The American Civil Liberties Union of Rhode Island filed a federal lawsuit Thursday against Tiverton police and school officials over an incident in which it says an 8-year-old girl was removed from a school bus, had her belongings searched, was taken alone to the police station without her parents’ knowledge.

“The seizure, detention and interrogation of the young child were based solely on unsubstantiated claims from another child that the girl was carrying ‘chemicals’ in her backpack, and occurred even after the police found nothing in the backpack.” the ACLU said in a press release.

The Sakonnet Times asked both the Tiverton superintendent of schools and police chief for comment.

Superintendent of Schools Bill Rearick referred questions to Stephen Robinson, the district’s attorney.

“We have not received any communication from their (ACLU) attorneys and I have not yet seen” the lawsuit,” Mr. Robinson. said

“But I am aware of the incident and from what I know the superintendent acted totally responsibly and school personnel acted responsibly,” he said.

“This is typical ACLU,” Mr. Robinson added — “Send it to the media while the defendants are left hanging in the wind.”

Police Chief Thomas Blakey said, "I would like nothing more than to provide you with a detailed description of the facts. Unfortunately because a suit has been filed I am not at liberty to discuss the case."

The lawsuit, filed in Rhode Island District Court by ACLU volunteer attorneys Amato DeLuca and Miriam Weizenbaum, argues that school and police officials “unlawfully and unnecessarily searched and detained the child, violating her constitutional rights to due process and freedom from unreasonable searches and seizures.” The suit is on behalf of the child and her parents.

While the girl’s parents asked  to to be interviewed by the press, the ACLU says the suit stems from an incident on October 24, 2014, “when a student falsely told a school bus attendant that the girl and another student had ‘chemicals’ in their backpacks (the ACLU says its suit is only on behalf of one of the girls).

The bus was stopped and Tiverton police officers and school officials were called to the scene. “The police officers removed the two 8-year-old girls from the school bus, and upon searching their bags, found no evidence of chemicals or anything else suspicious,” the release states.

“The lawsuit alleges that despite having no probable cause to believe the two children had done anything wrong, the police still took the girls to the police station before contacting their parents and without any school officials present. Once the parents arrived, the girl was questioned and accused of not telling the truth before being released.

“That evening, the school robocalled all elementary school parents, wrongly informing them that two students had claimed to have chemicals and made threats to set a school bus on fire. No further action was taken against the accused students, while the girl who made the false accusations was disciplined.”

In its lawsuit, the ACLU claims that the town provided “no training or grossly inadequate training to its police officers and school department employees regarding  their duties, responsibilities and conduct toward minor school children and their parents.” Training was also lacking regarding “use of force; preventing abuse of authority, communicating with parents of students in their care, custody and control; apprehension of school children and their arrest or detention. … This failure to adequately train employees, the suit argues, caused the plaintiffs emotional distress and resulted in the denial of their constitutional rights.”

“It is unfortunate that we have been reduced to arresting without cause third grade children in the name of public safety. We must not forget that when officials fail to exercise common sense discretion, overreactions like this can significantly harm affected children,” said ACLU attorney DeLuca.

“Whether it is a Texas high school student getting arrested for bringing a homemade clock to school or a Tiverton third-grader being arrested and interrogated by police on the basis of completely unsubstantiated accusations, the rush to violate students’ rights in the name of ‘safety’ has to stop,” said ACLU of RI executive director Steven Brown. “We recognize that school officials should be vigilant in protecting children. However, turning eight-year-olds into police suspects in the absence of any evidence whatsoever is traumatizing and undermines, rather than furthers, the educational mission of a school. We hope this lawsuit will make police and school officials think twice before terrorizing young children in this fashion.”

The suit seeks a court order finding that the actions and policies of town officials throughout the incident were illegal, as well as damages for mental anguish and emotional distress, punitive damages, and attorneys’ fees.