Posted on 02/21/2014 6:27:05 PM PST by RKBA Democrat
A day after a boy was arrested and charged with a felony for throwing a snowball at a police officer, students outside George Leland Elementary continued to build snowmen and throw snowballs at each other after school.
According to police, a 13-year-old boy was charged as a juvenile with felony aggravated battery against a police officer Wednesday after he hit the officer in the arm with a snowball while the officer was parked in his vehicle in the 4900 block of West Congress Parkway about 3:20 p.m.
Residents sounded off on the crime and punishment the next day, many describing the charge as police "going overboard."
"It's not fair," said Mary Grant, a longtime resident of the block. The boy "was being hardheaded, but that's very harsh. The officer should've tried something different than arrest."
The boy is believed to be a student at Leland Elementary School, formerly May Elementary, which sits at the southeast corner of the intersection near where the snowball was thrown. Officials at the school acknowledged that the incident occurred but declined to comment.
"I think that's ridiculous — it's such a big charge," said Latanya Powell, a construction worker on the block. "It's just going overboard. I can see if it were a weapon and harm was done, but it was just a snowball.
"This is a case of kids being kids."
Like other residents on the block, Powell wondered whether the charge would stain the boy's record well into his adult years, hurting his chances of finding a job, housing and education.
Often, findings on juveniles found delinquent do not remain part of their permanent record.
But according to Ray Fields, an educator and resident of the block, the charge and arrest were justified.
"If [the boy] had gotten away with it, who's to say what they'd do next? If it doesn't stick to them now, they'll be 16 or 17, and they'll have a gun," Fields said, adding that he has experience with local teens as a teacher and was the victim of a home burglary by neighborhood teens in 2010.
"If we as parents and educators don't teach them right from wrong, then what are we teaching them?" Fields added, arguing that the charge could help the boy change his ways before a more serious incident occurs.
Police did not provide further details on the case Thursday night.
Isa 5:20
I was still in elementary school at 13 - and I was born in 1960.
Isaiah 5: “This is like deja vu all over again.”
That cops are cowardly bullies who are privileged above the mere citizen.
Even discounting that this is Chicago, and therefore the kid probably got held back, it is possible:
Kid turns 6 just after the cutoff to start kindergarten, so has to wait one year, and thus is 6-7 in K, 7-8 in 1st, 8-9 in 2nd, 9-10 in 3rd, 10-11 in 4th, 11-12 in 5th, so 12-13 in 6th.
When I was in grade school back in the 80s, there was a 14-yo in 6th grade with me. His name was Samnang Sam, and he was a Cambodian refugee who had been brought to the US having never been to school before. I ended up playing left winger on the same junior soccer league team with him. They had him in at center, and between me and him, we won every single game. He’d steal the ball from the other team’s center, tip it to me, I’d run it down the sideline, kick it back in to him, and he’d score.
They criminalize youthful behavior now. If you have college kids you will get a big dose of it. Since the drinking age is now stupidly 21, the drug use amongst college kids has skyrocketed. Also, most I know do not drink and drive anymore so they walk home or call a cab. For the walkers, the police are waiting for them to give them public drunk charges. It’s big money for these college towns and for the lawyers that are hired to get these asinine charges off their records. It’s a racket.
TODAY’S COPS ARE NOT YOUR FRIEND and NOT TO BE TRUSTED
It’s so true. I worry that they won’t call for help if the situation arises where one of their friends has had dangerously too much to drink. They don’t want to get all the charges so they just don’t call for help often resulting in a bad outcome. I don’t blame them.
Police are no longer “people” to be dealt with like normal human beings.
If you see a police officer, you should either walk briskly away, into your house if possible, and lock the door, or else just bow down and keep your eyes averted down until they have passed.
Oh, and be sure to lock up your dogs. Because police hate dogs.
And if the police knock on your door, sorry. If you answer the door, they will likely shoot you if they think they see something in your hand, like fingers. And if you don’t answer, they will break the door down and then shoot you, unless you send your dog out for a sacrifice, then they will probably just push your face into the carpet for a while.
It’s all going to come down to kill ratio.
Was that public school? In Catholic school that was the same breakdown, except no kindergarten and we all walked. No school buses for us. That's OK---we didn't know any different!
Nice memories for you! I wonder what Sam's doing today.
Did you to a K through 8 school? Or did you start school late? Usually elementary school ends at grade 5or 6. That comes out to age 11 or 12
Kid’s getting off easy - I’m surprised he didn’t die in a hail of bullets....
Back then there would have been a dad in the home to deliver another form of justice. The kid wouldn't have been able to sit for a week and would have learned not to do things like that again. The kid would have grown up to be a law abiding, productive citizen.
My school was 1-8. My b’day is in September, but a lot of my friends had already turned 14 when we graduated in June.
That is all true, and in my neighborhood, there was a good chance the dad n the house was a cop or a fireman!
“and we all know that snowballs are like a gateway weapon. First snowballs, then guns....”
I’d be curious to know if there was a rock in that snowball. Shoolyard bullies use to do that when I was a kid.
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