well," attorney Todd Perkins told Newsweek. "To begin, he believes that if any of our young people are hurting, we all hurt. He has sought to protect them, nurture them, mentor them and educate them. This is what he stands by and has been his mantra."
King is also "remorseful and sorry if any young person" was hurt by his actions, his attorney said.
"He only wants the best outcome for this young person and all young people," Perkins said. "She matters. They matter. They are our future."
In addition to his temporary removal from the courtroom, King will also no longer teach two classes this fall at Wayne State University, school officials confirmed to Newsweek Wednesday. He previously taught five courses as a part-time faculty member since 2022.
Disclaimer: The copyright of this article belongs to the original author. Reposting this article is solely for the purpose of information dissemination and does not constitute any investment advice. If there is any infringement, please contact us immediately. We will make corrections or deletions as necessary. Thank you.
