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Kids Arrested For Burping, Spilling Milk, Etc.

Human_84

Human_84

Somewhat human
Joined
Mar 30, 2005
Messages
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This is interesting. :shock:

#2 A 13-year-old student at a school in Albuquerque, New Mexico was recently arrested by police for burping in class.
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#5 One teenage couple down in Houston poured milk on each other during a squabble while they were breaking up. Instead of being sent to see the principal, they were arrested and sent to court.
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There's plenty more, at this link: http://intellihub.com/2013/07/13/a-list-of-19-children-recently-arrested-for-trivial-things/
 
2 more.... these are great, too.

#18 A 6-year-old boy was recently charged with sexual battery for some “inappropriate touching” during a game of tag at one elementary school in the San Francisco area.
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#19 In Massachusetts, police were recently sent out to collect an overdue library book from a 5-year-old girl.
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Wow, America has become a scary place.
 
I spent some time browsing the source - intellihub.com - and it's clear that this is a site with an Agenda with a capital A. I don't doubt that there are some crazy abuses along these lines but I'm personally dubious that this info is free of distortion.
 
Yeah, when you hear someone's been arrested for burping, you can be fairly sure you're not getting the whole story.
 
Yeah, when you hear someone's been arrested for burping, you can be fairly sure you're not getting the whole story.
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I don't know what the whole story is in this case, the Huffington Post has also covered that one however and it sounds rather nasty:

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. -- A 13-year-old was handcuffed and hauled off to a juvenile detention for burping in class, according to a lawsuit filed against an Albuquerque school principal, a teacher and school police officer.

The boy was transported without his parents being notified in May after he "burped audibly" in PE class and his teacher called a school resource officer to complain he was disrupting her class. The lawsuit also details a separate Nov. 8 incident when the same student was forced to strip down to his underwear while five adults watched as he was accused of selling pot to another student; the boy was never charged

The suit was one of two filed Wednesday by civil rights attorney Shannon Kennedy, who says she has been fighting the district and police for years over the use of force with problem children. She says a review of school and Bernalillo County records shows more than 200 school kids have been handcuffed and arrested in the last three years for non-violent misdemeanors.

In the second lawsuit filed Wednesday, the parents of a 7-year-old boy with autism accuse a school officer of unlawful arrest for handcuffing the boy to a chair after he became agitated in class. New Mexico law prohibits officers and school officials from restraining children under 11.

The suits come one year after the same attorney settled a class action lawsuit against the district that was prompted by the arrest of a girl who Kennedy said "didn't want to sit by the stinky boy in class." And Kennedy says she has a number of other cases she is preparing over treatment of students in Albuquerque by school officials, school police, city police and sheriff's officers.

"I am trying to get all the stake holders in a room to get people properly trained to prevent this from happening," Kennedy said.

Kennedy said the problem lies with the schools more than with the law enforcement agencies.

"It lands in the lap of the principal. There are good schools and bad schools. The principals ... who are handling their schools properly don't need to have children arrested. It's ridiculous."

A spokesman for Albuquerque Public Schools did not immediately return calls and emails seeking comment on Thursday. A police spokeswoman said the department does not comment on litigation.

One school board member, Lorenzo Garcia, said he had not seen and could not comment on the lawsuits, but he did say he was concerned about what appeared to be schools getting stuck on a "zero tolerance policy."

"Really, in my opinion, this really increases the whole idea of the schools-to-prison pipeline," he said.
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This is the scary bit:
"Really, in my opinion, this really increases the whole idea of the schools-to-prison pipeline," he said.
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It's a pipeline? We've all heard the accusations of the US prison system being a lucrative method of free labour, but are they really planning ahead by breeding their convicts from school onwards?
 
I don't know what the whole story is in this case, the Huffington Post has also covered that one however and it sounds rather nasty:
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Look, teachers have to be able to maintain discipline and the burper is clearly a trouble maker. I mean, he got strip searched previously, what more proof do you need?

I'm kidding. And I stand corrected. Something is clearly wack in Albuquerque. I guess if you want to teach kids to hate authority and rules and orderly society, this is the way to do it.
 
I think this belongs here:

Judge to serve 28 years after making $2 million for sending black children to jail

Judge Mark A. Ciavarella, 63, serves as an example of why the private prison industry can do more harm than good. Ciavarella worked alongside owners of private juvenile facilities to ensure that the prison remained occupied. The more prisoners equated to more profits for the owners of the prison.

As a result, Ciavarella would sentence offenders with small offenses to months and, at times, years behind bars. He once sentenced a teen to three months in jail for creating a MySpace page that mocked her school’s assistant principal. Ciavarella also sentenced another teen to 90 days in jail after a simple schoolyard fight.

But after a federal investigation, it was discovered that Ciavarella and his colleague, Judge Michael Conahan, received more than $2.6 million from privately run youth centers owned by PA Child Care. In 2011, Ciavarella was convicted of racketeering and sentenced to 28 years in prison. He was also forced to pay $1 million in restitution.

Once Ciavarella was convicted, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court tossed out 4,000 convictions issued by the judge.

Ciavarella appealed to the Third Circuit Court of Appeals in Philadelphia to have his 28-year sentence overturned. On July 25, the court denied his request.

Ciavarella’s attorneys may attempt to appeal the case before the U.S. Supreme Court.
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Rolling Out
 
I don't think this sort of thing is confined to just the States, sadly. There was a case recently where a 10yr old girl was 'warned' by the police that she could face a charge of criminal damage for drawing a game of hopscotch on a pavement .

One thing to bear in mind: this is the Daily Mail!http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/art...id-pavement-outside-home-criminal-damage.html

That said, I've seen/heard of enough run-ins with officialdom to be prepared to accept that there's a general culture of heavy-handedness at work. Whether what gets reported reflects what actually happened is, of course, the point here.
 
I don't know where else to post this, so...

The recent case in America of a 14-year old Muslim schoolboy who was arrested when he took a homemade clock into school:

http://www.theguardian.com/us-news/...k-ahmed-mohamed-texas-officials-we-were-right

At the time, I thought 'WTF! What an overreaction', but then I saw the photos of the clock that he'd claimed to have invented. It does look pretty suspicious.

Anyhow, I found this analysis by someone who knows something about electronics, and the findings are interesting:

http://blogs.artvoice.com/techvoice...gineering-ahmed-mohameds-clock-and-ourselves/

This article basically says the kid didn't actually invent anything - he just ripped the guts out of an old clock and then (badly) reboxed it all in a lockable pencil case.

So...what's going on here? Is there more to this than meets the eye (i.e. made to do it to get people jumpy)? Hoax bomb? Or is he just a naive kid, messing about?

Personally, I just think it's a kid who is trying hard to give the impression that he is cool and clever, when he's not. I think it may be just innocent.
 
Mythopoeika said:
I don't know where else to post this, so...

The recent case in America of a 14-year old Muslim schoolboy who was arrested when he took a homemade clock into school:

http://www.theguardian.com/us-news/...k-ahmed-mohamed-texas-officials-we-were-right

At the time, I thought 'WTF! What an overreaction', but then I saw the photos of the clock that he'd claimed to have invented. It does look pretty suspicious.

Anyhow, I found this analysis by someone who knows something about electronics, and the findings are interesting:

http://blogs.artvoice.com/techvoice...gineering-ahmed-mohameds-clock-and-ourselves/

This article basically says the kid didn't actually invent anything - he just ripped the guts out of an old clock and then (badly) reboxed it all in a lockable pencil case.

So...what's going on here? Is there more to this than meets the eye (i.e. made to do it to get people jumpy)? Hoax bomb? Or is he just a naive kid, messing about?

Personally, I just think it's a kid who is trying hard to give the impression that he is cool and clever, when he's not. I think it may be just innocent.
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I reckon its innocent as well.

MIT and a couple of other universities have invited the kid on a visit so they probably think that it was more than just the reboxing of clock parts.
 
ramonmercado said:
I reckon its innocent as well.

MIT and a couple of other universities have invited the kid on a visit so they probably think that it was more than just the reboxing of clock parts.
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And Obama has invited him to the White House.
Knee jerk reactions all round?
 
Mythopoeika said:
And Obama has invited him to the White House.
Knee jerk reactions all round?
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Maybe MIT also did a review of the clock and disagreed with the above blogger? In the comments section a lot of people disagree with him. Even some of those who think the kid didn't invent anything new challenge the bloggers analysis and even his knowledge of electronics.
 
It's a very odd case indeed.
When I was 14 I'd have built a project better than that. And I would not have claimed to have invented something I hadn't built from scratch.
So...I think he's a little liar. Or a fantasist.
But all of that is probably innocent. Probably.
 
Mythopoeika said:
It's a very odd case indeed.
When I was 14 I'd have built a project better than that. And I would not have claimed to have invented something I hadn't built from scratch.
So...I think he's a little liar. Or a fantasist.
But all of that is probably innocent. Probably.
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I don't think its fair to suggest hes a liar or fantasist. Boys in their early teens often believe that they have come up with new concepts.

Lets wait for an analysis of the project from someone whose article cannot also be torn to be pieces.

The school teachers however do appear to be liars.

If they thought it might be a bomb then why didn't they clear the school?

Sep 17, 2015 3:17pm PDT by BSSanders
comment_large-37ee3951e9f38b29c72b63c8fb25ee5e.png
489976
Great Post Sent to Me Today

I said: it's sad they thought that kid had a bomb.
She said: they didn't think he had a bomb.
I said: yes, they thought he made a bomb and even called the police.
She said: They just wanted to humiliate a little Muslim boy. They didn't think he had a bomb.
I said: Don't be a conspiracy theorist. They might be a little prejudiced, but I'm sure they thought he had a bomb.
She said: OK.
But they didn't evacuate the school, like you do when there's a bomb.
They didn't call a bomb squad - like you do when there's a bomb.
They didn't get as far away from him as possible, like you do when there's a bomb.
Then they put him and the clock in an office: not like you do when there's a bomb
Then they waited with him for the police to arrive, and then they put the clock in the same car as the police.
Then they took pictures of it.

I said: Damn.....They never thought he had a bomb.

EQUAL RIGHTS are HUMAN RIGHTS
The Irving PD, & the School Admin will be rightfully sued.
They can now pay Ahmed's way to MIT.
Thanks.
"They never thought he had a bomb"

http://m.dailykos.com/story/2015/09/17/1422329/--They-didn-t-think-he-had-a-bomb
comment_large-37ee3951e9f38b29c72b63c8fb25ee5e.png
489976
Great Post Sent to Me Today

I said: it's sad they thought that kid had a bomb.
She said: they didn't think he had a bomb.
I said: yes, they thought he made a bomb and even called the police.
She said: They just wanted to humiliate a little Muslim boy. They didn't think he had a bomb.
I said: Don't be a conspiracy theorist. They might be a little prejudiced, but I'm sure they thought he had a bomb.
She said: OK.
But they didn't evacuate the school, like you do when there's a bomb.
They didn't call a bomb squad - like you do when there's a bomb.
They didn't get as far away from him as possible, like you do when there's a bomb.
Then they put him and the clock in an office: not like you do when there's a bomb
Then they waited with him for the police to arrive, and then they put the clock in the same car as the police.
Then they took pictures of it.

I said: Damn.....They never thought he had a bomb.

EQUAL RIGHTS are HUMAN RIGHTS
The Irving PD, & the School Admin will be rightfully sued.
They can now pay Ahmed's way to MIT.
Thanks.
"They never thought he had a bomb"
 
Mythopoeika said:
And Obama has invited him to the White House.
Knee jerk reactions all round?
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This, I think. Teachers and police overreacted and then the SJW/Tumblr mob gets on the case and we see invites to the White House, promises of scholarships etc etc. Everyone needs to calm the hell down. This extreme hysteria about stories such as this - especially where something can be spun to fit a predetermined narrative - is very unhealthy IMO.
 
Mythopoeika said:
Personally, I just think it's a kid who is trying hard to give the impression that he is cool and clever, when he's not. I think it may be just innocent.
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And since when was that a crime worthy of being handcuffed and humiliated? From my memory, there's plenty of potential for embarrassment in the teen years without school staff piling on. Of course he wants to appear cool and clever, he's 14 years old. Blimey. Give the kid a break. And, as Ramonmercado hints, if they genuinely thought there was a threat, why treat it so apparently casually? Something is not right here, but I don't think Ahmed is at fault.
 
What Krepostnoi said. Arguments about actual originality aside, whatever the boy was doing it was once called 'pottering' and used to be actively encouraged in generations of spotty faced schoolboys - not sneered at or belittled.

And, if he did dismantle someone else's idea and rebox it as his own - well, have these people never heard of Thomas Edison?

And ironic that this should happen in the state that's just legalized 'campus carry'; if he makes the grades in four years time Ahmed won't need a box of wires in order to create panic in school - he'll be able to walk right in with a fucking Desert Eagle.
 
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Quake42 said:
This, I think. Teachers and police overreacted and then the SJW/Tumblr mob gets on the case and we see invites to the White House, promises of scholarships etc etc. Everyone needs to calm the hell down. This extreme hysteria about stories such as this - especially where something can be spun to fit a predetermined narrative - is very unhealthy IMO.
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The spinning is being carried out by the school and the police.

If they really believed it was a bomb then why didn't they evacuate the school?

In any law case certain tests will apply:

Would a reasonable rational teacher allow students to remain in the school if they suspected the clock was actually a bomb?

Would a reasonable rational teacher put the clock with the student concerned in a room and remain there with him until the police arrived if they suspected the clock was actually a bomb?

Would a reasonable rational police officer carry the bomb away in the same car as the student if they suspected the clock was actually a bomb?

Why didn't the police call the bomb disposal unit instead if they suspected the clock was actually a bomb?

Both teachers and police have qualified privilege regarding actions they take but I cannot believe that they were acting in good faith on this occasion.

You don't have to be a SJW to believe that bigotry played a role in their actions.
 
Spookdaddy said:
What Krepostnoi said. Arguments about actual originality aside, whatever the boy was doing it was once called 'pottering' and used to be actively encouraged in generations of spotty faced schoolboys - not sneered at or belittled.

And, if he did dismantle someone else's idea and rebox it as his own - well, have these people never heard of Thomas Edison?

And ironic that this should happen in the state that's just legalized 'campus carry'; if he makes the grades in four years time Ahmed won't need a box of wires in order to create panic in school - he'll be able to walk right in with a fucking Desert Eagle.
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I'm guessing that the full sequence of events is not being reported, because as set out at the moment it makes little sense. FWIW I can understand why a teenage boy turning up to school with a box featuring a timer and some wires would make people anxious. Yes, the fact that he is Muslim may have heightened the anxiety. I can understand why police might be called. What makes less sense is that the arrest apparently took place some hours after the school had seen the item/device/experiment/whatever it is.

The originality or otherwise of the item isn't really here nor there I don't think. It would be helpful to understand:

(1) The context in which Ahmed brought the item to school. Was it some sort of "show and tell" or science fair or was it apropos de rien? What did he say when he gave it to the teacher, or was it just left on her desk?

(2) Whether there was some sort of previous history or bad blood between him and the teacher who thought it was a threat to her.

His father's remarks are also rather OTT - being handcuffed when arrested seems to be standard practice in the US even for minor offences, and in any event I don't think it amounts to "torture".

If they really believed it was a bomb then why didn't they evacuate the school?

In any law case certain tests will apply:

Would a reasonable rational teacher allow students to remain in the school if they suspected the clock was actually a bomb?

Would a reasonable rational teacher put the clock with the student concerned in a room and remain there with him until the police arrived if they suspected the clock was actually a bomb?
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I don't know the answer to these questions. I would say that people don't always act rationally when faced with a potential threat. I agree that the whole thing seems a little odd, but I really don't think that the teachers set it up to "humilate a little Muslim boy". They would have known that to do so would probably be career ending.

Hence my questions about the context in which this occurred. My guess is that there is rather more to the story than is being reported by either side.
 
Quake42 said:
I'm guessing that the full sequence of events is not being reported, because as set out at the moment it makes little sense. FWIW I can understand why a teenage boy turning up to school with a box featuring a timer and some wires would make people anxious. Yes, the fact that he is Muslim may have heightened the anxiety. I can understand why police might be called. What makes less sense is that the arrest apparently took place some hours after the school had seen the item/device/experiment/whatever it is.

The originality or otherwise of the item isn't really here nor there I don't think. It would be helpful to understand:

(1) The context in which Ahmed brought the item to school. Was it some sort of "show and tell" or science fair or was it apropos de rien? What did he say when he gave it to the teacher, or was it just left on her desk?

(2) Whether there was some sort of previous history or bad blood between him and the teacher who thought it was a threat to her.

His father's remarks are also rather OTT - being handcuffed when arrested seems to be standard practice in the US even for minor offences, and in any event I don't think it amounts to "torture".



I don't know the answer to these questions. I would say that people don't always act rationally when faced with a potential threat. I agree that the whole thing seems a little odd, but I really don't think that the teachers set it up to "humilate a little Muslim boy". They would have known that to do so would probably be career ending.

Hence my questions about the context in which this occurred. My guess is that there is rather more to the story than is being reported by either side.
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Effectively you are spinning on behalf of the school and the police. If there was bad blood or anything strange about the way he presented the clock we would have heard it by now.

If you have any evidence of such "context" then please produce your evidence. Don't invent it out of thin air.
 
ramonmercado said:
Effectively you are spinning on behalf of the school and the police. If there was bad blood or anything strange about the way he presented the clock we would have heard it by now.

If you have any evidence of such "context" then please produce your evidence. Don't invent it out of thin air.
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I don't, and I'm not trying to invent stuff out of thin air. I've just seen numerous occasions where the media has jumped on a particular story because they see it as illustrating a wider point - around prejudice etc - and in the course of doing so omit relevant details. Nuance and grey areas don't get clicks or hashtags.

I'm thinking for example of the "Islamophobic flight attendant/diet cokegate" story a few months ago which turned out to be rather different to how it had been reported.

As I say, understanding the context in which the kid brought the item into school and what was said to the teacher might help to shed some light on what actually happened here. I'm not trying to spin for anyone. On the face of it it sounds like an enormous overreaction. However, I'm trying to retain some Fortean scepticism!
 
Quake42 said:
I don't, and I'm not trying to invent stuff out of thin air. I've just seen numerous occasions where the media has jumped on a particular story because they see it as illustrating a wider point - around prejudice etc - and in the course of doing so omit relevant details. Nuance and grey areas don't get clicks or hashtags.

I'm thinking for example of the "Islamophobic flight attendant/diet cokegate" story a few months ago which turned out to be rather different to how it had been reported.

As I say, understanding the context in which the kid brought the item into school and what was said to the teacher might help to shed some light on what actually happened here. I'm not trying to spin for anyone. On the face of it it sounds like an enormous overreaction. However, I'm trying to retain some Fortean scepticism!
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You're just coming across as someone desperate to find fault with the student: hes a muslim so he must be guilty of something.

This has nothing to do with Forteanism.

As I said:

If you have any evidence of such "context" then please produce your evidence. Don't invent it out of thin air.
 
ramonmercado said:
You're just coming across as someone desperate to find fault with the student: hes a muslim so he must be guilty of something.

This has nothing to do with Forteanism.
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I certainly don't think he must be guilty of something because he is a Muslim! I have already said that it appears that the school and police overreacted, and the police appear to confirm this in interviews where they argue that they knew it wasn't a bomb but thought it might be a "hoax bomb" and that they become more suspicious when Ahmed would say only that the device was a clock and refused to elaborate further. This may, of course, be because he just didn't have anything more to say about it but this wasn't considered at the time...

My scepticism is, as I say, aimed purely at the media reporting and is based on the way that previous stories like this have been reported. The media wants heroes and villains and struggles with nuance of any sort. Inevitably, it seems, in due course more details emerge which paint a somewhat different version of events. We've seen it in human interest cases like this but also in foreign affairs - see the way the Arab Spring was portrayed at the time, and the reporting of the migrant crisis at the moment.
 
FFS you two, get a room!! I'm pissed off with your pathetic squabbling!
It's like Punch and Judy, only not so funny. :mad:


EDIT: Myth is not part of 'you two'.
 
Quake42 said:
I certainly don't think he must be guilty of something because he is a Muslim! I have already said that it appears that the school and police overreacted, and the police appear to confirm this in interviews where they argue that they knew it wasn't a bomb but thought it might be a "hoax bomb" and that they become more suspicious when Ahmed would say only that the device was a clock and refused to elaborate further. This may, of course, be because he just didn't have anything more to say about it but this wasn't considered at the time...

My scepticism is, as I say, aimed purely at the media reporting and is based on the way that previous stories like this have been reported. The media wants heroes and villains and struggles with nuance of any sort. Inevitably, it seems, in due course more details emerge which paint a somewhat different version of events. We've seen it in human interest cases like this but also in foreign affairs - see the way the Arab Spring was portrayed at the time, and the reporting of the migrant crisis at the moment.
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You are now choosing to believe the spin put out by the police.

Originally they said they believed it was a bomb. They only changed this story when it was pointed out that they should have evacuated the school if this was the case.

Did you ever hear of the constitutional right to silence? Does it not apply to muslims? Ahmed told them it was a clock. He was wise to say no more as anything he did say would likely have been twisted.

Even if the police could tell whether or not it was a bomb surely the school should have been cleared if the teachers had the slightest suspicion it was a bomb?

The villains in this case, based on the evidence before us, are the teachers and police.

I can't see how any reasonable, rational adult could have acted in the way the police and teachers did.
 
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