Arvada boy, 11, arrested over violent stick figure drawing

The mother should not have let the cops in. How about an arrest warrant be displayed first? Just a little overreaction by the school IMO.

For information sake only, I believe this happened last October, and only now some of the local media are bringing it up. The police definitely over reacted and the boy was put in a mental ward in the Springs for a 72 hour hold. He was given a probation and according to an interview of the father, the parents are not thinking of suing anyone, just want answers. They seemed to know that it was wrong, but the boy has ADD, and by the way is adopted and cared very much for.

The bigger picture here is the way law enforcement and the local court system is now turning to 8-13 year olds for their latest "customer base".

After charging an 82 year old man for defending his property - arresting half the night life crowd in Evergreen - and charging 13 year old boys playing with air-soft guns with a deadly weapon charge, the Wheatridge, Lakewood and Jeffco law enforcement and court system are running short of ideas to keep the business coming in.

They do everything they can to keep many officers busy by ticketing everyday commuters with 150 dollar tickets for going 5-10 miles over the speed limit - even to the extent of ticketing blue haired old ladies.

The latest game - as far as I can tell, is to get the schools involved with a whole new customer base - our kids. This kid was drawing a stick figure to himself - and on the way out of the classroom he dropped it in the waste can. No one was disturbed during the class. The teacher saw the kid throw away the drawing and retrieved it from the trash - and made enough of a stink about it that the police were called.

The police showed up at the kids house and put him in handcuffs - hauled him off to jail for interrogation and then shipped him to Colorado Springs for a 3 day evaluation. Now he is being charged for "interference of a teacher's duties" - or some sh** like that.

This kid will now have a record that will follow him throughout his school years - and unless it is expunged from his record his applications to other schools and even future employers will discover this.

If I had young kids - I would instruct them to not say a word to anyone - don't talk to the school officials- don't talk to the police or any court official without a parent and a attorney persent. It's plain to see that they are now targeting our kids. The schools and local governments are quickly becoming more dangerous for our kids to be around than any other threat.

As law enforcement and our local government becomes more desperate for new customers to feed into the "system" - we will hear more and more stories like this one.

So unless you want your kid to fall prey to this - warn them. make them aware that this kind of stuff will be going on - make sure they know their rights - and make sure they call you first before they talk to anyone, especially the cops.

Beware of your local government - it's not just YOU they are after any more.

I would hire an attorney to fight this charge if it were my kid- and than another attorney to sue the government for damages.

If I had young kids - I would instruct them to not say a word to anyone - don't talk to the school officials- don't talk to the police or any court official without a parent and a attorney persent. It's plain to see that they are now targeting our kids. The schools and local governments are quickly becoming more dangerous for our kids to be around than any other threat.

I agree with you completely on this Bear; however I will tell you that I did exactly this 20 years ago when my kids were in elementary school. I told my kids the did not have to talk to the so-called "school counselor". I also told the school that if my kids were called into the office for any reason, I was to be called too. I was politically active in the community and trust me, the local school district and in particular, the District Superintendent, didn't like me (I was co-owner of an underground newspaper that constantlly scooped the local news AND we were exposing financial fraud in the school district). Unfortunatley, when I gave the school those instructions, they twisted it around and asked me if I had something to hide that I didn't want my kids talking about at school. They also tried to make me believe I was "the only parent with this concern". Love that "isolation theory"...anyone else ever made feel that way when you bring a concern up to a school administrator or teacher?? It's educators favorite trick. Anyway, long story short, I pulled my kids out of public schools.

So be careful if you have those kinds of conversations in the school.

I did tell my kids to be careful about what they talk about at school. I too pulled my kids from public schools especially the middle school years. The over reaction and treating children as adults makes no sense. We are adults and children look to us for direction.

Teaching system needs to grow up.

http://abcnews.go.com/TheLaw/story?id=3758286&page=1

This dumbest thing I have ever seen a school spend time on.

""She was at home making toast and she looked up, saw the clock, and said, "Oh I'm going to be late," her stepfather, Steven Heinz, explained to ABC News' Law & Justice Unit.

"She ran out the door and locked herself out with the butter knife still in her hand."

"Now, she could have rang the doorbell and got us up and left the butter knife at home," Heinz said.

_________________________________________


Bailey acknowledged Amber's clean disciplinary record — beyond a minor uniform infraction. "Despite the fact that the student was an exceptional student, this has nothing to do with how good she was in the classroom. She was in possession of a knife."

The school day after my father's memorial service, my youngest who has ADHD was trying to understand what had been taught the previous school day in math and after being told by students and the teacher to shut up and sit down got real frustrated. He put his head down on his desk, so as not to act out or become vocal and the kid sitting behind him put chewed gum in his hair... So he got angry and punched the kid in the face...which he realized was the wrong thing to do. Anyways, he was suspended from school for 3 days while the other kid received no punishment. OK...what my son did was wrong; however, it was also wrong for the school not to call me and tell me about this incident and that my 14 year old son was being sent home from school and was suspended for 3 days.

About 6 weeks later, I was told by several people, including both of my sons, that this same son had been physically searched by the local police as there was a random dog search in the school and for some reason they believed he needed to be searched. A minor is not allowed to be searched by anyone in authority, especially a cop, without their parents' consent.

So, I sent a letter to the principal of the high school, with courtesy copies going to the school board and the superintendent, citing their own rules. The principal refused to return my calls or respond in any fashion so one day when my mom and I were at the school for another reason, we cornered the principal and asked her why she was not following the rules. Her excuses ran from I don't have time because I'm the Principal, Vice Principal, attendance police, etc., etc., etc., to showing me a security video taken several weeks prior possibly showing my son harming another student (he didn't and the video couldn't prove anything, but she had to show me to thrown me off balance); to saying she didn't have time to read and review all the school rules. When I complained about the search by the police officer, she first told me that it didn't happen; then when she was contradicted not only by several students but by her own administrative assistant, that it did happen but she didn't have to get my permission; then that she did contact me and left a message on my machine at home (which was a bald-faced lie); then finally she said "Well, then I guess I'll have to contact every parent whose children are searched! (very indignantly, like I was making her do something that wasn't her job). My response was, "Well, that is your job and so do it."

Anyways...for the rest of the time my children were in this school, she played by the rules with me. From what I understand, she only does that with parents who call her out.

The schools these days have gone way, way overboard when it comes to "protecting" themselves, their teachers, and the students. Unfortunately, common sense cannot be taught nor is it that common anymore.

http://www.kdvr.com/news/kdvr-arvada-re ... 8033.story

ARVADA, Colo. -- The City of Arvada is defending the arrest of an 11-year-old boy for a stick figure drawing that was deemed to be a threat to teachers, saying public outrage over the case is based on incomplete information.

Those who think that they are "authorities" will never back down once they have made a mistake. They feel that it demeans them in the eyes of the public.

This whole story sucks. I'm so tired of others policing every minor action all in under the guise of protecting the innocent. Along the way they have lost sight of reality. My take is that they focus on the easy marks and neglect to channel sufficient energy into the true offenders. UGH!!!

“However, there is background in this case that cannot be publicly discussed because the information regarding this juvenile is protected information and by law, we cannot release these facts.“

“Here in Colorado we have experienced numerous school shootings including Columbine High School, Platte Canyon High School, Youth With A Mission, Deer Creek Middle School, and a host of school shootings across the country. Some of these shootings have been perpetrated by juveniles as young as 11 years of age,” the city said.

“We must apply the lessons learned from these school shootings and take the necessary and appropriate steps to prevent another tragedy from occurring by taking all such threats seriously, thoroughly investigating them, and ensuring intervention takes place as early as possible.”

A couple of pertinent snips from the article CG cited.