IMAGES: View The Drawings That Led To The Arrests
VOTE: Was Drawing The Pictures A Criminal Act?

OCALA, Fla. -- Two children were taken away from school in handcuffs because of pictures they drew. Police say they're violent threats, but parents say police have gone too far.

Ocala police arrested the nine and ten year olds on felony charges, because investigators say they threatened another child's life. Despite national attention and several e-mails and phone complaints, the police are sticking by the felony charges.

Ten-year-old C.J. Trudel knows the artwork was bad, enough to scare one of his classmates. One picture shows C.J. and his friend Dayvon standing beside a 10-year-old classmate. That boy is in a pool of blood with swords sticking through him. In another, the boy is shown hanging, with tears falling from his eyes. The last shows him with the nickname "hell-boy" and other obscenities.

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"It scared him [the boys' classmate] enough where he knew that harm was gonna come to him and he went right to the teacher," says Sgt. Russ Kern, Ocala Police Department.

The teacher at Wyomina Park Elementary showed the principal right away. He called police, who consulted prosecutors before charging the boys with felonies for making a written threat to kill or harm another person.

"Because of past incidences the happened in our nation, we don't have the luxury anymore of sitting back and waiting to see if they're true or imminent threats or just horseplay," says Kern.

Kern says the school was aware of a history of bullying, but C.J. says it went both ways.

"Because he always teased us and pushed us around," C.J. says.

C.J.'s parents couldn't believe stick figures led their son to be handcuffed and arrested. He's suspended from school for four days and he's being punished at home.

"He made a bad decision making a picture of ugliness, but he's not a criminal," says Bonnie Lynne, C.J.'s mother.

Even some officers admit the pictures don't look that bad, but they say they have to go with how the victim interpreted it.

The victim's parents declined Channel 9's request for an interview.

The school district says, because the children are part of a special education class, under federal law, they cannot be expelled or suspended for more than ten days. Currently, punishment is set at four days. A hearing will be held before they can return to class on Monday.