{"id":363853,"date":"2026-08-05T23:56:08","date_gmt":"2026-08-05T23:56:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/363853\/"},"modified":"2026-08-05T23:56:08","modified_gmt":"2026-08-05T23:56:08","slug":"family-left-frustrated-after-prosecutors-refuse-to-drop-case-against-21-year-old-student-with-autism-in-school-battery-case-wsvn-7news-miami-news-weather-sports","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/363853\/","title":{"rendered":"Family left frustrated after prosecutors refuse to drop case against 21-year-old student with autism in school battery case &#8211; WSVN 7News | Miami News, Weather, Sports"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">MIAMI (WSVN) &#8211; A mother left the courtroom with a rejected request for leniency after trying to get charges dropped against her 21-year-old daughter with autism <a href=\"https:\/\/wsvn.com\/news\/investigations\/south-florida-mother-questions-prosecution-of-daughter-with-autism-after-incident-at-school\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener nofollow\">who is accused of striking a teacher.<\/a><\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The 21-year-old special needs student left the courtroom with her family disappointed and frustrated.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cAll of Miami-Dade County is getting ready for the first day of school and Halle\u2019s mom is not going to get that chance because instead of loving Halle, they kicked her out of school and turned their back on her,\u201d said attorney Michael Pizzi, \u201cWe asked the state attorneys office to do the right thing and dismiss the case which they could have done and should have done. And they shouldn\u2019t have brought the charges in the first place and they refused to do it.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The charges stem from an incident that got Halle Hansen handcuffed and kicked out of American Senior High School after being alleged to have struck a teacher when her cell phone was confiscated.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cShe\u2019s afraid of all policemen,\u201d said Esther King, Halle\u2019s mother.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In May, King <a href=\"https:\/\/wsvn.com\/news\/local\/miami-dade\/mother-sues-m-dcps-police-school-board-for-1m-after-daughter-with-autism-is-charged-with-battery-over-school-incident\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener nofollow\">announced action against the Miami-Dade school board and school police department<\/a> due to the incident. <\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cFor their mistreatment and their despicable treatment,\u201d said Pizzi at the time in an interview with 7News. <\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Despite the legal battle with the school, prosecutors are moving forward with the criminal charges against Hansen. <\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cPsychologists in the court has found that Halle does not understand what is happening, is not capable of understanding,\u201d said Pizzi.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">He says they now have to find a new school for her, and feel that the public school system failed her.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cThe school system and the police system and the state attorney\u2019s office, they should\u2019ve shown her love and compassion and kindness, since she\u2019s clearly a special needs child. Instead, they punished her and charged her with a crime and brought her to court,\u201d said Pizzi.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The family is due back in court on Aug. 26.<\/p>\n<p>Copyright 2026 Sunbeam Television Corp. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.<\/p>\n<p>\tJoin our Newsletter for the latest news right to your inbox<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"MIAMI (WSVN) &#8211; A mother left the courtroom with a rejected request for leniency after trying to get&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":363854,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[123,125,124],"class_list":["post-363853","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-miami","tag-miami","tag-miami-headlines","tag-miami-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/363853","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=363853"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/363853\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/363854"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=363853"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=363853"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=363853"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}