Teen Sues Judge Who Sent Her to Cell During Field Trip

A teenager who was handcuffed and threatened with jail time after falling asleep during a field trip to a Detroit courthouse is taking the judge to court. The lawsuit filed by Eva Goodman and her mother, Latoreya Hill, on Wednesday accuses Judge Kenneth King of violating the teen's rights, the Washington Post reports. The family is seeking at least $75,000. The lawsuit says that King "berated the minor on a live platform, ordered her jailed, caused her to be handcuffed, demanded that she take off her clothes and change into jail garb, imprisoned her for hours, and then conducted a fake trial."

• "She's embarrassed, humiliated." Hill said Wednesday that the incident has been "pretty devastating" and her 15-year-old daughter doesn't want to go outside. WKYZ reports. "I wish I could have brought my daughter here for today, but she doesn't want to be in front of the camera," Hill said. "She doesn't want to talk. She's embarrassed, humiliated, and I can't blame her." After the incident last week, Hill said her daughter was tired because the family doesn't have a permanent home.

• Lawyers say judge has "zero immunity." Lawyers for the family say King did not have the authority to detain the teen and is not immune from lawsuits because court was not in session, reports the Detroit Free Press. "I can tell you with 100% certainty that there is zero immunity for what happened in the courtroom on this day," says lawyer James Harrington. "Eva wasn't a litigant. She wasn't a party. She wasn't a witness, she wasn't a lawyer, she wasn't a court officer. She was there on a field trip." The lawsuit also names court officers and a private security company.
• Broadcast on YouTube. Lawyers say King broadcast the field trip on the court's YouTube channel, the Post reports. "She was humiliated in front of her peers as well as a wider internet audience," lawyer Gary Felty says. He says the teen is a good student who wants to become a surgeon. "Who knows how many people saw her be portrayed as a juvenile delinquent," he says.
• Judge has been suspended. King has been temporarily removed from the docket and Wayne State University has reassigned two classes he was scheduled to teach this fall, the Post reports. "We are going to have him go through some training sessions dealing with cultural competency, also some sensitivity training," said 36th District Court Chief Judge William McConico, per WXYZ.

(More Detroit stories.)