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My
kids know the difference. Of course that's b/c I made sure they knew. Well they
always knew the difference between toys and the real thing, I just made sure
they realized the real ones weren't toys too. In fact my son is going deer
hunting with my father in law here in a few weeks and he might get his own gun
to use.
I played with toy guns all my
childhood. Even had a real one from the time I was 8. I always
knew the difference between a toy and the real thing. Kids must be
stupid today too since people think they won't know the
difference.
Charles
Mims
Funny thing...years ago when
westerns were so popular, you never heard a word about kids playing with toy
guns.
Parents nowadays are so damn
ridiculous!
----- Original Message -----
Sent: Wednesday, October 29, 2003 7:54
AM
Subject: RE: [Sndbox] This is
absolutely ludicrous
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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