Marah Marino poses in her twin sons' room at her Florida home. (Josh Ritchie for The Washington Post)
When a fourth-grader in Florida was frustrated about having to sit out his afternoon recess, he penciled a word on an outdoor bench: kill. A teacher asked him about it, and he said it was what he wanted God to do to him.
His mother, Marah Marino, guessed he was hurt and angry. “He’s not a mature 10-year-old,” she said.
But soon, a sheriff’s deputy who was working in the school stepped in, using a controversial state law to order an involuntary psychiatric evaluation and confinement for up three days in a mental health facility. Marino, who rushed to the school after getting a call about the incident, was stunned, pleading with the officer and asking to be with her son.
Read more at the Washington Post.