by TChris
A Sheriff's deputy in Pasco County, Florida arrested a nine year old girl after he found a rabbit in her home that she took from a neighbor. Presumably concerned about "officer safety," the deputy handcuffed the girl, then transported her in his squad car to the police department for questioning.
A Sheriff's spokesperson claimed that the deputy had no choice but to act after the neighbor reported the crime. A local public defender disagrees that an arrest was required, explaining that the deputy could have referred charges to the state's attorney without taking the girl into custody.
The sheriff's department asserts that these heavy-handed tactics teach children to respect the law. Perhaps the girl will learn not to confuse her neighbor's rabbit with the Easter bunny, but there is little to respect in the deputy's actions.
"I think this is a little unusual to say the very least," Cecka Green of Voices for Florida's Children said. "To treat children as hardened criminals, when back in the old days that may have just been seen as mischief that could have been handled by the parents, can contribute to some problems with our kids in this society."
The lesson that is likely to stick with the little girl? The deputy who arrested her was a jerk.
Posted Friday :: April 09, 2004 | TrackBack"He put one handcuff on me really tight," she said Thursday. In the patrol car, "He just stared at me in the mirror."
Yeah, Patrick. The story left out the bit about the twelve clips the nine-year-old burned through in the shootout with the cop.
Posted by: Thud on April 9, 2004 09:00 AMWell, CNN is reporting "Lori Ventura, the mother of the child who owns the rabbit, said the girl has been involved in other incidents and needs help."
But I still can't think of any reason why the deputy would have needed to respond in this way. The handcuffs are over the top. I wonder how much of what all that means that a nine year-old could really absorb anyway.
Posted by: Reagan on April 9, 2004 09:03 AMWell, you did leave out the part of stealing the money. That would make the story a little less sympathetic and take away the obvious point TL is trying to make regarding overzealous police.
I mean, haven't we all ever wandered into a neighbors house and stolen a pet and money before?
Posted by: jeff on April 9, 2004 09:05 AMSounds like bunny-terrorism to me. She'll probably end up in Guantanamo.
Posted by: on April 9, 2004 09:08 AMWhy should left wing news print any
facts at all? Just their spin is
fine with poor misguided
liberals. Wake up left and get
with the program.
Two words to describe the punishment she got: cruel and unusual
Posted by: Hlvictoria on April 9, 2004 09:10 AMUm, yeah. Okay. Sure. All that "left" stuff. Meaningless drivel from a closed mind.
Wiser heads realize that a story like this is going to provoke a visceral reaction from a lot of people who have no more facts to work with than are given in the reprinted article. Wiser heads would point out that a cursory examination of any right-wing web site will find articles that are distorted and are followed up with numerous reactionary comments.
Wiser heads might say something else, something to do with beams and motes and other assorted ocular deficiencies.
The story lacks substance. Sounds outrageous on the face of it. Ultimately, it is not important enough to waste time researching it.
Posted by: dean on April 9, 2004 09:41 AMI don't care if she stole a tv, the girl is 9 yrs. old for christs sake!!!
If we, as a society, can't handle a 9 year old petty thief without handcuffs, maybe we aren't so civilized after all. The sheriff thinks it encourages respect for law and order, I think it encourages disdain for police. Crap like this is why I will never call a cop to handle a problem for me. The neighbor deserves some blame here as well. Did she even try to handle this with the girl's mother civilly? We have become a nation of snitches and crybabies. "That little girl stole my rabbit...wah wah wah...lock her up...wah wah wah...I need justice." Give me a break.
That nine year old girl needed to be in handcuffs. After all, she could grow up to be a 3,481 pound Arab terrorist!
Posted by: Jason on April 9, 2004 10:05 AMCan police interrogate minors without a guardian or lawyer present? I was under the impression that reading her rights wouldn't cut it since she's too young to understand the implications. Or do I have it totally wrong?
Posted by: kherr on April 9, 2004 10:09 AMWhen I was growing up my parents would have paddled the h*ll out of me and made me apologize to the neighbor.
Several parents I knew called the cops and had their own kids taken down for a good scare. Must have worked - they're all lawyers today. :-)
-C
Posted by: Cliff on April 9, 2004 10:25 AMI don't believe in scaring children, except in self-defense.
Posted by: Dark Avenger on April 9, 2004 11:29 AMI much prefer a handcuffing and a scare to juvenal detention.
Posted by: james on April 9, 2004 11:47 AMIt sounds like this girl learned an important lesson- the cops tend to be jerks!
Posted by: Roger on April 9, 2004 12:54 PMShe broke into a neighbor's house, stole their pet, stole some money and... now she's a victim because she was arrested? Please....
Posted by: Aaron on April 9, 2004 01:03 PMDark - I'm guessing you don't have kids. Scaring kids helps keep them safe - parking lots, strangers, etc....
-C
Posted by: Cliff on April 9, 2004 02:02 PMWhether you believe in using scare tactics or not, it shouldn't be a cops job to do that. It should be the parents.
Posted by: Patrick on April 9, 2004 02:15 PMAaron,
The point isn't that what she did was right, it certainly wasn't. The point is that the way the police apparently treated her doesn't square with 1)what she did and 2)her age
Posted by: Reagan on April 9, 2004 04:17 PMShe's just a lil' 'un, but old enough to know better than to steal, and steal a pet no less.
Even all she remembers from the incident is the law enforcement official had burr under his saddle, then lesson learned, 'cause she will remember that law enforcement officials can be ornery, which is a deterent to someone who isn't a cyote, but is contemplentin' a crime.
Posted by: BigTex on April 9, 2004 05:25 PM
Peggy Noonan is going to write a story about a bunny named Elian.
He kept looking at her in the mirror? I'll just bet he did. Some of these nine year-olds are pretty hot in handcuffs, dont'cha know.
Posted by: Jim Heim on April 9, 2004 06:23 PMWhile competent police work clearly demands a certain degree of judgement and maturity, some cops--usually the ones that make the news--are lacking in that respect.
This should be obvious to anyone with two brain cells to click together. Which apparently lets out Robert.
The days of community policing are fading away. Not to invoke Mayberry or anything, but you don't tend to meet the police in person in your neighborhood, unless you are being charged with a crime.
They rarely even get out of their cars except in response to a call.
If this cop had been familiar with the child, he could have taken her and the bunny back to the neighbor and made her apologize. Kid screws up, is taught a lesson, learns or doesn't learn from the experience, realizes that people are watching her actions, and that someone cares enough to give her another chance, life goes on.
What did this child learn? And who among you has not been a child, making childish decisions?
Posted by: letharjk on April 9, 2004 07:40 PMI would prefer that children learn to dodge folly, without backing into fear.
Posted by: Dark Avenger on April 9, 2004 11:55 PM>Can police interrogate minors >without a guardian or lawyer >present? I was under the impression >that reading her rights wouldn't cut >it since she's too young to >understand the implications. Or do I >have it totally wrong?
Posted by: kherr on April 9, 2004 10:09 AM
Sure they can. Just ask my kid, when he was accussed of dinging another car in a mall parking lot. Of course, they never let us see the other car, and the pro-choice bumper sticker on the car had nothing to do with it, not at all.
Posted by: Eva Whitley on April 12, 2004 05:59 PMThe kid wasn't as inocent as she was made out be(The process is called leveling and sharpening if your intested)but this was way over the top.
Wether the kid was damaged by the whole buisness rather depends on the kid. I can't help hoping she beacame the Hero of the Palyground and was invited to become part of the Cool Gang on the basis but that's the Eternal Rebel in Me
dmsherwood53@hotmail.com
This smells distinctly like one of those, "There's more to the story cases."
Posted by: Patrick on April 9, 2004 08:51 AM