US judge demoted after detaining teenage girl during field trip to courtroom

A Detroit judge who briefly detained a teenage girl who fell asleep in his courtroom during a school field trip to learn about the justice system was demoted to presiding over traffic court as he faces a federal lawsuit.

Judge Kenneth King was moved to the state court’s traffic division after the incident on 13 August. King was temporarily removed from the bench as he completed mandatory training following his actions.

“We appreciate his efforts in preparing for this role, and wish him success as he transitions into this new responsibility,” said the chief judge, William McConico, in a statement.

King is facing a federal lawsuit filed by Eva Goodman, 15, and her mother, Latoreya Till, after Goodman was forced to put on jail garments, handcuffed and put in an isolated holding cell during an educational trip to King’s courtroom.

The group was watching King conduct a hearing on a murder, something the lawsuit said forced Goodman to relive a traumatic event, causing the girl to shut down and fall asleep.

The hearing, as well as King’s admonishment of Goodman for falling asleep, was livestreamed by King on the court’s YouTube channel. The video was eventually removed from the platform.

At a press conference in August, Till said that her family was facing housing instability, and Goodman had a late night before the field trip. The family did not know she would be on such a trip and that Goodman had never been to a courtroom before.

“I just want Judge King to take accountability for the way that he humiliated my daughter,” Till said at the time. “I feel like he owes her a public apology. Not only that, he owes her more than just a public apology.”

In the lawsuit, Goodman’s lawyers argue that King violated her civil rights and acted beyond the scope of his authority.

“Common sense and the facts demonstrate that a grown man became rattled by a young girl that he falsely concluded to be, and cast as, a delinquent, who was actually a fragile teenager forced to attentively face a past trauma during an actual prior court proceeding that had ended, before shutting down during class,” the lawsuit says.

King told the Detroit Free Press in August that he did not act inappropriately and was trying to teach Goodman about the gravity of a courtroom.