During one of the interviews, the kid said, "I guess I kind of deserved it."
Terry, that means zilch as far as ACTUAL personal responsibilty of the kid. How many of our kids would blame themselves for their parents' marriage break-up? Would think they had done something bad to cause it, when something nasty happens to the family? Our kids often take guilt onto themselves, especially when really young, especially if people repeatedly tell them they are bad to the bone.
I remember when difficult child 3 got attacked and left bloodied by the local (much younger) thugs). I asked difficult child 3 if he had done anything to provoke them. He confessed, "I DID say to them, 'Please go away and leave me alone.' That was wrong, I should have just walked away like you said. But they surrounded me and began laughing and hitting. I'm sorry I spoke to them, Mum."
Poor kid was blaming himself, even thinking that asking them to stop, was a bad thing to have done and made the attack his fault.
Kids, especially difficult children, are NOT the arbiters of who was right or wrong in a situation. The adults should have been in control. If the kid was in a room on his own, then leave him alone until he runs out of steam. Pepper spray - sorry, totally unjustified.
I say this not having read the reports or seen any film. Because I cannot see how there could ever be anything to justify this, if as some of you have said, there were no other children present. Staff present can leave, if they are unable to calm him down. And if children are present, staff should usher them out.
Too often we have seen how some school staff actually can rapidly escalate a problem. I know there was a very similar incident with difficult child 3 - throwing chairs in the school hall, the entire school waiting outside for him to calm down. It had been escalated by a teacher, the principal recognised this and difficult child 3 was not disciplined. BUT they did put strategies in place to prevent a recurrence. They analysed the incident to determine the causative factors. As appropriate.
WHAT IS WRONG WITH SOME OF THESE SCHOOL STAFF? AND THE POLICE?
NOW I'll go check that link...
Marg