MURFREESBORO, Tenn. -- The back of a police squad car is a place usually reserved for criminals. But a mother said her 10-year-old son was handcuffed and put in the back seat Tuesday, all because the autistic boy acted up at school.

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Felicia Burk adopted Heath and his sister Scarlett two years ago. Both of them have autism. She said Heath can get out of control, but he isn’t supposed to be restrained, as that only makes him act worse. Tuesday when he acted up, the Murfreesboro City school called the police.

“I didn’t like it,” said Heath of the hand-cuffing.

"The special-ed supervisor told me he was in a police car because I had complained last week that he was physically restrained and had bruises on his arm," said Burk.

School officials do not have a comment at this time. A police representative said the boy was calm when the officer arrived. The officer said the boy asked to sit in the patrol car and be handcuffed.

But Heath’s mom said she was told a different story. "I was told later that Heath was kicking in the car, so they put handcuffs on him,” she said.

Burk said what happened to her son shows that some school systems still don't or won't treat autistic children the way that experts know will work: with patience instead of force.

"I was talking to someone today,” Burk said, “asking, ‘Why is this happening to us?’ She said, ‘This happens to everyone with autism.’”

Burk said in her former job, as the behavior analyst for the Murfreesboro school system, she trained teachers not to restrain children.