City cops defend arresting children
There's not a lot of sympathy out there for the three kids, ages 7, 8 and 11, who were put in handcuffs in North Baltimore on Friday after their neighbor called police on them for stealing bicycle parts from his yard.
I talked with 8-year-old Ayiza Massey's mother, Toya Goodson, who said her son readily admits to taking a scooter from a block away from his house on Falls Road in Medfield. She said her son joined older kids and quickly admitted he was wrong.
She questions whether it was necessary or right to place such young children in handcuffs, put them in the back of a police wagon and send them to jail, where they spent two hours in custody before they were released without charges to their parents.
Goodson said she has punished her son by grounding him and making him apologize in person to the man and in writing. "I'm not raising my son to steal," she told me. "But he's still a child and we've all done things that we thought we culd get away with. Our jobs as parents is to teach them. I have no problem with disciplinary action. But I think this could've been handled differently."
Baltimore police spokesman Anthony Guglielmi disagreed. He told me that police have little discretion especially when a group of kids have admitted to theft and the victim demands action. "He got a taste of the criminal justice system," Guglielmi said. "At the end of the day, the police officer didn't do anything wrong and I think these kids learned a valuable lesson."
Two years ago, Mayor Sheila Dixon criticized the arrest of a 7-year-old boy who had been sitting on a dirt bike. The city officer saw him riding along the sidewalk, but Guglielmi said that case was different because the arrest was made by a sergeant who responded to the house after the boy's mother had complained about police conduct, raising the possibility that the arrest was retaliatory.
"Things leading up to that arrest were very different," Gugliemi said.
The parents of the child arrested in that incident have filed a $40 million lawsuit against the city that is still pending.
Comments
You break the law, commit the crime, you are arrested. It drives me nuts to think that those jokers are suing the city for their son breaking the law. I don't care what age the kid was, maybe he wont do it again.
Posted by: Jason | July 21, 2009 1:14 PM
@Jason, so... you admit that you are nuts and that you "don't care" about kids ?
I'll sleep better knowing that the streets were safe for almost three hours from 7 year old kids stealing bike parts.
Certainly, there are better ways to handle this.
I don't think however that a lawsuit is the answer to creating common sense here (and I doubt it goes past the first hearing)
Posted by: Dave T | July 21, 2009 3:00 PM
According to MD Casesearch, Ms. Goodson was arrested for theft in 2007 only to have the charge later dropped. It looks like the apple doesn't fall far from the tree.
Posted by: MCG | July 21, 2009 5:16 PM
Why was an 8 year old child unsupervised for a period of time that allowed him to commit a crime? That's bad enough, but what if a far worse crime had been committed against him while he was not being properly supervised? For example: rape, kidnapping, or God forbid, murder. People need to protect their children.. WHERE WERE THE PARENTS/GUARDIANS?
Posted by: Anonymous | July 22, 2009 1:58 AM
@Dave T: No where did I say that I don't care about the kids. My remark was towards the parents. If I was eight, I would rather have gone to jail then go back to see my dad. If the parents would instill a sense of right and wrong, maybe the kids wouldn't be out stealing bikes. It may be petty now, but crime escalates. The kids were 7/8/11 years old and stealing. If you tell them it is ok now, then they will continue to do it.
As for the lawsuit, the parent (the joker) is suing the city because her son broke the law, and the police responded to his actions.
Dave, I don't know how you say you care about the kids if you don't try to place a little bit of responsibility in them (their parents don't have any).
Posted by: Jason | July 22, 2009 9:48 AM
@Jason - I'm not suggesting that there be no responsibility here, in fact, the cops arresting a 7 year old interferes with that parental responsibility. Brutalizing 7 year old kids by cuffing them, throwing them in a transport, then locking them up with older criminals isn't the answer. and if you don't think it's brutal, look at from the POV of a 7 year old kid who's just been snatched up, taken away, and tossed in the jail.
I'm sure they learned something that day... to never snitch to the police and that even if you get arrested, they'll just lock you up for a while, then let you go. That about sums up Baltimore City crime now, doesn't it !
Posted by: Dave T | July 22, 2009 2:24 PM
First of all, my children are supervised and they are now older than the children in this story. If my children EVER did anything like the ones in this story, I would shake the hand of the officers who arrested them and would publicly stand behind them. Just like the child who got in trouble over the scooter, parents think that it's OK to justify their children's illegal actions instead of parenting and actually WATCHING their children.
The mayor made a fool out of herself apologizing then and apologizing now. She should be ashamed of herself for siding with these poor examples of parents. The 40 million dollar lawsuit should be shredded by the way. Please put me on that jury.
Posted by: Mom who actually watches her young children | July 23, 2009 9:07 AM
@Dave T- So you are suggesting letting the kids go? I don't understand the point you make. The kids were taken to the Juvenile center, so they weren't locked up with older criminals, but in a place where youth were meant to be (I assume you were talking about adults). The police did not interfere with parental responsibility. If the parents were responsible, the kids wouldn't be jumping fences and stealing. I don't know why you consider it brutal. I would bet that the police didn't throw the kids to the ground to place the handcuffs on them. And the POV and thoughts from the 7 year old should be, "I shouldn't do this again." That is the point.
I don't know where the snitching part comes in. Maybe they learned to never get caught, but there was no snitching involved.
Posted by: Jason | July 23, 2009 10:03 AM
@Jason - Did you even bother to read the article or get ANY facts on the case ???
The kids were locked up in a juvenile detention cell with older juvenile delinquents... and as for the "snitching" - the officer came to the house of the younger kid, then asked him for the names of who else was involved. The kid of course complied with the officers request, then was immediately handcuffed, arrested, and taken from his home.
As for parental responsibility, I think you are suggesting that only perfect parents are responsible... are you saying that any time a 7 year old kid makes a mistake, it must mean that he has irresponsible parents ? If the police catch the kid, he cooperates with them by giving up the names of the other kids, and they deliver him to his parents who then take action, that's supporting parental duties. He's a 7 year old kid who was acting under the direction of two older boys, not public enemy #1, let the parents take action.
And yeah, I know... if a kid does *anything* bad, that means that the parents are bad too and that they should lose all their rights to be parents, yadda, yadda, yadda....
Whatever you think the 7 year old should be made to think through due to the arrest, I'm sure he learned a lot more that day. Not to take a scooter from your neighbor's yard may be one lesson, but I'm sure he learned to be afraid of the police that day too. I know that some people feel that teaching a 7 year old kid to fear the police is a good thing, but it's not. This isn't The Wire folks…
P.s. Where are the posts about how irresponsible it is for this man to have dangerous bike parts laying around where kids can get at them :) Really, I mean, he leaves bikes and scooters out in his yard, in Baltimore City, and them complains when some kids try to take them ? I'm just used to seeing so many "blame the victim" posts here, I feel like those are missing from the discussion - it's all the guy who's scooter was stolens fault!!! (just kidding really)
Posted by: Dave T | July 23, 2009 1:54 PM
Seriously, they broke the law. Where did it say they werre 'brutalized'? If the guy they stole from pressed charges, the police book them. It was handled in accordance to the law and frankly, I have a 5 and 10 year old, and I would be in complete agreeance with the officers if my sons did something like that. The thing is, the parents need to get over themselves, trying to 'sue' just toget money out of the ordeal, I am sure.
Posted by: Brandy | July 23, 2009 1:56 PM
Arrest the parents and kids to teach them a lesson that they need to learn, what's so petty about stealing when your the victim. Innocent kids Ha, future thugs are what they are unless, spare the rod spoil the child, teaching them a lesson now may save them from a horrible life.
Posted by: Gordon | July 28, 2009 10:10 AM