APRIL 15--A 12-year-old boy was handcuffed and arrested by police when he scuffled with an officer after refusing to clean up spilled milk in the cafeteria of his Indiana middle school.

The student is facing a pair of misdemeanor resisting law enforcement counts, according to a Valparaiso Police Department report detailing the incident Tuesday morning at Ben Franklin Middle School.

The sixth grader, whose name was redacted from the report by police, got into a dispute with a school staffer when he refused to retrieve some napkins and clean up the spill during his lunch period. The boy, police reported, became “belligerent” and told the employee, “This is stupid, you’re retarded.”

After a school resource officer approached the student and asked him to clean up the milk, the boy said, “This is crap, I’m not doing it.” He then got up, emptied his tray into the trash, and began to leave the cafeteria. The officer instructed the boy to return to his seat and wait further instructions from the school administrator.

When the student became “increasingly agitated,” the officer grabbed the student by the arm and “began to perform an educational escort.” The boy then broke free, and ran around the cafeteria and a hallway before being tackled by the officer, who handcuffed the five-foot, 100-pound student.

The child was taken to the principal’s office, where he was later released into his father’s custody. (2 pages)