Michigan third-grade student forced to remove hat with image of AR-15 rifle, lawsuit claims

DURAND, MI – Three workers at a Shiawassee County college district are named in a federal lawsuit claiming they violated a third-grade scholar’s First Modification rights by telling her she couldn’t put on a hat displaying an AR-15 assault rifle and the phrase, “Come and take it,” on hat day.

Durand Space Colleges Superintendent Craig McCrumb, Robert Kerr Elementary Faculty Principal Amy Leffel, and Michael Papenek, the On Monitor Coach at Robert Kerr Elementary Faculty, are all named in a 10-page grievance filed Monday, Could 9, within the U.S. District Court docket for the Japanese District of Michigan.

“By proscribing Plaintiff’s clothes primarily based on phrases and pictures which are non-threatening, non-disruptive, and non-vulgar, Defendants are violating Plaintiff’s freedom of speech assured by the First Modification,” the lawsuit claims.

McCrumb declined to touch upon the lawsuit on the recommendation of counsel when reached by MLive-The Flint Journal on Friday, Could 13.

In accordance with the lawsuit, the plaintiff, a third-grade scholar on the time of the incident recognized within the lawsuit as “C.S.,” wore a baseball-style hat to a college “Hat Day” occasion on Feb. 17.

College students had been inspired to put on hats on hat day.

The hat worn by the coed was black and featured a white star, a picture of an AR-15 assault rifle, and the phrases “Come and take it” scrawled throughout the entrance. That phrase is a typical slogan used to point out help for the Second Modification.

The scholar understood the that means of the slogan on the hat, helps the proper to maintain and bear arms, and enjoys taking pictures sports activities, in accordance with the grievance. The lawsuit additionally states that the coed selected to put on that hat.

When the coed wore the hat to highschool on hat day, Papanek referred to as her father and requested if he would carry her a special hat to put on. He declined.

Leffel additionally referred to as the coed’s father, in accordance with the lawsuit, and left a voicemail stating that the coed couldn’t put on the hat at college.

When the coed returned house after college, she informed her father that Papanek and Leffel made her take off the hat and put it in her locker.

The scholar’s father emailed Leffel, who confirmed that the coed was not permitted to put on the hat.

“The hat in query had an image of an AR kind weapon on the entrance of it. Weapons of any sort should not acceptable for college students to put on in a college setting,” Leffel informed the coed’s father in an electronic mail, in accordance with the lawsuit.

Per the Durand Space Colleges costume code, “Something printed on clothes should not be offensive in any means. The constructing principal/employees has the proper to determine what’s offensive, however some examples are: phrases/slogans that publicize unlawful substances, phrases/slogans which are racially or religiously offensive, violence themes, vulgar or sexual innuendo, and so on.”

The lawsuit states that the slogan included on the coed’s hat was not offensive, violent or threatening. It additionally claims the coed’s Fourteenth Modification proper to due course of was violated.

“By not offering Plaintiff with goal standards for understanding what clothes is prohibited, Defendants are denying Plaintiff due course of,” the lawsuit claims.

The scholar wish to put on the hat once more on future hat days, however “she is in worry of self-discipline or being singled out for corrective therapy by Defendants if she does so,” the lawsuit states.

The aid sought within the lawsuit features a declaration that the coed can put on the hat and nominal charges, along with the charges and prices related to having an legal professional on the case.

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