The parents of the 13-year-old student who ran from Croswell-Lexington Middle School last Friday are alleging that the student wasn’t just questioned– he was searched and taunted.
The 34-year-old father says that his son had no game plan in mind when he left the school on Friday, January 13, aside from getting away from the school’s resource officer and vice principal allegedly taunting him about being punished. The parents say that while there was reasonable suspicion to search their son, accused of attempting to sell drugs after supposedly acquiring some rolling papers and marijuana from a classmate on the bus before school that morning, the school did not contact them when the boy asked them to during the search in vice principal Ryan Eugester’s office.
Though the search did find a pill and a pack of rolling papers (along with an empty pack), the boy told his parents that Eugester and a school resource officer had began to taunt him after taking his bag, cellphone, hoodie and jacket, allegedly telling him that he was only making it worse for himself, and wishing him luck with the juvenile court judge.
When the two men left the office, the boy, scared from the taunting, ran out of the office and for the back door, later telling his father that aside from possibly one secretary, no school staff had ran after or prevented him from leaving.
It wasn’t until 9:33 a.m. that the student’s father and stepmom were informed that their son had fled the school and into the cold weather. The school later told the parents they were unable to prevent him from leaving due to school doors needing to be unlocked from the inside, as well as being unable to tackle him. The parents say that it took about an hour before search efforts began, reporting while a school resource officer was looking in the field behind the school, school officials “didn’t seem like they cared very much.”
Calling in assistance from the Sanilac County Sheriff’s Department deputies and their tracking dog, Croswell police and the family began searching for the boy.
About an hour into the search, around 11:20 a.m., the student’s stepmom sought extra help from the Croswell Fire Department after being instructed to by the Sheriff’s Department, remaining at the station at the police’s request. Shortly before 1:00 p.m., the student was found by a heater in a deer blind on Wixson Road, two and a half miles away from the school.
The parents learned later that same day that the school also searched the locker and bag of the student’s brother. The student later received a ten day suspension, but his father says the boy will be returning to live with his mother in another county.
In a later comment to the Sanilac County News, Croswell Police Chief Rock Buckmaster described the incident as, “[t]he 13-year-old decid[ing] it was a good idea to run out of the school wearing only a t-shirt and jeans instead of facing the consequences of his actions.”
The parents, who are remaining anonymous to protect their son’s identity, say that the student is “more or less being told to get out of town,” between the multiple rumors stemming from the incident and the parents being told by a Croswell police officer that any possible incorrigibility charges will likely be dropped if the child moves out of county.
State law says that incorrigibility occurs when a “juvenile is repeatedly disobedient to the reasonable and lawful commands of his or her parents, guardian, or custodian, and the court finds on the record by clear and convincing evidence that court-accessed services are necessary.” Possible punishments for incorrigibility includes a fine, probation, counseling, community service, time served at a juvenile detention facility, or a combination of the above.
While his father is “glad [his son] is getting out of this place,” citing that his son was happier living with his mother, he is also concerned about Croswell’s handling of the incident overall, expressing desire to see the office’s security footage of his son’s search, as well as any school bus security video of the supposed drug deal.
He also expressed frustration that a school counselor alleged to police that his child was suicidal. The father explained that, though the student had attempted the year before, he was not suicidal at the time, and had instead been struggling over the past semester to adjust to the new school, having previously only been homeschooled. The family had been working with the school counselor and a case worker from the St. Clair County Child Protective Services since the past fall, when the boy disclosed his past attempt to the counselor and the parents asked for additional help adjusting their son to his new home and school.
After struggling to get updates from both their case worker and her supervisor, with the last contact from the case worker being a text conversation on December 2, 2022. Roughly a week later, St. Clair Community Mental Health rejected the student after his therapy intake appointment, with the parents regularly updating the school throughout the process with both the case worker and CMH.
While Croswell- Lexington Middle School Principal Brad Robbins could not comment on the events due to student privacy, he did say that the school has processes and procedures in place to keep students and staff safe.
The Croswell-Lexington School District currently has a contract until June 2023 with Premier Security Solutions of Flint for their school security, with the board approving an almost $200,000 camera system installation and upgrade at the end of November 2022.
