8-year-old special-needs student charged after fighting with MI cops during runaway attempt

An 8-year-old Michigan boy was charged with two felony counts after running away from a school for special-needs students.

Edward Hart left Hillside Learning and Behavior Center in Allegan without permission on March 19, police said, and the principal and two teachers chased after him.

One of the teachers caught up to the boy at nearby a store, and school staffers called police to drive him back to the school.

Police said the boy cursed at officers and then assaulted one of them when they asked his name, reported WXMI-TV.

“He has special needs, he has anger issues,” said the boy’s stepfather, Robert Bluhm. “They know this, and they’re going to throw him in the back of a cop car all by himself.”

Police said the boy then broke a camera in the rear of a police cruiser.

“If they had him under control, why didn’t they ride with him in the back of this cop car so this incident would have never (taken) place?” Bluhm said.

Allegan Police Chief Rick Hoyer said he disagreed with the prosecutor’s decision to charge Edward as a juvenile with destruction of police property and resisting arrest.

He said the department just wants $50 to repair the broken camera.

Bluhm said he and the boy’s mother disciplined Edward after the incident.

“He has a day in a timeout chair, (and) he had one week with no TV and he lost his [Nintendo] DS for life,” Bluhm said. “We took it away because if we have to pay for this camera and pawn that off.”

Watch this video report posted online by WXMI-TV:

[Image: Angry Boy Face via Shutterstock]