An 11-year-old boy was arrested, fingerprinted and handcuffed by police in Colorado all because of a stick-figure drawing he made in class.

Now his parents say they are out thousands of dollars as a result of the arrest, which took place in October and led to the boy being put on probation.

"It was heart wrenching to see my... 11-year-old son walk out my front door in handcuffs," said the child's mother in a report Monday on Fox 31 News in Denver.

The boy, identified as "Tim" because the family did not want their names used, suffers from Attention Deficit Disorder and was told by his therapist to draw pictures when he feels himself get upset or agitated.

On that day last year, he drew a picture of himself as a stick figure, using a gun to shoot several other stick figure people, his mother said. Above the figures he wrote, "teachers must die" and "music sucks."

"It was what his doctors had told him was the right thing to do," "Jane" said, according to Fox 31 News.

Finished with the drawing, he was about to throw it out, when it was seen by his teacher. The boy was sent to the principal's office, but the school was aware of his condition and that appeared to be the end of it, his parents said.

It was later that night, however, when Arvada police came knocking at their door after the school decided to report the incident.

"Jane" said police refused to let her go with her son, who was put into handcuffs and taken to the station. Once there, the boy was allegedly fingerprinted, photographed and put into a cell.

A police report indicates "Tim" admitted to drawing the picture, but insisted he would never hurt anyone, especially a teacher. He had never been in any kind of legal trouble before.

He was charged with interfering with staff and students at an educational facility, a third degree misdemeanor.

"It's bizarre to me that they would behave this way," Dr. Patrick Bacon, the boy's therapist, told Fox 31 News.

Calls to the police were not returned prior to this posting.



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