Arvada, CO Police arrest 11 yr old boy for stick figure drawing

[gunsmith]

http://www.kdvr.com/news/kdvr-arvada-police-arrest-11yearold-over-inappropriate-stick-figure-drawing-20110221,0,7099823.story

What the heck is going on in schools/police depts these days?
This kid simply drew a a freaking picture, almost all 11 yr old boys are interested in horror stories/war stories etc.

He has now learned you can not trust police and teachers. ... Good job Arvada PD

[roo_ster]

http://www.kdvr.com/news/kdvr-arvada-police-arrest-11yearold-over-inappropriate-stick-figure-drawing-20110221,0,7099823.story

Kid diagnosed by psychiatrist with ADD.

Shrink tells kiddo to draw out his frustrations on paper rather than disrupt the classroom when he gets anxious, upset, unable to concentrate, etc.

At his assigned gov't school, kiddo was mad at his teacher and instead of making a scene, he drew a stick figure drawing with the topic, "Teachers must die."

He got it out of his system, and was throwing it away when the teacher intercepted him at the garbage can, saw it, & sent him to the principal.  Principal talks to him, sends him back to class & calls parents.

Gov't school critters decide they want to press charges & police come in the evening, arrest the 11YO, take him to jail, book him, and do not let him see any family.

The charges?  "Interfering with staff and students at an educational facility"


1. I wonder, does BHO get charged similarly whenever he has a photo op at a school?

2. I would not be likely to take such treatment of my child well.  I do suspect I would take it very, very personally and note each and every person involved.

3. Reason number 9825 I spend the $$$ to send my kids to private school.

[TommyGunn]

 


Words fail me ... ... ... ... ...


Here, try THIS:

[PTK]

Par for the course in Colorado.

[BlueStarLizzard]

http://www.kdvr.com/news/kdvr-arvada-police-arrest-11yearold-over-inappropriate-stick-figure-drawing-20110221,0,7099823.story

What the heck is going on in schools/police depts these days?
This kid simply drew a a freaking picture, almost all 11 yr old boys are interested in horror stories/war stories etc.

He has now learned you can not trust police and teachers. ... Good job Arvada PD

It wasn't horrer/war stories it was a stick figure pointing a gun at four other stick figures captioned 'teacher must die'.

Had I been teacher I would have had a major case of the willies myself.

This could have been handled much better. pull the kid into a confrence room and make him sit, call parents, and if their to namby pamby to do it themselves, have an officer do a quick once over of the kids locker to make sure no actual weapons are present.

But that drawing, I think, does warrent some attention.

[BlueStarLizzard]

Wow, you were three seconds behind gunsmith, rooster 

[gunsmith]

Sure, a stern talking to is warranted, its a gruesome picture - as a little boy me and my friends were pretty much the same way, except it was the 60's and you could bring knives to school, we made zip guns, got into fights, and drew violent  stuff to the best of our limited abilities. Some of those kids are now cops and doctors, some are in jail too I guess.  In this case a boy has learned that cops/teachers will imprison you for expressing yourself with a pencil/paper.
Disgusting fascist behavior.

[BlueStarLizzard]

In the 60's teachers hadn't been overwelmed by media coverage of kids shooting up schools and other teachers, either.

I really can't blame her/him for freeking out 

[gunsmith]

I got in trouble once for an essay about killing goldfish, ( I was eleven too) the teacher was preoccupied and told the class to write an essay about any subject so I raised my hand and asked if a paper on killing goldfish was acceptable- she wasn't even listening and said "sure whatever just write". ( i was basically trying to make a joke )

I got in trouble for it but not arrested - all that happened was they called me into the office & told my parents.
I stood my ground though because I felt that the teacher gave me permission. These days that would me a trip to the loony bin. ( if I was a kid in school )

The teacher/cops are morons.

[BlueStarLizzard]

Funny side note: in college I wrote a very short poem about a goldfish swimming in tequlia. My creative writing prof was over the moon about it. Thought it was great.

You write about killing goldfish and get in trouble, I write about a drunk goldfish and get praised. 

You gotta write for your audiance 

[Sindawe]

It wasn't horrer/war stories it was a stick figure pointing a gun at four other stick figures captioned 'teacher must die'.

I guess school kids no longer learn to sing The Burning of the School. 

[Phyphor]

I used to draw guns and violent scenes in school.  I've got no felony convictions, nor have I gone out and done something violent.  This just seems like more of that zero tolerance bullshit we're getting fed on a constant basis these days.  If the kid's showing problems, talk with his parents, you might be able to help him.  Getting the cops involved isn't the way to do this, hell I'd think it'd be more likely to [i[trigger[/i] a hostile response.

[HankB]

From reading the story I have to wonder . . . are the police or staff at the school deliberately trying to provoke some kind of a violent response with this type of insanity? The charge itself -
"Interfering with staff and students at an educational facility" - when the kid was throwing away his scribble is so patently bogus it's not even funny. 

A few of the numerous lessons to be drawn from this . . .

a) don't talk to cops if they show up to question you or your family;
b) cops DON'T enter your home without presentation of a valid warrant.

[vaskidmark]

And the kid gets his college education funded early.

Talk about violation of rights!  Yes, boys and girls in the PD and school system, there are certain rules for dealing with kiddies that are just a weensy bit different from handling those over the legal age of majority (think 18th birthday).  Let's just begin with the one that says kids cannot give up their rights to be silent and have an attorney present during any custodial questioning  and must have their parents do that for them - or get a court order appointing a Guardian ad Litem to do it.

If, as it seems, the school is saying the kid has ADD and acted out because of the ADD, then bringing the charge violates the Americans with Disabilities Act and PL I-forget-the-number that governs special education services.  Lord only knows what state laws regarding education and disabilities were also trampled.

While I know, intellectually, that most of the time kids to not get the JBT treatment it seems to me that there are more and more stories going public where the screw-ups are massive.  Are the number of incidents increasing or is it just that they are being covered more by the press?  Either way there are lots of folks who are losing their confidence in the public edukashun system.

As for the "interfering" charge - I'd really like to see the criminal complaint that explains just perzakly how his drawing interfered with anybody.

stay safe.

[roo_ster]

Wow, you were three seconds behind gunsmith, rooster 

Great minds & all that.  gunsmith's mind is just that much quicker, it seems.

From reading the story I have to wonder . . . are the police or staff at the school deliberately trying to provoke some kind of a violent response with this type of insanity?

I gotta wonder, too. 

Folks do not take well to having their kiddos treated this way for this sort of thing.  I know little about this family except that they have the dollars for and can afford a gen-u-ine psychiatrist to help treat their kiddo.  In that, the school folks are likely lucky in that vengance will be taken out of the taxpayers' pockets rather than their own damnfool hides.  In some parts of the country I have lived, where they are not quite as refined as to "keep it in the courts," these teachers & administrators would likely have to move elsewhere.

[MicroBalrog]

This comes to mind.

[Hawkmoon]

At his assigned gov't school, kiddo was mad at his teacher and instead of making a scene, he drew a stick figure drawing with the topic, "Teachers must die."

I'm still trying to figure out when, why and how making statements of fact became equivalent to issuing threats. He didn't write, "I'm going to kill ___." He made a statement.

There was a time when truth was an affirmative defense. I want to sit on the kid's jury.

[cassandra and sara's daddy]

wonder who made the call to press charges.  bet the cya is pretty frantic right now

[Jamisjockey]

The other thread beat you by 3 minutes.  Topics merged.

[Stetson]

I live in JeffCo now and the CYA scramble is hilarious.

Right now the school won't even talk to the media.

The kid is back in a different school and doing well, although he is in probation.  I listened to a radio program about the questionaire the kid had to fill out with his parents.
I wouldn't have done it.  I'd have gotten a lawyer and be working on paying for my childs education.

The Arvada PD still can't explain why they a) took the kid off in handcuffs in a cruiser, b) told the parents to wait 40 mins and then come to the station (turned out to be not where they took him) and c) making the parents wait over night to be able to see him ("After he was processed")

[cassandra and sara's daddy]

oh my!  how can i screw the pooch?  let me count the ways

[Gowen]

All .gov/.state/.county/.city officials which includes teachers have become a protected class.  They are the new American royalty.  The President is the king, all other officials have become his dukes, earls, barons on down to knights which are his enforcers of the will of the new royalty.  You may not threaten the royals, you may not speak ill of the royals or they will come after you and yours.  Beware serfs.... now pay your taxes.

[Balog]

So what did they do with the kid while holding overnight? Throw him in the drunk tank? Solitary confinement for his own safety?

[Stetson]

He was in a psych holding area by himself

[Scout26]

Holy crap, me and my friends would have been sent up the river for good. 

Every picture we drew had the school being strafed by aircraft (with lots of ugly guns and missles on them), shot up by tanks and when we got real creative (we were in Indianapolis), getting blown up by battleships.


Like this:
http://www.gocomics.com/calvinandhobbes/2009/12/20/

I hope Bill Watterson is at an "Undisclosed Location".....