*A 15-year-old girl who was detained and humiliated by a Detroit judge after falling asleep in court is suing him for violating her civil rights.
The federal lawsuit, filed by Eva Goodman and her mother Latoreya Till, claims that 36th District Judge Kenneth King overstepped his authority by detaining her, yelling at her, and threatening jail time.
“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 prior court proceeding that had ended, before shutting down during class,” the lawsuit states, the Detroit Free Press reports.
Goodman and her mother are also taking legal action against the court’s private security services and two unidentified court officers who were present in King’s courtroom that day.
“It’s been pretty devastating. Eva does not want to come outside,” Till said at the news conference.
“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.”
Till claims her daughter is afraid to return to work and face her peers following the incident with Judge Kenneth King.
Eva, who works with The Greening Project to improve the city’s green infrastructure, attended a court session with Judge King on August 12 as part of a field trip with her peers. The purpose was to observe and learn, but she reportedly fell asleep multiple times, frustrating the judge. According to Till, the teenager fell asleep due to the significant impact of their challenging living conditions.
“We have to bounce around currently because we don’t have a permanent address,” said Till, The Jasmine Brand reports. “And so, that particular night, we got in kind of late. And usually, when she goes to work, she’s up and planting trees or being active.”
In a video of the courtroom, Judge King scolded Eva for falling asleep and threatened jail time if it happened again. Officers removed her from the courtroom, where she waited for two hours before returning. She was also reportedly required to change into a green prison jumpsuit.
“My daughter is hurt. She is feeling scared. She didn’t want to go to work. She feels like as if her peers went against her,” Till stated.
Judge King, who reported receiving death threats, is now facing consequences over the incident. William McConico, the chief judge at 36th District, said King was pulled from the bench while undergoing “necessary training” the Associated Press reports.
The lawsuit accuses Judge King of multiple constitutional rights violations, including unlawful detention, lack of due process, self-incrimination, and denial of legal representation, according to the Detroit Free Press. It also claims he forced Goodman to disclose personal details during an online proceeding. The suit seeks over $75,000 for each of the eight alleged violations.
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