A mother arrived at her daughter’s Chicago elementary school 50 minutes after being told she got in trouble for taking candy from her teacher’s desk. But when Marlena Wordlaw arrived at Fernwood Elementary School, she says she found her six-year-old daughter, Madisyn Moore, was handcuffed under a flight of stairs, according to NBC.

Wordlaw was noticeably outraged and asked the school security guard what happened.

“I said ‘why you have my baby in cuffs?’ He said, ‘because I’m trying to teach them to stop taking stuff that don’t belong to them’,” she said.

“When he pulled her from under stairs she was crying,” Wordlaw continued. “He told me ‘I ‘m doing my job, I’m trying to teach her a lesson’.”

Wordlaw reportedly spoke to the school’s principal, who offered an apology that wasn’t accepted.

“I’m more angry than anything because it’s my only daughter. I feel like anything could have happened to her. Somebody could have touched her. She’s in the dark under the stairs,” the mother added.

Chicago Public Schools is yet to comment on the incident, but Wordlaw did say that she plans to sue.

The alleged abuse of power and clear misjudgment that was used to potentially traumatize a six-year-old is discomforting, to say the least. There’s a long list of steps that could be taken between ignoring the child’s alleged theft and handcuffing her under a flight of stairs.

 

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