being arrested for being kids," said Shannon Kennedy, a civil rights attorney who is suing the Albuquerque, New Mexico, school district, where hundreds of kids have been arrested in the past few years for minor offenses. Those include having cellphones in class, burping, refusing to switch seats and destroying a history book. In 2010, a 14-year-old boy was arrested for inflating a condom in class.

Salecia was accused of tearing items off the walls and throwing books and toys in an outburst Friday at her school in Georgia. Police said she also threw a small shelf that struck the principal in the leg, jumped on a paper shredder and tried to break a glass frame.

Police refused to say what set off the tantrum. The school called police, and whenan officer tried to calm the child in the principal's office, she resisted, authorities said. She was handcuffed and taken away in a patrol car.

Baldwin County schools Superintendent Geneva Braziel called the student's behavior "violent and disruptive" and said the girl was taken away out of safety concerns for others.

Interim Police Chief Dray Swicord said the department's policy is to handcuff people when they are taken to the police station, regardless of their age, "for the safety of themselves as well as the officer."

He said the girl will not be charged with a crime because she is too young.

The girl's aunt, Candace Ruff, went with the child's mother to pick her up at the police station. She said Salecia complained about the handcuffs. "She said they were really