August 03, 2005

• Free Maribel, from the AP link
• True, but to play devil's advocate that was a pretty damn big rock.
• "Throwing a two pound jagged rock measuring 5.5 inches by 3.75 inches, ... gashing the boy's forehead". Sounds like assault with a deadly weapon to me; what else would you call it? Then, "lawyers struck the deal behind closed doors. Maribel will not have to plead guilty, but she will have to participate in a mediation program in which she will be required to meet with her young victim and talk about the fight." Seems like "the system" worked in this case (other then maybe her 4 days spent in the big house).
• So it's ok to throw rocks at people now? How much force and what kind of launching apparatus can I use? I've got a few people I'd like to throw rocks at.
• Use a sling, Chy.
• Didn'y you know techsnith and Chryen? Violence by women and girls against men or boys, no matter how disproprotionate or dangerous, is always cool and to be applauded.
• No, Chy. I did say she went too far. However, this should have been handled by the parents. With proper punishment, she would have understood just fine that it's bad to throw large rocks at people, no matter the reason. Plus Chy, as an adult you have a better understanding of right & wrong.
• What the hell is up with an 11 year old girl resisting arrest? When I was 11, I would have been terrified. The last thing I would've done was try to get away or fight the cops. As an aside, she scratched an officer's arm? And this little factoid made it into the news? Dude, is that guy a wimp or what? He's gotta be catching hell from his fellow officers for that one.
• I don't
• What's the statuate of limitations on "assult with a deadly weapon" in the US? I'd like to take that bastard that whacked me with a hammer to court. So, lets see... ummm, that was 20 years ago. Then, there was my friend who's older brother shot me with a blowdart gun. Took a sharpened needle right to the arm, and one to my chest. Yeah, I remember throwing a rock at a kid that threw a rock at me first - musta been about 10 years old then. It landed smack on his forehead. His step-dad saw it, ran over and picked me up by the neck... I didn't throw rocks after that! Damn, what about the time I cut off my sister's hair with a pair of very sharp scissors? I was only 4 then, is that considered "assult" ?? Now that I think about it, two of my best friends held me down and shot a BB pellet into my ass!! Ok, I agree, that the matter went as far as it did seems quite absurd.
• Well, my bad on this one. On reading goetter's link above, I see that there are other issues at stake here, too, including racism and police discriminating against the poor. Also, it turns out the boy who was hit has since moved. His family never pressed charges. Sorry guys. This could have made a good post, but I blew it. :o(
• Actually minda25, I think it's a good post, tbh. There's a lot of more subtle issues (on both sides, so to speak) that should be addressed. Honestly, when I read your post, my internal reaction was exactly what rodgerd posted, but as always, other posting makes me think more deeply in to the issues.
• Anyone who shoots BBs into your bottom is not your friend.
• Thanks, tech :o) I do wish I'd spent more time in the article & found goetter's link myself, though /pout Anyway, I do stick by my initial word: overreaction. Now that I know the boy's parents didn't even press charges, I feel the authorities took way too much action in this case. However, sounds like an immigrant community where not all residents may be legally in the U.S., so their not pressing charges & quick move-out suggest that they had big reasons to fear police involvement. rodgerd, I understand where you're coming from, and agree that it's awful. However, I don't think it applies in this case. I would have posted the same (crappy) post had the genders been reversed. Girls can be.
• Uh, girls can be mean, that is :o/
• good post, minda25. It's my understanding that parents are in full retreat from their duties overall - as in 5 year olds are charged with sexual assault for playing doctor and such. Homeland Security! Peace to the brown skinned democracies! uh . . safer! /gurgle
• only women should be allowed to have guns rocks. Koko - maybe they were aiming for that skeeter.
• Anyone who shoots BBs into your bottom is not your friend I learned the hard way, yes I did!
• According to this article, the girl is 13 years old, 5'0", and weighs 130 pounds. The boy she hit with the rock was 6 years old, 4'6", and weighs 68 pounds. Self-defence this aint.
• So you guys don't think I'm disappearing, I'll let you know that I gotta do some complicated stuff for the rest of the work-day, so need to sign-off. It's also Mr. Minda's birthday today, so I won't be on tonight, either. And thanks, tech & pete, for the kind words :o)
• what if you ask them to shoot BBs into your bottom? what if you pay them?
• Let he who has never overreacted before throw the first stone.
• rocket - this article says she's actually 11 and the boy is 8. kinda makes it sound like she tried to miss him, and didn't. not that throwing a rock at someone is good, but...that's...just such a child's thing to do. and if the rock is just a little bigger than you thought, and your aim is off...
• rocket88, I think you misread what happened regarding her age. That article says that the police thought she was 13 due to the language barrier. In every other case in the article she's refered to as 11 years old. In addition, that article states that the boys had thrown the rock at her first. I'm not saying this makes it self-defense, though.
• That girl has a hell of an arm to throw a rock that big. If we've learned anything here, I think it's that we should never have taught girls how to not throw like girls. Next thing you know, they'll be running with their hands moving rhythmically, rather than flapping about wildly!
• and if the rock is just a little bigger than you thought, and your aim is off... "Whoa, major shot! You even compensated for the crooked sight!"
• *loads, aims* Just say the word, sexyrobot.
• I think the girl has a pretty good defence available to her -- if this was part of a consistent campaign of bullying, and it can be shown that over time, the girl was traumatized by that campaign, it's not much of a stretch to say that that trauma led her to act out irrationally. The pressures were such that she no longer had the capacity to react in a more civil fashion. Her instinct was to simply end that bullying, and she acted according to that instinct rather than any rationalized strategy. She wouldn't be held accountable for assault, since she lacked capacity at the time of the incident. The she was bullied by six-year-olds has little to do with the legitimacy of her being spooked by these kids -- if anything, it meant that the tools available to her to resolve the situation in a more civil manner were limited, as it's probably tough for one person to rationally discuss something with a bunch of bullies all feeding off each other's energy. Throw a language barrier on top of that mix, and it becomes all that more complex. So I think she had a good chance of beating the charges. Which isn't to say that charges were merited in the first place. Violence against children is a hot-button issue with the public right now, and likely the D.A. and the associated political masters are feeling that pressure to produce convictions. They need to produce numbers for their stat sheets, and going after something like this is far easier than having to send in Children's Aid to investigate a situation of domestic abuse -- which is what those laws are more aptly applied to. The girl was wrong to throw the rock. Sure. And it could have had dangerous consequences. Yes. But she reacting poorly to social pressures. This situation could be much better addressed by looking at those pressures, and handling the incident on a scale appropriate to the act -- as a life lesson for all involved, and nothing more.
• How did she know those water balloons were filled with water (and not battery acid or bleach)? Sad... sad world we live in. "Self defense officer, I feared for my person." That said, I think she over-reacted, but 20 years ago their parents would have worked it out instead of the authorities.
• When we were very young uns, we played a funny game The game, the goal, the fun was to drive someone insane. You picked a stoopid loser And joked and poked and teased her. You'd continue unrelentless Cuz that's the sport of cruelness. --- Anyhow i remember when i was little i used to get on my big sister's case all the time. Does anyone remember Monty Python's Fish Slapping Dance? Anyhow i was the one slapping my sister with the little fishes, that is until one day boom! she hit me with the shark. From that time on, no more fish slapping on my part.
• Charges dropped.
• Everyday I see children charged with crimes arising out of activity that never would have seen a court room when I was young. I have seen someone charged for half-mooning his friend during lunch, a six year old charged with hitting a kid on a bus, countless kids charged with making threats to other kids, etc. The schools all have police in them, and the police charge the kids with crimes when they act up. The older ones wind up in regular court. The younger ones end up in juvenile court. As for comments about the girl having a defense... If this occurred where I live in North Carolina, the girl would undoubtedly be guilty. It is almost impossible to be found not guilty in juvenile court here. The attitude of the prosecutors and the judges here is that a juvenile conviction does not count as an adult conviction so it does not really harm the child to convict them. They feel that the kid obviously needs guidance or punishment if the kid was charged with a crime. Therefore, they feel that they are helping the kid by providing supervision, etc. for the kid. Actual guilt is almost entirely irrelevant.
• Me, and my friends used to shoot eachother with BBs all the times. One time, after me and my cousin got into a BB war, both our dads shot us in the ass while we tried to escape up a tree. Damn that was funny.
• they arrested Maribel for resisting arrest . . . So the police were using psychics again were they?
• Regardless of arguments about self-defense and all that, the matter is just very surreal as a whole, no? Police responded with three cars while a helicopter hovered overhead, and said they arrested Maribel for resisting arrest and scratching an officer's arm. Police described the rock as "jagged" and measuring 5.5 inches by 3.75 inches. Three cars and a copter? For a young girl throwing a rock? Oh noes! Some kid kicked another kid's shin at the local school! Quick, get a SWAT team ready!
• The award for over-reactor of the Year goes to... minda25! I jest.
• Oh that's rich!
• Sheesh, you IAEA freaks are always bugging me about my reactor.
• Anyone who shoots you in the ass with a BB isn't your dad.
• ... although he might be your "daddy".
• Heh, yo momma!
• Yo cuz . . .
• In this case it seems the criminal justice system has been twisted on all sides. To me, this should be about whether or not a felony prosecution against a child is appropriate in this instance. Maybe police were overzealous, maybe not (differing accounts). If they hadn't done anything, would there be an outcry over that? Would anyone even know or care? Why the capitulation by prosecutors? Now this has become a flapdoodle about racism and another photo op for Al Sharpton. Yes, it's always about the illegals and gang warfare, isn't it? The whole thing is so surreal and agenda-driven.
• Escalation: One Halloween when I was about 13 my buddies and I (dressed as the Lost Boys, we thought we were so cool.) got hit by eggs by some 'jocks'. So we went back to Jeff's house and he got his BB guns and we went back out. We hid in the bushes, waited not very long at all, and shot them with BB's as they ran across Francis Avenue. They were furious, but they weren't ready to approach us because, well, we had BB guns. They hollered across the street, asking us what the hell we were doing. Jeff, pumping his BB gun, said "You egged us earlier, we don't like getting egged." "Well, you shouldn't go out on Halloween if you don't like getting egged!" Jeff, still pumping that BB gun, said "Well, you shouldn't go out on Halloween if you don't like GETTING SHOT WITH BB's." I imagine the kids on Francis Ave are up to tanks and napalm by now.
• Yeah, see, this is my argument about "football culture". That is all.
• "Well, you shouldn't go out on Halloween if you don't like getting egged!" Best. Rationale. Ever.
• petebest, I'm curious to hear your argument about "football culture". *open ears*
• So am I *tightens chin strap, gets in three-point stance*
• Flapdoodle. Cynnbad said flapdoodle. That's such a wonderful word. Flapdoodle. Flapdoodle. Flapdoodle. Flapdoodle. Flapdoodle. flapdoodleflapdoodleflapdoodleflapdoodleflapdoodleflapdoodleflapdoodleflapdoodleflapdoodleflapdoodleflapdoodleflapdoodleflapdoodleflapdoodleflapdoodleflapdoodleflapdoodleflapdoodleflapdoodleflapdoodleflapdoodleflapdoodleflapdoodleflapdoodleflapdoodle That was quite satisfying.
• Gesundheit.
• Well, flap my doodle. Like whack-a-mole, it has a mesmerizing quality.
• Whack-a-mole promotes violence against moles! The game should be illegal and it's creators thrown in jail! Down with whack-a-mole!!! /overreaction ;o)
• Just trying to stir the pot. A 15-year-old boy who pinched and twisted the nipples of a 13-year-old [boy] has been sentenced to three days of community service for harassment. tittie twister