8-year-old disabled boy charged with two felonies in Michigan

ALLEGAN , Mich., April 22 (UPI) -- An 8-year-old Michigan boy with disabilities has been charged with two felonies following an incident where he allegedly assaulted an officer and damaged a police vehicle.

Police were called after Edward Hart ran away from the Hillside Learning and Behavior Center in Allegan and school officials were unable to bring him back.

“He’s ran away from the school before,” Hart’s stepfather, Robert Bluhm, told Fox 17. “And he’s made it to M- 40 before. But he’s never made it as far as he did this time.”

When Hart was apprehended, he “cursed at and assaulted the officer” and then “broke the police camera in the back of the car.”

“I don’t even think he did anything wrong in this case,” Bluhm said. “He’s special need[s]. He has anger issues. They know this. And they’re going to throw him in the back of a cop car all by himself.”

Hart has been charged with malicious destruction of police property and resisting and obstructing.

“If they had him under control, why didn’t they ride with him in the back of this cop car so this incident would have never took place?” Bluhm said. “When I called the school to ask questions -- why nobody rode with the minor child to the school instead of just throwing him in the back of a cop car -- they had no answers for me. They couldn’t answer that question.”

The Allegan City police chief said the department wants $50 to fix the broken camera. After he undergoes counseling, the court will decide if the charges against Hart will proceed.

[Fox 17]