School Officials Question 5-Year-Old for 2 Hours Over Toy Gun

LUSBY, Md. — Officials at Dowell Elementary School have reduced the 10-day suspension for a kindergartner, who brought a plastic, orange-tipped cap gun on a school bus, to three days after the boy’s family appealed the punishment.

The five-year-old student, whose name has been withheld, brought the toy on his bus last Wednesday to show to his friend. However, when officials saw the toy gun, they questioned him for more than two hours, causing the young student to wet his pants. His mother was later called after the questioning, the Washington Post reports. School Principal Jennifer Young noted that if the toy gun had been loaded with caps, the school would have deemed it as an explosive and called the police.

The family’s attorney appealed the decision on May 30 and the following day, school officials held a disciplinary conference, where the five-year-old spoke to prove he had no malicious intent when bringing to toy to school, the Daily Caller reports. Although officials reduced the student’s suspension time, the incident remains on the boy’s permanent record.

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