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An autistic 8-year old girl, Evelyn Towry, was arrested in Kootenai Elementary School because of accusations that she was assaulting school’s staff. What happened was that she had been refused entry into a school Christmas party because she refused to take off her beloved cow costume that was a hoodie with cow ears and a tail. Evelyn was put in a separate classroom away from the party, but when she tried to leave, the teachers told her to stay put. When Evelyn protested, the adults physically restrained her. She was very scared so she reacted in a violent way to the physical restraint. Evelyn got bruises on her legs, and is tormented by memories of the incident. The staff immediately called the police who put handcuffs on Evelyn and took her to the station.
First after a couple of hours her mother was allowed to take her home. The Towry family is considering legal action against the school. At a hearing on the case the prosecutor said that he didn’t think at this time it would be beneficial to pursue it because of Evelyn’s age and her condition.
