A Detroit judge is being sued after he ordered a teen girl to be handcuffed and wear jail clothes when she fell asleep during a courthouse field trip.
The federal lawsuit was filed on Wednesday by the family of 15-year-old Eva Goodman, eight days after the field trip during which 36th District Judge Kenneth King yelled at the girl for falling asleep, threatened her with jail time and made her beg for mercy.
She was on the field with a nonprofit group, and was not aware they’d be visiting a courtroom, her mother said, according to the Detroit Free Press. She “shut down” while watching a hearing related to a homicide charge, which forced her to relieve a traumatic event and triggered the sleeping, the lawsuit says.
Upon seeing her sleeping two different times, King ordered the teen to be removed from the courtroom, placed in a jail jumpsuit and handcuffed in an isolated holding cell.
Attorneys representing the girl have described King’s actions as extra-judicial orders.
During a press conference about the lawsuit, Latoreya Till said her daughter was traumatized by the experience.
“It’s been pretty devastating. Eva does not want to come outside,” she said. “I just want Judge King to take accountability for the way that he humiliated my daughter…I feel like he owes her a public apology. Not only that, he owes her more than just a public apology.”
In addition to the teen’s reaction to the hearing, Till also said the family does not have a permanent home and that her daughter didn’t get much sleep the night before the field trip.
Days after the initial incident, King was removed from the court’s docket and ordered to undergo training before he could return to the bench. He was also removed from the two classes he was scheduled to teach at Wayne State University this upcoming semester.
