After giving a 7-year-old boy a ticket for throwing a ball which hit an officer's truck, that officer has now been suspended. Cody Chapelle claimed he wrote a citation for third-degree criminal mischief as a result of the incident, taking place on October 16, 2009. Another officer, Police Chief Robert White, said that after an investigation on Chapelle's truck, there was no damage to the truck due to the ball hitting it. Why was the ticket written? It was stated by White that the ticket was an attempt in trying to persuade the child's mother to discipline the seven year old.
White also said that, "One of our greatest attributes we have as police officers is common sense," and he also said that Chapelle had "showed absolutely no common sense." Chapelle was suspended for 15 days, and his attorney was planning on appealing against it. It was also reported that the suspension letter included a statement that claimed that Chapelle yelled at the mother and told her she was a bad parent, which Chapelle was disciplined for doing so.
Can we say "Overreacting"? Honestly, a 7-year-old kid just threw a ball at the truck. If it was a rock, if somebody had the intention of seriously injuring the officer, then yes, a ticket would be reasonable. Yes, sometimes kids need to get taught lessons, but by giving him a ticket? There was no damage to the officer OR to his truck. A warning that throwing things at cars can be dangerous and outright rude would suffice. If the police officers are starting to get picky over the little things, what are they doing about the big issues going on? People will start to wonder if they are spending this much time and effort on a small issue, do they have enough time to fix bigger problems Sometimes, you have to pick your battles. Is a 7-year-old throwing a ball at a truck a battle worth fighting? How about trying to tackle things that are bigger, things that actually hurt people that are causing deaths? Wouldn't trying to stop people from going into stores and shooting people be a better problem to try and fix, rather than a child throwing a ball?
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/41172540/ns/us_news-crime_and_courts/
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Wow I agree that this was a huge overreaction of that truck driver and police officer. He may have felt that the ball thrown by that 7 year old was rude, but it was not in his place to give him a criminal ticket or yell at the boy's mother. Did he even know the family? I'm guessing probably not. Since nobody was hurt and his truck wasn't damaged, he should have taken into consideration that this was a young boy who was only playing and might not have even thrown the ball at the truck on purpose. Also, he should remember the saying, "don't judge someone until you've walked a mile in their shoes." Maybe the mother had been watching her son carefully and then the phone rang and she had to go answer it or something. There could be a million different circumstances and I feel for that 7 year old boy. Poor kid!
ReplyDeleteWhat the officer did was most definitely an innapropriate reaction. If the boy had done something dangerous and violent there would be action necessary. In this case though, even if the police officer did something, it should have been to give the child a warning and tell him why it could be dangerous or else he could calmly explain to the mother what her son had done. I would say that it is important for police officers to be a good example and not abuse their power if we want the legal system to work. It is true that the ball could be a distraction to the driver or lead to more dangerous actions in the future but it was nothing compared to the overreaction of the cop.
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