By the time Seattle police officer Richard Roberson met him, the 8-year-old boy was known around West Seattle as a real troublemaker. He ran away from home so often his mother sometimes had to handcuff her wrist to his. One time, he tried to get to Mount Rainier.
Another time, after his mother hid his shoes, he was found wandering downtown Seattle -- in roller skates. Roberson's actions raise a question that isn't easily answered: How far can an officer go in doing his or her job?
Roberson is appealing a recent five-day suspension without pay for spanking the boy on at least five occasions, arguing that he was trying to solve a long-term community problem with good, independent police work. The boy's mother said she gave Roberson permission each time to spank her child. To protect the boy's identity, neither the boy nor his mother is being named.
She said that before the spankings began, she and Roberson agreed he would take on the role of big brother and mentor to her son, who has been diagnosed with emotional and mental problems. The boy's biological father lives in another state. He was trying to shape up; he had somebody interested in him. Roberson, 50, is a year veteran of the U. Army who is married, has three grown children and helped run a day-care center with his wife.
He said he chose police work as a second career because he thought he could "make a difference. Roberson and the mother say that because of their agreement, Roberson did not violate state law when he spanked the boy. Specifically, state law says: "Physical discipline of a child is not unlawful when it is reasonable and moderate and is inflicted by a parent, teacher or guardian for purposes of restraining or correcting the child.
