JokersWild24

Juveniles there is a finding then a subsequent punishment phase that's awhile after it (making an appeal tough, and some other things that happen if there's a failed appeal that make it worse on him). Still awaiting what the punishment is, and could completely be a scare tactic, but I'm not sure it's the most fair one. Not really familiar with what would happen to him if he did go to a juvenile facility, but anything outside of a closely monitored unit and it'd be like throwing a dolphin into a tank of sharks, I couldn't imagine him going into regular juvy.

True, but I'm not sure hitting the kid with that charge is "making him take responsibility", per se. At least to me, based on what I've read from a couple of places about this whole thing, and then seeing what SROs are doing (which seems to be a fairly large epidemic in Virginia), I think there's at least some debate to be had on it. I was probably wrong for saying the officer had "no sense", but I still can't help but feel that this could have been handled a much better way.

Allegedly team reps had to go looking for him before a game and that he was pretty sauced when they found him. The team source said he was "drunk off his...". This was supposedly the game where he missed the team's departure or something like that and wasn't on the sideline, and that was the reason. Cleveland Browns quarterback Johnny Manziel struggled with commitment, preparation, sources said

Don't work in psychiatry, but I've witnessed them first hand. Once per or every other week I did Legal Aide at a homeless shelter, and I was there for two years. As you could imagine, I've dealt with adults who have some very serious issues going on. I've also never had a situation where I was assaulted or anything like that because I think your training, your own personal understanding, and patience are better tools than just threatening them with security. To be clear, this was a place where people were patted down for needles before coming in and where there have definitely been uncomfortable situations. I've sat one on one in a room with people who've killed, people who've been convicted of rape, etc. with nothing but a pen and legal pad. I think a large part of the reason why I was so successful there is because using force (whether it be me, calling security, whatever), was something I would only do as a last resort because, as you said, desperate times call for desperate measures.

Definitely so. My whole problem with this is making the kid a felon. You can tell from the interview that he's a pretty feeble child and that given his comments in the interview, he probably doesn't have the greatest understanding of all that was going on. I think this was a situation where there were lots of things at play, but I don't know how just labeling him a felon and shipping him off to juvy is really going to help anything at all. What it does do is get rid of a headache for the teacher and the SRO, but sorry, I think that's part of the job they singed up for. It just seems like there has to be a better solution than that, but it's kind of the prison industrial complex society that we are living in. If they send him off to juvy, they might as well just go ahead and sign him up to share an apartment with a registered sex offender, because that kid won't last in a juvy situation, IMO.

Woooohhhooooo. Can't wait to see him back and hungry next season. People who aren't familiar with kids like this who play at smaller schools in areas like EKY might not take him seriously, but they should do so at their own risk. Kid can play, and I'm usually someone who is especially hard on mountain kids, so it's not a homer compliment that I'm throwing around. What camp was this at?

Understand the bolded. To the second part, I have sincere doubts about that (i.e., what really putting the kid in the system and sticking him with a felony would do), but who knows. Glad the measly 11 year old in the picture didn't injure the officer, or that if he did that the guy gets to be a SRO, because I don't know how I'd feel if I had him trying to deal with adults when he can't handle children without getting hurt. I think "resisting arrest" or something similar would have been fine for even more reinforcement.

If I wanted to just bash police officers, there are plenty of other things in the news this week that I could have used (South Carolina incident, Thabo Sefelosha, etc.). Point taken though.

He'd arrested the child twice. Probably should have learned the first time then, if not the school failed him. Regardless, I think it'd be fairly obvious that it was a special needs classroom once you were inside.

And that's my point. Schools shouldn't be militarized zones where children are being hit with felonies because someone who is working with them doesn't understand them.

This was also the second time this officer arrested the child in question.

Well, when the police department releases a statement that there are no reports of the incident two days afterward, then they come up with one once it blows up, that's kind of on them in a way as well. Kind of glossing over that part of it.

That's true, but there's still not enough credit given to Cal for what he's able to do when other coaches get talent and they can't maintain their draft status and/or their guys are out of the pros quicker.

My point with this is that in most States, the statute on felony assault on an officer is usually littered with language about inflicting serious bodily injury, trying to take an officer's weapon, at least leaving some visible injuries past a scrape. That's my problem here. My apologies if I think the SRO is a little overzealous in saying that an autistic 11 year old with some obvious developmental disabilities hurt him when he jerked away from him as he was being grabbed (most autistic children are very sensitive to touch and that is an obvious thing that will set them off). I do agree that there are more people than just the SRO who have failed the kid in some ways, but the DA made their decision on what to charge based on his report, it's not like the DA calls up the Defendant and asks them their side before going further. Either way, the article and others show that this kind of thing is a pretty common occurrence in Virginia. I generally wouldn't advise that people in situations like these go run to the media when they are dead wrong, that's usually a horrible idea because people start poking holes in your story if there are any. In this case, it's probably more like they felt like it was all they could do.

I didn't call him an idiot... I said he had no sense. And I think the article's mention of some of the Judge's comments kind of reflect that he really doesn't have a good idea of it either. The family has some obstacles in their way for an appeal because of the nature of the process, otherwise they'd have done so, and another Judge probably doesn't share that view... but I'm sure everyone probably knew that already.

SRO probably says he can't. He's probably an expert in early childhood autism and knew how to deal with kid. Sorry if I think charging the kid with 'disorderly conduct', much less felonious assault on an officer in this situation. Before he went to court, before this was reviewed by a DA, it was the officer's word and what he charged him with. Do you think the DA looked at the charge he presented and then upgraded it because they thought that was the thing to do? Sorry if I find the whole situation ridiculous and outrageous.

I'll do it if it isn't Yahoo!. I always forget to check Yahoo! and have to look up my password hundreds of times in a season.

Then check your sources.

If it's the bolded, then better hope your kindergartener doesn't break the teacher's stapler or something. He'll be like the four year old mentioned in the article that an SRO felt the need to handcuff.

There are plenty of articles being written about it, and with good reason. Yes, the officer arrested the student twice. It's fine that I don't get to decide who works in schools, but I hope to be in a situation where I don't have to send my kids to them either if I don't want to.

And this is the second time that officer had arrested him. The first time was "disorderly conduct" for kicking a trash can. Sorry if I don't want someone like that "protecting" kids at school, much less ones that children with exceptional needs like autism have. The Judge in this case was also quoted saying that the 11 year old who was facing a felony was "handled with kid gloves" if that gives you a glimpse into him.

Thanks. I understand that, trust me, I do. The point I've been making is that it's a bit of a stacked deck. Officer's word versus those of a kid with communication disorders. I didn't make excuses for the attorney, I offered a possible reason why.

I should have titled it "Cop with Exceptionally Good Judgment Charges Autistic 11 Year Old With Felony Assault". Legitimately, do you think it was a good decision on his behalf to charge what he did?

I'm glad he has more offers so I can just go ahead and say this: "who has Samford NOT offered"? If I'm a coach, I would really restrict my player's access to them unless I thought they were legitimately willing to honor an acceptance.

Don't matter to Thabo, officer probably doesn't have insurance and won't be able to pay out what he will probably owe on the injury. Good luck collecting what you could get out of it on the guy's salary. Department will probably settle out of court, so he'll have to get his payday there, then we'll have people talking about money hungry attorneys and "thousands of officers do their jobs right and no one writes stories about them" from the BGP faithful, plus a few people saying, "but... the DA". Well, except that this guy doesn't have to be greedy and has his own money, he'd just like his leg not to be broken. Moral of the story: officer broke a guy's leg, takes him to jail and it isn't treated overnight. Leg probably could have been treated and the injury wouldn't be as bad if it'd been taken care of properly. Just turns out that this guy was someone who could afford a good lawyer... whoops. I really doubt that the NBAPA would be getting involved if there weren't something to this.