Town to pay $40,000 settlement for 3rd grader interrogation

By: The Associated Press

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TIVERTON, R.I. (AP) — A Rhode Island town has agreed to pay $40,000 to settle a lawsuit brought by the family of a third-grader who said police interrogated her for hours over a false report.          

The American Civil Liberties Union of Rhode Island sued the town of Tiverton in 2015 after the 8-year-old was taken off a school bus and questioned without her parents because another girl falsely reported she had chemicals in her backpack.              

The ACLU says the town also agreed to a new policy requiring schools to notify the parents, and that parents be present when police question elementary-age children.              

Lawyer Amato DeLuca says the policy will provide children and their families protections against unreasonable and unwarranted searches and seizures.         

A town lawyer did not immediately return a message seeking comment.

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