Autistic Teen Detained by Police for Choosing Heathers for School Work, Father Sues Institutions

It is the story of Terrance O’Connor, a 15-year-old boy with autism, who They gave him homework at school to choose a television production to talk about in class.

Terrance chose Heathers, a dark comedy from 1989, and told the professor and his classmates, who identified with JD, the killer played by Christian Slater, who stars in the film along with Winona Ryder.

The teacher immediately notified the school administrators of the student’s statements, which in turn they turned the case over to the police, the Post reported.

Terrance’s father, David Connor, told the newspaper his annoyance at the treatment his son has received. This because No one told the police that David has autism. and therefore receives special education.

In addition, he explained that it has not been taken into account that although the young man He is 15 years old, his mental age is just over five.

The point is that the police detained him on charges of “homicidal ideation” and for embodying a possible terrorist threat, according to the complaint that his father filed in the Manhattan Supreme Court, against the city of New York, the local education department and the police, among other institutions, which he believes did not do their job properly.

Connor assures that more than half a dozen policemen showed up at his house the same day as the class in question, to take Terrance to a police station, where he was subjected to questioning.

David Connor defends his son’s innocence: “If you see this child, you will realize that he is not hurting an insect. It’s the sweetest thing in this world.”

Likewise, he denounced that, during the detention, they did not give him the opportunity to say goodbye to his son. “They arrested him like that, without a lawyer,” he said.

From the police station, Connor continued, Terrance was taken to Metropolitan Hospital, to undergo an evaluation of his mental state.

The boy’s father claims that that experience has been traumatic for the young man.

“It’s a night no child should live especially because of other people’s mistakes and poor judgment,” David Connor explained to Post.

But things did not stop there, because the young man now suffers the consequences of what he experienced that day.

“My son has not gone out on the street since June 22, 2022. He believes that the police and the feds are watching him. So he has isolated himself,” he said, before noting that before that his son was not destroyed as he is now.

David Connor feels that he has lost the son with whom he used to play Legos.

As a result of this situation, it came to light how difficult life has already been for this father and his three children.

First, they lost their home as a result of Hurricane Sandy, in 2012. Then, they found his mother dead in the bathroombecause of a disease with which he had been fighting for a long time.

In his lawsuit, the father claim compensation for damagesalthough the Post did not specify the amount.