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A 12-year-old girl was recently arrested at school for the "crime" of throwing a book in class. Lacreshia Preston Garrett explains that her daughter was apprehended by the Dallas school district police for something that should have been dealt with by simply sending her to the principal's office. It all happened last fall at the Thomas Edison Middle School Garrett says. Little Zyria Grizelle was tired of the teasing coming from the class clown. He continuously slapped her arm. As a result, she lashed out and threw a book at him.

"I hit the computer, and the computer fell," she recounted.

Knocking over that computer apparently made all the difference in the world. While the class clown was permitted to assault her repeatedly, once she accidentally broke school property, she was treated like a hardened criminal.

"The officer came in the classroom, told her to come outside the class, and to put her hands behind her back," Zyria's mom, Lacreshia said.

Garrett follow the police cruiser with her daughter handcuffed in the back, all the way to the holding cell where she remained for some time, traumatized by the police state interaction.

"She was just crying," Garrett continued. "She said 'I just know the police come for bad people.' She was terrified."

The Dallas Independent School District police defend the arrest, explaining that this is how they deal with "vandals."

Zyria's is due in court with the County Juvenile Department on Tuesday, March 31st.

"This kinda broke her spirit a little bit," her mother said, noting that she had "never been suspended, and now my 12-year-old was arrested."

Zyria's mother decided that she's had enough of the school, and has pulled her daughter out. She is now living with a cousin in a neighboring district, in the hopes that she will not be treated like a criminal for defending herself against a classroom bully.