Is it illegal to kill a dinosaur?

typical conservative police state.
the boy is lucky he is not black, because the piggies would have killed him on sight.

We kill millions of chickens every day. What’s the problem?

Evidently, @Seek it would be if you used a gun on them.

Actually, this is an old story, from 2014 but it was updated May of this year. I wonder what ended up happening with this.

Not if there are no witnessesessessessess, doyathinkhesaurus

This was a statement by the accused. It sounds like it wasn’t about what he wrote, but about something he did that is not mentioned in the article. The student and his parents want it to look like it was about the writing assignment, but “The information that is being reported is grossly incorrect in reference to what led to the juvenile being charged,” said Capt. Jon Rogers in a Summeville police statement released on Thursday.“The charges do not stem from anything involving a dinosaur or writing assignment, but the student’s conduct.” So, context is all in this case.

As I recall, or misrecall, alligators are hold overs from the dinosaur age. I believe it is okay to kill them.

No they aren’t I learned that here on fluther.

From what it sounds like they called him into the office and suspended him over the status, and called the police “as a precaution”, because it’s standard now to freak the fuck out over anything students do anymore. When he was (understandably) upset at being suspended for someone else’s complete inability to read for context, he was arrested.

There is no mention he caused any violence against anyone, just that he might have shouted a bit.

@cazzie That’s what jumped out of me first. They don’t say how he was behaving, just suggested that he was.

If the school doesn’t want students to write fictitiously or otherwise about guns, they should have blatantly said so. It does not seem that this was the case. I understand that guns are a sensitive issue, but it’s unfortunate that they reacted this way, instead of suggesting that next time he leave guns out of his stories and instructing all students to do the same.

@ubersiren the writing assignment was not what the arrest was about.

See, this bugs me. Here is another article, written by a site that is obviously propaganda oriented. They’ve left out any mention of the possibility that the problem stemmed from something else.

It’s like, one time a Great Protest arose on facebook, because some guy was threatened with a $100 a day fine for flying the flag off of his 2nd story apartment balcony. The spin was that he wasn’t allowed to fly the flag and how communist is that!
The reality was that when he moved into the apartment complex, he signed an agreement to not fly any kind of flag or wall hanging or anything off the balcony as it would disrupt the aesthetic continuity of the outside of the apartments.
It had nothing to do with the fact that it was the American Flag.

@cazzie I didn’t say anything about that. I agree.

Was it in self defense? And was it in Texas?

What @Apparently_Im_The_Grumpy_One? It was a fictional story or blurb a kid wrote in high school.

@Dutchess_III My apologies – I’m not going to read an article with this as the subject of the question. I merely made a quip. Carry on.

Well, then, do you think a kid should be arrested from writing about killing a neighbor’s pet dinosaur with a gun @Apparently_Im_The_Grumpy_One?

It sounds to me like they boy probably has behaviour problems and the teacher and administrators were alarmed about the statement that he ‘bought the gun to take care of business’.
Err on the side of caution, call the police and have them verify that there is no actual gun. I doubt the administration has the authority to search on their own, and if the found a gun, then what?
They called the boy in, he became irate and unmanageable, and was detained by police. As this is a teen boy, I’m guessing that cursing and possibly derogatory statements/threats were made against the administrators, and he was suspended.

The whole ‘dinosaur’ angle is a red herring. Suppose the boy had used a gun days later and it was discovered that the neighbors even had a dinosaur, i.e. a Komodo dragon or similar. They’d possibly face negligence charges.

And mom is so helpful, pointing out that he was too young to legally buy a gun. I’ll bet that if he’s writing crap like that, there is a gun in the household.

This all boils down to idiots not being able to read for context. And the fact that it’s a school just makes it even more annoying.

A child – yes, a teenager, but still a child – was called into the office in front of police officers and questioned accusingly about an assignment he completed without his parents present.

That is utter, complete, bullshit.

The kid and his family immediately lawyer-up and call a press conference, knowing full well that the other side cannot comment on the incident because he’s a minor.

I searched and see no other mention of this story, or follow-up.

Children can do bizarre things.

@ibstubro I think you’re probably right. There was more involved than just the mention of a gun or a dinosaur. But presenting it the way they do satisfies The Need To Be Outraged Everyday people.

And people still wonder why Mrs Squeeky and I chose not to have children.

I’m quite sure that if you’d decided to have kids, they wouldn’t be those kinds of kids.

Well, the teacher and school officials are a bunch of imbeciles for misinterpreting Alex’s assignment by reading it out of context. These imbeciles, then, misinformed the police who continued questioning Alex and went on to search for a gun through Alex’s personal belongings. Therefore, the core of the issue rests on the following question: was it unreasonable for Alex to become irritated (which resulted in his arrest for disturbed the school as a byproduct) when a bunch of imbeciles began an unjustified inquiry into his harmless assignment that was escalated into a police investigation? I think Alex’s response was appropriate which makes the arrest and suspension unjustified.

This situation is similar to someone verbally insulting a random person on the street and when that random person responds in anger (verbal), the original offender calls the police to tell them that the random person is disturbing the peace.

Yes, because we all know that under-age boys are angels, unable to access firearms.

“Stone and his mother say they understand the sensitive nature of what he wrote”, and yet are not contrite. Since when is calling mommy protocol in dealing with a possible school gun threat?.

“The information that is being reported is grossly incorrect in reference to what led to the juvenile being charged,” said Capt. Jon Rogers in a Summeville police statement released on Thursday.“The charges do not stem from anything involving a dinosaur or writing assignment, but the student’s conduct.”

Christonthecross! What is the matter with this country? A presidential contender wants to arm the kindergarten teachers, and people are up in arms because school authorities responded appropriately (called the law) to a perceived gun threat.

No one was making the argument that teenagers are all angels or that they cannot access firearms. I am, however, making the argument that in Alex’s case, there was no justification for inquiry, or for misinforming the police which resulted in an unjustified search of personal belongings and further questioning.

Alex was arrested for misconduct only after the school officials began their unjustified inquiry and after the police questioned him and searched his belongings for a gun.

According to police, when Stone was asked by school officials about the comment written on the assignment, he became “very irate” and said it was a joke

Investigators say the teacher contacted school officials after seeing the message containing the words “gun” and “take care of business,” and police were then notified on Tuesday.

WTF has this got to do with “political correctness”?

How do you know there was “no justification for inquiry, @Jackiavelli? Do you have access to the boy’s juvenile record? Do you know someone that was present?

The charges stem from the student’s conduct.
I worked in a juvenile detention facility, and if a 16 yo boy has any history of serious misconduct, you err on the side of caution.
Call the cops.
The alternatives are ludicrous.
Call mommy in to have a talk with him?
Do nothing and risk a lawsuit?
Search yourself and risk a lawsuit or dismissal of evidence?

There’s nothing in this story that tell me that the school acted inappropriately in any way.
Jr. had a fit. He was detained. Mommy enabled. A lawyer got paid.
Life went on.

I know because according to the article, the teacher read the assignment out of context. Any action taken after that is automatically unjustified and based on misinformation.

If you’re skeptical over the articles report that it was read out of context, then I do apologize because I forgot my tinfoil hat at home.

@Kropotkin Well, we have a thing in the US about “guns.” The important issues, like gun control reforms, are swept under the rug. But the minor things, like a kid making a gun figure out of his thumb and forefinger in a classroom, or a kid mentioning shooting something with a gun, is grounds for an explosion.

I still have to agree with @ibstubro. We don’t know the whole story. We don’t know what his conduct was. It may not have had anything to do with a guns and dinosaur story, but the media used the opportunity to make a hit.

I don’t see where the teacher ”...read the assignment out of context,” @Jackiavelli. I see where the charges were taken out of context tho.

“I killed my neighbor’s pet dinosaur, and, then, in the next status I said I bought the gun to take care of the business,” Stone said.

Stone says his statements were taken completely out of context.

Exactly, @Jackiavelli.

So a 16 yo irate boy (who, by the way, had to obtain consent to having his named used, as he’s a minor) says it, so it’s automatically true even though is contradicts the opinion of teachers, administrators and local law enforcement.

Imagine the disruption caused at the school by not only calling the police, but for them to later take a student into custody! This isn’t reality TV. The school administrators aren’t there to ensure drama. The last thing they was is this kind of shit stirring up a bunch of teen-aged, hormone drenched, emotionally immature kids.

Yeah, that’s what school administrators are trained to do: overreact to the tiniest disruption in the school day so that nothing is taught for 2–3 day and there are constant disciplinary for a period of days.
Yup, that’s it. 16 yo boys are all Scouts and school administrators and cops are authoritarian drama-queens just looking for the next chance to make their own jobs and lives as difficult and miserable as possible.

Neighbor’s dragon?

”Stone says his statements were taken completely out of context.”…Not just by the teacher, obviously. But whether they were or not still remains to be seen. If the statements even had anything to DO with the situation still remains to be seen.

Frankly, I don’t see where anything ‘remains to be seen’.
The story was filed 8–14, updated in some form (obviously not pending legal action) 5–15 (end of school year), and never mentioned again, anywhere, any time I that I can find. The kid’s at least 17, should have graduated sometime this year or next?

I’m guessing mom paid a lawyer for their 15 minutes of fame and the combination of the fragility of the ‘case’ and the expense of proceeding took the fun out of it. If I had a desirable school/job and I googled the kid and that story came up, it would be all I needed to move on to the next candidate.

Um, if there is any question of police being called on a child and there is no immediate danger to life and limb, THE FIRST CALL IS TO THEIR PARENTS. End of story.

Detaining a child for law enforcement and not calling the parents is a huge breach of etiquette, and likely illegal.

An update on the story

Criminal charges for Alex are “still pending” as of August 2014.

The school resource officer that had him arrested though? He has been charged. For kiddie porn. And he’s out on $30,000 bail.

Sep 18 2014
@Seek.
Hardly an update.

And yet it has more information than the posted article which was “updated” in May with absolutely no information (probably someone editing a byline, who knows). For instance, it stated that the kid was invited back to the school, but that he’s chosen to home-school through the district’s online option instead.

And, y’know, the kiddie porn thing.

The police were not called on the child. They were called to investigate the possibility of a firearm on school premises. In the course of that investigation, they questioned the boy. He became belligerent, was warned, and when he wouldn’t settle down, arrested. At that point there was ’no immediate danger to life’ and limb and his mother notified.

And, y’know, the learning disability thing.

Unless you’re implying that one of the school resource officers tried to share kiddy porn during the investigation, I don’t see how it’s reverent to this story in any way. Revolting, yeah, but irrelevant.

Having a learning disability and being upset at being accused of being a school shooter is cause for arrest? No wonder the charges are still pending.

The mother should have been notified immediately at “We’re kind of concerned about this Facebook post”.

No,no seek you forget you’re guilty until proven innocent.

I disagree about notifying the mother being the first priority when a 16 yo boy is perceived as a threat to public safety.

However, I’m not invested in this, and I applaud your maternal instinct. I have little doubt that if called in you could make a rational assessment.
I have worked in a juvenile detention facility, and parents of disruptive kids usually fall somewhere in the spectrum of ‘rabid enabler’ and ‘wrung out’. “Rational assessment” parents usually meant the kid was a one-timer.

To me, the lawyer waving the “learning disability” flag meant that if the details became public there was going to be a lot of messy history to be dealt with.

The boy is either graduated or (hopefully) in the home stretch. Moved on.

As am I, here.