A Mountain of Bullshit in FL

Falkenhayn · Post by **Falkenhayn** » 2005-01-27 03:11pm

Students Arrested Over 'Violent' Stick Figure Drawings
Pictures Show Classmate Being Stabbed, Hung

OCALA, Fla. -- Two boys, ages 9 and 10, were charged with felonies and taken away from school in handcuffs, accused of making violent drawings of stick figures.

The boys were arrested Monday on charges of making a written threat to kill or harm another person, a second-degree felony.

The special education students used pencil and red crayon to draw primitive stick figure scenes on scrap paper that showed a 10-year-old classmate being stabbed and hung, police said.
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2 Students Charged With Felonies Over Stick Figure Drawings

"The officer found they were drawing these pictures for the sole purpose of intimidating and scaring the victim," said Ocala Police Sgt. Russ Kern.

The boy depicted in the drawings told his teacher, who took the sketches and contacted the school dean, Marty Clifford. Clifford called police, who arrested the boys after consulting with the State Attorney's Office.

They were also suspended from school.

One drawing showed the two boys standing on either side of the other boy and "holding knives pointed through" his body, according to a police report. The figures were identified by written names or initials.

Another drawing showed a stick figure hanging, tears falling from his eyes, with two other stick figures standing below him. Other pieces of scrap paper listed misspelled profanities and the initials of the boy who was allegedly threatened.

Parents of both of the arrested boys said they thought the boys should be punished by the school and families, not the legal system.

Ocala police said they stand behind the decision to arrest the children.

"When an adult or even myself look at the picture looked at it at first I was thinking there is really not much to the picture or I would not be that scared by the picture those children drew," Ocala police spokesman Russ Kearn said. "However, we have to put ourselves in his mind and that's the bottom line here. It is his well-being and the way he perceived that picture to be. It actually put him in extreme fear and he was in fear for his life."

http://www.local6.com/news/4130302/detail.html

jcow79 · Post by **jcow79** » 2005-01-27 03:13pm

Wow, I'm glad this wasn't illegal when I was a kid. (or at least no one cared enough) I used to make drawings like that all the time of my teachers.

Post by **Darth Wong** » 2005-01-27 03:44pm

It's bullying. The "target" saw the pictures, which probably means they showed the picture to him. Let's suppose you're a little kid and two bigger kids who have been tormenting you accost you and shove a picture in your face depicting them murdering you. Are you saying you would just blow it off as harmless creative expression?

jcow79 · Post by **jcow79** » 2005-01-27 03:52pm

Darth Wong wrote:It's bullying. The "target" saw the pictures, which probably means they showed the picture to him. Let's suppose you're a little kid and two bigger kids who have been tormenting you accost you and shove a picture in your face depicting them murdering you. Are you saying you would just blow it off as harmless creative expression?

Of course not. In hindsight even my drawings were moronic although I didn't show them to the teachers I drew them of. But as a young kid you don't consider these things. I think arresting these kids was a bit much. Kids just havn't learned these lessons yet at this point. When you get hauled up in front of the principle and your parents are called typically you start to realize the gravity of what you've done.

Post by **Darth Wong** » 2005-01-27 04:02pm

jcow79 wrote:
Darth Wong wrote:It's bullying. The "target" saw the pictures, which probably means they showed the picture to him. Let's suppose you're a little kid and two bigger kids who have been tormenting you accost you and shove a picture in your face depicting them murdering you. Are you saying you would just blow it off as harmless creative expression?
Of course not. In hindsight even my drawings were moronic although I didn't show them to the teachers I drew them of. But as a young kid you don't consider these things. I think arresting these kids was a bit much. Kids just havn't learned these lessons yet at this point. When you get hauled up in front of the principle and your parents are called typically you start to realize the gravity of what you've done.

How do you know they hadn't done that before? How do you know these kids don't have a long history of this sort of bullshit? News stories tend to be very superficial, after all.

jcow79 · Post by **jcow79** » 2005-01-27 04:04pm

After rereading the article and noticing the second degree felony I guess I wouldn't consider this excessive after all. I guess I'm just a bit incredulous as to how much things have changed since I was this age. It's disheartening.

Falkenhayn · Post by **Falkenhayn** » 2005-01-27 04:16pm

What differentiates this from the gradeschooler that points a chicken finger at another and says bang? Isn't the implication the same, and weren't those students merely suspended?

Post by **Darth Wong** » 2005-01-27 04:18pm

Falkenhayn wrote:What differentiates this from the gradeschooler that points a chicken finger at another and says bang? Isn't the implication the same, and weren't those students merely suspended?

That's exactly the question; we don't know all of the various circumstances that might have led to one being treated differently than the other, but you're assuming with no real evidence that there are no distinctive circumstances at all. For example, if these kids were tormenting their victim for some time, this would be the icing on the cake and would qualify as a death threat.

Wicked Pilot · Post by **Wicked Pilot** » 2005-01-27 04:20pm

Excessive punishment or not I'm not gonna lose any sleep over these bullies getting shitcanned.

Falkenhayn · Post by **Falkenhayn** » 2005-01-27 04:23pm

Darth Wong wrote:
Falkenhayn wrote:What differentiates this from the gradeschooler that points a chicken finger at another and says bang? Isn't the implication the same, and weren't those students merely suspended?
That's exactly the question; we don't know all of the various circumstances that might have led to one being treated differently than the other, but you're assuming with no real evidence that there are no distinctive circumstances at all. For example, if these kids were tormenting their victim for some time, this would be the icing on the cake and would qualify as a death threat.

Touche.

Lord Poe · Post by **Lord Poe** » 2005-01-27 06:13pm

Hope they don't close down Stick Figure Death Theatre!

+http://www.sfdt.com/