NY Girl Arrested for Drawing on School Desk

(MYFOX NATIONAL) – Scribbling on a desk in her Spanish class got one junior high school girl in trouble with the law reports the New York Daily News .

Alexa Gonzalez, a 12-year-old Queens girl, was arrested for writing with a lime green marker the words “I love my friends Abby and Faith” on her desk. She also added “Lex was here. 2/1/10” with a smiley face.

Gonzalez was taken out of school in handcuffs and brought to the police station where she was kept for several hours.

“I started crying, like, a lot. I made two little doodles. ... It could be easily erased. To put handcuffs on me is unnecessary,” Gonzalez said.

City officials are admitting that the arrest was a mistake and school principal Marilyn Grant has lifted the suspension, although she says that allowing the arrest was not her fault and was something that school policy required her to do.

New York Civil Liberties Union executive director Donna Lieberman says that in all the minor misconducts that have resulted in arrests at city schools, this is the first time that officials have admitted to making a mistake reported the New York Daily News .

Arrests for petty misconduct are more common than one would think. In February 2009 a Wisconsin student was arrested for texting in class , and in November 2008 a Florida student was arrested for passing gas in class .

When asked if they thought it was excessive to arrest Gonzalez, teachers, students and parents agreed that the arrest and handcuffs was going too far.

According to the New York Daily News , the NYPD is expected to begin using Velcro handcuffs in the future.

Gonzalez says of the incident, “I definitely learned not to ever draw on a desk. They told me with a pencil this could still happen.”