Proof that the Americans have gone nuts!

[Andrew Green]

Police responded with three cars and a helicopter after the 11-year-old threw a stone at a group of boys who rode by on their bikes and pelted her and her brother with water balloons.

her felony trial on a charge of assault with a deadly weapon

That's right, an 11 year old girl throwing a stone is assault with a deadly weapon and requires 3 police cars and a HELICOPTER to dea with.


http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/4744025.stm

 

[Tgace]

Well...If my dept. had a helicopter....the whole # of police responding "meaning" anything is kinda misleading. There are nights when I have 5+ cars showing up to a routine call. Odds are the helo was in the area already anyway and just showed up. 3 cars responding to a call would mean nothing around here. If 1 cop showed up and arrested the kid would that have been "better"? We cover each other on almost everything...big deal.

The issue of prosecuting the 11 yo falls on the DA's office (or their Family Court System. Im not familiar with California courts and how this case was diverted).

The issue of calling the police probably rests on the school administration.

The police as a matter of policy were in a position where a kid throwing a 2lb rock at someones head necessitated action on their part. When I was a "rookie" a juvenile detective told me as a rule of thumb. "If you would arrest an adult for it you should arrest the juvenile" although in my experience, most of these things go through the family courts not criminal courts.

 

[andy]

Tgace is your grammer correct?:idunno:

 

[Flatlander]

Seems readable to me.

 

[Tgace]

Inside joke.

 

[Makalakumu]

I think that if three cherries and a helo showed up after I threw a rock, I wouldn't throw anymore rocks. :idunno:

 

[BaiKaiGuy]

As an attorney working in the juvenile criminal system, that disgusts me. It was a blatant abuse of authority by both the police and the local DA who approved the charge. There is no reason this young lady should have been charged with a felony and detained for this.

11 years old? C'mon. And I bet if she had been white, there wouldn't have even been an arrest...

 

[Andrew Green]

Police responded with three cars and a helicopter after the 11-year-old threw a stone at a group of boys who rode by on their bikes and pelted her and her brother with water balloons.

Wonder if the boys where charged with harrassment or hate crimes?

Bullied kids will eventually fight back, and often that involves throwing rocks. Any daycare worker or teacher should know that.

"If you would arrest an adult for it you should arrest the juvenile"

I'd have to say this is a very poor rule of thumb, as I would imagine 90% of school age boys would have to be arrested for harrasment. I can see it from a covering ones on butt way of thinking, but that makes it even sadder.

 

[kenpochad]

Wonder if the boys where charged with harrassment or hate crimes?

Bullied kids will eventually fight back, and often that involves throwing rocks. Any daycare worker or teacher should know that.


I'd have to say this is a very poor rule of thumb, as I would imagine 90% of school age boys would have to be arrested for harrasment. I can see it from a covering ones on butt way of thinking, but that makes it even sadder.

WHY ARE ALL YOUR POST SO ANTI American ?

 

[Bob Hubbard]

Uh, what is "Anti-American" about this post?

 

[Andrew Green]

more anti-stupidity on this one

But I fail to see how all my posts are anti-american...

Canada has gone nuts too (the whole court rule against Harry Potter reading before release thingy) feel better?

 

[kenpochad]

more anti-stupidity on this one

But I fail to see how all my posts are anti-american...

Canada has gone nuts too (the whole court rule against Harry Potter reading before release thingy) feel better?

Sorry I can get a little sensitive some times when it comes to my country .
I work with guys that do every thing they can to get here and when they do
they bad mouth it and throw there trash every where .
Sorry about that.
:asian:

 

[Tgace]

I'd have to say this is a very poor rule of thumb, as I would imagine 90% of school age boys would have to be arrested for harrasment. I can see it from a covering ones on butt way of thinking, but that makes it even sadder.

Well..the issue there is if somebody else is reporting it and a party wants an arrest out of it. As a matter of fact there have been harassment charges when the school calls the police because of a fight. Hell kids are getting arrested when teachers find "hit lists" in their backpacks. Back when I was in school, a fight resulted in detention or a suspension. In these post Columbine days, the police get called.

If you and I get into a fist fight and nobody sees it and neither of us reports it, nobody gets arrested. If I call the police and say you attacked me and I want charges, guess what? So the rule of thumb is, if you are dispatched to a report of a crime, regardless of the subjects age, you act accordingly. Here in NY a juvenile "arrest" (9 times out of 10) means the juvenile comes to an office at the station. Some paperwork is done and the kid is sent back home with an appearance ticket for family court. On some rare occasions the juvenile is sent to a juvenile facility and family court decides when to return the child home. An arrest is simpily an official report of a crime. The court decides guilt or innocence and what punishment it should result in. Throwing a 2 lb rock at sombody's head could kill them so the "arrest" per se isnt so surprising to me. The fact that the prosecutor and the court system wanted to take it so far is.

If the Canadian police responded to a scene where an 11 yo girl opened a gash in another kids head with a 2 lb rock and all they did was pat her on the head and tell the parents to "work it out" Id have to say that was proof that the Canadian police had "gone nuts". If the courts decide thats whats to be done..fine. However for the police to not arrest in a case where blood has been drawn and they have been called there....

 

[Tgace]

http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/state/20050720-0211-ca-girlcharged.html

"This incident has been distorted and misrepresented," Mayor Alan Autry said in a statement. "In Fresno we love our children too much to treat this like it was just a childhood dispute, when in fact the consequences could have been tragic."

Police said an Associated Press story last week should have mentioned that the rock was "jagged-edged" and weighed 2 pounds, and that that the gash to the boy's head was "deep." Police also said the girl physically resisted while being handcuffed and put in a patrol car, scratching an officer's arm. The scratches were documented in two police photos.

"It is unfortunate that The Associated Press released one-sided information containing numerous inaccuracies," Fresno Police Chief Jerry Dyer said in the statement.

"The simple fact is that we have an 11-year-old girl who struck a boy in the head with a jagged-edged, two-pound river rock, that required him to have stitches," he added in an interview. "That is a felony, assault with a deadly weapon, and we are very fortunate that that act did not cause a more serious injury, even death."

Dyer also took issue with the phrasing in last week's AP story that "police apparently came prepared for gang warfare" in response to the 911 call. Witnesses said three squad cars and a helicopter were at the scene, but Dyer said that initially, only two officers were dispatched, and they called for backup only after the girl resisted arrest. Ultimately, the department said Tuesday, it sent six people, including three officers. The helicopter witnesses saw hovering above wasn't dispatched based on the 911 call, but it's not unusual for law enforcement helicopters to fly over disturbances, police said.

Why do all the media reports say "11yo Girl arrested for THROWING rock at boy" instead of saying "11yo girl arrested for HITTING boy with rock"? Perhaps because one raises more controversy?

 

[Tgace]

As an attorney working in the juvenile criminal system, that disgusts me. It was a blatant abuse of authority by both the police and the local DA who approved the charge. There is no reason this young lady should have been charged with a felony and detained for this.

11 years old? C'mon. And I bet if she had been white, there wouldn't have even been an arrest...

Let me guess...defense attorney? :shrug:

 

[sgtmac_46]

If an 11 year old boy chunked a 2 pound rock at your daughter, and put her in the hospital, what charge would you want? Would you just saw "Boys will be boys"? Now, I'm glad this situation worked out, but if the police hadn't made an arrest for what is clearly a felonious assault (i.e. assault with a dangerous instrument-a 2 pound rock qualifies) with injuries, then what would we be saying about the police.

Now, there may have been extinuating circumstances that justified viewing this as a lesser crime, but that is why we have courts. Arriving police make a decision based on the apparent severity of the crime and how it applies to statute. They make a recommendation to prosecutors based on that.

I find it ironic that this report on how America is "Stupid" comes from the BBC, the land of the contemplated ban on kitchen knives. Talk about the pot calling the kettle black.

 

[Tgace]

Just another convenient opportunity to take a shot at the USA, its been an international pastime for a long while now.

 

[sgtmac_46]

Just another convenient opportunity to take a shot at the USA, its been an international pastime for a long while now.

Especially by people who do far worse themselves. As I understand it, the idea of "self-defense" as a legal defense in England is a foreign concept.

 

[Flatlander]

I have to agree with the line of reasoning that, given the call being placed to the police necessarily means that someone must respond, charges should be laid if an offence has been committed, irrespective of the age of the accused.

Regarding the size of response, 3 cars isn't excessive for a violent assault. They wouldn't have shown up if they weren't available.