Two children arrested for threatening drawings (1 Viewer)

[Dennis*G]

One thing I did not read, did the two boys hand this paper to the other child? Or did a teacher passing by see it and take the action to report them?

Kinda what Mark has posted, wheres the threat if they never handed it to the other kid?

Just two school friends making fun of another student unless they handed the drawing to the other kid or harrased him in any other way previous to this.

 

[Paul Padilla]

Delivery of the threat is irrelevant. They specifically expressed the intent...not in general "I'm gonna kill him" terms, but with explicitly laid out actions and individuals.

The Hitchcock reference isn't the best analogy. Screwing with a kids mind about "being late for dinner" is pretty sadistic. Hitch was a brilliant film maker, but he wasn't the most well adjusted individual and had plenty of other incedents in his life to add to his anxieties. He would have been completely justified to be scared of the police, but even more so of his father that inflicted that punishment. Besides...it's not like he TP'd a house.

Going the full tilt to charge these kids is overkill...but the point really needs to be driven home that it's not OK to postulate these things. These kids are way too young to realize where allowing themselves to "toy" with the idea can lead, so they have to me made to realize.

So, Eric. Why the respect issues with the police for legitimately busting you if they were only "called in to talk to you" as you say? No fine for littering? No charges for vandalism on your juvie record? Did they even make you clean it up? It's certainly a long way from shooting Buckwheat...but when you're busted you're busted. You didn't write out a plan to TP...you TP'd and you got caught.

 

[Eric Peterson]

Yes, I did get busted, and I don't want to sidetrack this thread too much. First off, I really want to believe that the cops have better things to do with their time then harassing some kids who went TPing (It would be great if they didn't, but also a lie) Secondly, yes they did make us clean it up, and it had rained later that night, so we had to wipe each individual blade of grass even though one more rain and it would've been gone. Finally, the cops came after us and accused of another crime at the same house the same night and refused to believe that it wasn't us. This family was so despised that three groups hit their house the same night. One of them decided to soap the house as well as the brick, and it wouldn't come off very easily. (I think they used candles, but I'm not sure. No matter how many times we told them, they absolutely refused to believe us, and treated us like common criminals. This was in fact the primary reason that a complaint was filed, and we were tracked down.

Oh, and the final thing - I was a good student, but not great and the other kids from my group were all at an honor roll banquet and the cops never harassed them, just me. They even threatened to send me to military school at one point, and I had absolutely zero history of being a problem. To this day, that's my only dealing with the police aside from the occasional traffic stop.

 

[Paul Padilla]

No disrespect Eric. There's always a lot more detail to a story than meets the eye and it sounds like you did get a raw deal.

Sounds like you made it OK (Buckwheat not withstanding)