Albuquerque boy arrested for burping must digest suspension, court rules

Associated Press in Albuquerque, New Mexico
Saturday 30 July 2016 22.12 BST

A federal appeals court has upheld the petty misdemeanor arrest of an Albuquerque student accused of repeatedly disrupting his middle-school class with loud burps.

The 10th circuit court of appeals decision ruled that the officer and educators named in the lawsuit were entitled to immunity, and the arrest was justified under a New Mexico law that prohibits anyone from interfering in the education process.

The student was a seventh-grader at Albuquerque’s Cleveland Middle School at the time of the May 2011 arrest. He is not named in court documents.

His mother, who also isn’t named, filed the lawsuit against the then 13-year-old’s principals and the police officer who escorted him to his patrol car before patting him down, cuffing him and taking him to a juvenile detention center. He was held for an hour before his mother arrived.

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