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PHILADELPHIA — State police said an “out-of-control” and “combative” 5-year-old special-needs student at Philadelphia Primary School was put into handcuffs, was placed into a patrol car and had his feet shackled by troopers, who took him to Samaritan Medical Center in Watertown on Wednesday for a mental health evaluation.

Police defended the actions of the two troopers who restrained Connor C. Ruiz because his behavior allegedly posed a risk to himself, students, school staff and troopers, according to Trooper Jack Keller, public information officer for Troop D in Oneida.

Trooper Keller said the child was “screaming, kicking, punching and biting” when troopers responded to the incident at the special-needs classroom, which was reported by Jefferson County’s 911 dispatch center at 11:08 a.m.

Stephen J. Todd, Jefferson-Lewis Board of Cooperative Educational Services superintendent, said staff members, who have received training for “nonviolent crisis intervention,” tried for two hours to “de-escalate the situation” using a variety of nonphysical techniques before contacting police. At that point, he said, the teacher, Sarah M. Viscomi, used an approved technique to physically restrain the student for about 10 minutes until police arrived.

Meanwhile, the boy’s parents, Chelsea A. and Ryan R. Ruiz of Fort Drum, contend that staff at the school — part of Indian River Central School District — did not properly handle the situation and allowed it to escalate needlessly by calling police before they could arrive at the scene to defuse the situation. The Ruizes, both 25, said their son is emotionally traumatized and is fearful of returning to school because the incident. They said they plan to file a lawsuit against the district.

Connor, who had been enrolled in the special-needs class for about two weeks after attending a mainstream class at Evans Mills Primary School, was diagnosed during the past year with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, obsessive compulsive disorder and oppositional defiant disorder, Mrs. Ruiz said.

Other staff members who were in the classroom when the incident occurred, according to Mr. Todd, were Principal Barbara A. Zehr, social worker Chelsea A. Bango, nurse Brenda L. Hull and BOCES teacher assistants Susan L. Peebles and Megan E. Green.

‘EMOTIONAL DISTRESS’

After being notified, Mrs. Ruiz said she arrived at Samaritan about 12:15 p.m. Wednesday to see Connor, who was being evaluated by staff. She said she was surprised when she saw a “big scratch on his neck” and “marks on his wrists.”

“An officer told me they had to handcuff his wrists and ankles for their safety,” she said. “I told him that was ridiculous. How could someone fear for their safety when it comes to a small, 5-year-old child? He said that he understood because he had four children of his own.”

Mrs. Ruiz added she was also surprised when her son informed her he wasn’t put into a booster seat by police.

“If an accident happened, my son had no way of protecting himself because his hands and feet were bound,” she said.

She said professionals at the hospital decided Connor did not need to be evaluated by a psychiatrist.

“The doctor who decides whether a person needs to see the psychiatrist decided he was just being a boy and threw a tantrum,” Mrs. Ruiz said.

Irate about what happened, Mrs. Ruiz said she informed the school’s social worker at the hospital that the district “was going to pay for the emotional distress they just caused my son. I told her I was going straight to the media, getting an attorney, and that I had already called the state Office of Special Education.”

After leaving the hospital about 2 p.m., Mrs. Ruiz said, she attempted to call the school’s principal, Ms. Zehr, to inform her that her son would never return to the school as a student. She said she was surprised her call was taken instead by Indian River Superintendent James Kettrick.

“He said that any calls I make to the school will be intercepted by him because of what I said I was going to do,” Mrs. Ruiz said. “I was appalled, and when I made the comment that no one was going to think it was OK to handcuff a 5-year-old, he said he didn’t know how many people would agree with that.”

POLICE REPORT

School staff called police after they “couldn’t restrain” Connor, who attempted to harm himself in various ways before police arrived, according to Trooper Keller, who on Friday disclosed some information from the incident report. The police declined to provide the report to the Times, which filed a Freedom of Information request Friday to obtain it.

Trooper Keller said school staff notified police that Connor “was jumping from cabinets and desks, was attempting to jump out of a window ... he was stabbing himself with pencils and eating paper.”

The boy allegedly bit off a piece of foam from a padded play mat “and tried to cause himself to choke,” he said, adding that the school nurse was able to remove the foam from his mouth before troopers arrived.

He said Trooper Steven Watkins initially arrived at the classroom, and was later joined by Trooper Keith Kloster. The pair tried to restrain the child, using first verbal, then physical techniques, he said, but they were unsuccessful. They then decided to take him to Samaritan for a mental health evaluation.

“Our concern was his safety, of not only himself but the staff he was dealing with and the other students in the class where he was,” he said.

There, troopers handcuffed Connor and carried him outside to a patrol car in the parking lot, placing him in the back seat, Trooper Keller said. Shackles were placed on the child’s feet, he said, “because he was attempting to kick and be physically combative.” A trooper attended to Connor in the back seat, where he was strapped with a seat belt but not placed in a booster seat.

State traffic law requires children under the age of 8 to be transported using booster seats, but “car seats aren’t required in emergency vehicles because they are exempt from seat belt laws,” Trooper Keller said. “Our concern was to get him into the hospital as quickly as we could.”

DE-ESCALATING THE SITUATION

The Ruizes said school staff did not call them about the incident until after police were contacted. Mrs. Ruiz said she received a call at 11:16 a.m. from the school’s social worker, who said Connor would be taken to the hospital by police.

“I told her not to take him anywhere and that I would get there to take him home,” Mrs. Ruiz said. “She said they were going to take him and didn’t need my consent because they had already spoken with my husband about it.”

Mr. Ruiz, however, said when he was called by staff, he was never asked for his permission to take the child to the hospital — although he didn’t object to the plan during the conversation.

“They called me at work and told me Connor was acting up and trying to eat crayons and that he was being taken to the hospital for a psychiatric evaluation,” said Mr. Ruiz, who has been stationed at Fort Drum for about four years. “I would have told them not to do it, but they didn’t ask me. One of us could have came to try to calm him down, but I was never asked. It would have taken me about 20 minutes to get there.”

Mr. Todd — who consulted with school staff about the incident — said that “our records show the father OK’d the transport.”

Mr. Kettrick said he believes “staff and police did everything necessary to make sure that child was safe.” He declined to offer further details about how staff members handled the matter and said he advised them not to speak to the media.

Mrs. Ruiz said “the entire reason” she enrolled Connor in a special-needs program was to get him help. “And in a matter of two weeks this happened,” she said. “They made an extremely bold move, because I could have come to the school and all of his actions would have ceased. We had a plan in place so they would call me to come to the school if they couldn’t calm him down, and they didn’t do that.”

Mr. Todd confirmed staff develops “individualized educational plans” for students in special-needs classes. He declined to comment on whether staff neglected to act on Connor’s plan by contacting police before calling his parents.

‘EXTREMELY AGITATED STATE’

Mrs. Ruiz said her son continues to see a behavioral health counselor at Guthrie Ambulatory Health Care Clinic on post, where he has received treatment since March.

She said the counselor at the clinic who evaluated Connor on Thursday — Richard H. Rubes — determined Connor was “in an extremely agitated state and doesn’t know how to express his emotions,” Mrs. Ruiz said. “He said Connor is upset about what happened and that (Mr. Rubes) wants to see him once a week until he’s better.”

Mrs. Ruiz, who said her son is now “terrified of going back to school,” said she hopes BOCES will be able to find a solution for her son’s education. But she said it probably won’t be in a classroom setting.

“He does need to have some sort of education, but he won’t be returning to a public school at Indian River,” Mrs. Ruiz said.

She said the couple is seeking a lawyer to file a lawsuit against the school district.

“I’ll be suing for emotional distress, child cruelty and endangerment for cuffing his hands and feet,” she said.

By speaking publicly about the situation, she said she hopes school officials will pay more attention to how they handle incidents with students who have special needs.

“I will make sure that I get every person who was involved in this to take responsibility,” she said. “This has already happened to my kid — I can’t take that back — but I will make it my priority so that this never happens to a child like this again.”