A video showing a 13-year-old autistic boy being restrained and handcuffed by police officers in a Michigan school sparked a widespread outrage after it was posted on Facebook by the child’s family.

The incident took place last Thursday at Royal Oak Middle School, where local police officers responded after receiving a call about an unruly special-needs student.

According to officials, the agitated 13-year-old had been hurling insults and physically abusing school staff and his own mother as they were trying to compel him to go to a hospital for evaluation.

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Pinned down: This video recorded by a Michigan mother shows police officers restraining her 13-year-old special-needs son suffering from autism after he refused to go to a hospital

Graphic footage: The boy is heard on tape hurling insults at the cops and roaring in rage

Halls of learning: The incident took place at Royal Oak Middle School in Michigan last Thursday morning

Firefighters were the first to arrive on the scene just before 10am, making efforts to reason with the boy and convince him to go of his own volition.

‘It was only after those attempts had failed and the student assaulted the firefighters that the officers entered and physically restrained the child,’ police said in a statement to CBS Detroit.

The boy, weighing just under 200lbs and standing at 5 feet 6 inches, was then placed on a gurney and taken to William Beaumont Hospital.

The 13-year-old’s mother recorded the officers pinning her son to the floor face-down and cuffing his hands behind his back as he shrieked. Her daughter then posted the 40-second video on Facebook.

In the recording, a boy in a red shirt can be heard using foul language, exclaiming ‘ow’ and roaring as four first responders struggle to keep him on the ground.

The short, grainy clip has been shared more than 2,000 of times since last Thursday,

In response to public outcry, Lt Dave Clemens argued that the video seen out of context does not tell the whole story, adding that the officers seen in the recording were, in fact, ‘very patient’ and took great care not to hurt the child, Hometown Life reported.

'Justified': Royal Oak police responded by saying that the officers in the video were 'very patient' and took care not to hurt the teenager

The teen’s mother took to Facebook last Friday posting a lengthy status update to tell her side of the story.

‘A scared, angry, frustrated, panic-stricken, yet seemingly in control very big for his age 13-year-old child turned into a caged animal and was treated to some extent by one or two of the officers as such,’ the woman wrote.

According to the student’s mother, her son suffers from Asperger's syndrome and autism spectrum disorder, which manifests itself in a Tourette's-like condition where the 13-year-old says inappropriate, mostly sexual things to those around him.

On Thursday morning, the boy was sitting in a classroom when he decided that he did not want to get up and leave the room. When public safety officers surrounded him and tried to remove him by force, the child flew into a rage.

‘As a child with autism his reaction to threatening situations is to get extremely defensive and he physically resisted being taken out,’ wrote the mother. ‘That's where the video picks up for everyone asking what provoked the officers.’