Yes,
lets prosecute 9 y/o kids for playing with a toy when there are much more
dangerous criminals on the streets. But we can sleep well knowing that kids
won't hurt anyone with his toy gun.
9-year-old arrested for waving toy gun
|
MICHAEL C. FITZPATRICK ,
Morning Journal Writer |
10/28/2003 |
|
LORAIN -- A 9-year-old boy was arrested at gunpoint and
handcuffed Saturday because he was waving a toy gun over his head while
seated on a bench outside a store, according to a Lorain police report.
His mother, Tamyka Saunders of Sheffield Lake, said
her son, Thomas Clark Jr., told Lorain police when they approached him
outside a Broadway business that the gun was a toy. An officer aimed his
weapon at the boy's head, ordered him to the ground, handcuffed him and
arrested him for juvenile delinquency by reason of inducing panic,
according to the police report.
Saunders, 28, was also charged
with obstruction of justice and resisting arrest when she pleaded with
police not to arrest her son and to give him a warning, according to a
police report.
''He doesn't deserve this. He is not a bad kid at
all. That's what I was trying to explain to the officer. It's just not
fair,'' Saunders said.
Saunders was getting her hair done at the
Northern Institute of Cosmetology on Broadway near Seventh Street when
the incident began.
Saunders said she and her son were spending
the day together . Saunders said her son got his hair cut first, and
then he went outside to play while waiting on her.
A passer-by
who saw the boy playing just before noon with a gun -- described by
police as a black plastic toy gun -- called police, who responded to the
scene and found the boy ''waving what appeared to be a black handgun
above his head,'' according to a police report. The report said the gun
was spray painted black and resembled a genuine gun.
At that
point, Officer Joe Novosielski confronted the boy at gunpoint, ordering
him to drop the gun and then lie on the ground, the report
said.
Thomas, who his mother said has been diagnosed with
attention deficit disorder, said he was frightened by the
incident.
Lorain police said Novosielski handled the situation
properly.
''Obviously, someone got scared and called the police.
Nobody driving down the street could tell it was a toy gun, so that's
where the panic comes in. We charge that to anyone doing that,'' Lt.
Robert Poli said.
''We're not going to tolerate anyone walking
down the street, sitting on a bench ... if he's waving a gun around,''
Poli said. ''You don't know it's a toy gun.''
Saunders said
police were not even going to come inside the cosmetology institute to
tell her they were arresting her son. She said she learned from another
woman her son was being arrested.
Saunders, wearing curlers in
her hair, said she raced out to the police car to attempt to intervene
on her son's behalf.
''He (Novosielski) snatched me by the arm
and cuffed me. People were just walking down the street shaking their
heads. I did not cuss at him, and I did not yell at him, because I'm not
that type of person. I feel I'm the one that was disrespected,''
Saunders said of her arrest.
When informed her son was being
arrested, Saunders attempted to pull her son away from the officer but
moved away when told to, according to the report.
Police said
Saunders pleaded with them not to arrest her son and to ''just give him
a warning,'' according to the report. She also told police her son ''was
just playing'' and that he didn't point the gun at anyone before asking
police, ''Don't you have anything better to do?''
Saunders was
eventually arrested after refusing to move away from the cruiser where
her son had been placed, the report said. The officer told her to finish
her business at the beauty salon and then come to the station to pick up
her son, according to the report.
She is free on $750 bond and is
scheduled to appear in Lorain Municipal Court today. The report of
Thomas' arrest was forwarded to the juvenile court system, according to
the police report.
Lorain County Prosecutor's Office spokesman
Mark Hastings said the report had not been received yet.
|
ŠThe Morning
Journal 2003
|
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