CA: Little girl faces felony charge for throwing rock at little boy

Bakersfield Californian ^ | 7/15/05 | Juliana Barbassa - AP

[melbell]

"Maribel Cuevas was arrested, handcuffed and taken by police to juvenile hall, where she spent five days with only minimal contact with her parents."

Well one thing's for sure...a crime was definitely committed here. Too bad the wrong person when to jail for it.

[brytlea]

You know, I'm surprised that everyone here seems to believe a story in the media to be 100% factual. My opinion (the minority opinion) is that, the girl COULD be lying,(she does have something to be gained). We only have one side of the story, and it appears slanted.
There may be (and probably is) more to this story. But of course, it's always good to blame the cops regardless....
susie

[brytlea]

I raised 3 boys myself (we all survived!). I know that boys are not always prone to giving you exactly the truth if they think it will keep them out of trouble. Somehow I don't think little girls are any different. I am not suggesting that the girl, from the story presented, deserved to go to jail. What I am suggesting is, we may not have all of the facts.
In addition, if it were my little girl, I would NOT encourage her to throw rocks at someone who was annoying her (water balloons are an annoyance, not life threatening assault). You could do much more harm with a rock (she appears to be a pretty good shot). A rock to the eye could do permament damage.
susie

[The Westerner]

You don't defend this kind of police brainlessness. If this is what cops are trained to do these days, respond to the letter of the law without thought, we are already becoming a real police state.

[Cincinatus' Wife]

The comparison is shocking: Driver: 'I want them to . . . tell me they are sorry'***.......When the truck came to a crashing stop, Diaz saw blood everywhere. And he could smell the raw fuel, although there was no major spill. "There was a large shard of metal sticking out of my head," he said. "When I reached to touch it, I could hear it inside my head." ................Anthony Boyd Jr., 18, was also arrested for allegedly throwing the bottle rocket and released on $1,000 bond. ***