Tackling prankster = Go to jail

Shadow Dragon · Jul 23, 2010

A homeowner in his underwear chased down and tackled one of four teens who rang his doorbell and fled in a late-night prank called "ding dong ditch," leading to charges against the homeowner but not the boy.

..............

Van Plew, 37, told police in this upscale suburb south of New York's capital that he was preparing to go to bed shortly after 10 p.m. Saturday when four teenagers pounded on his back door, rang his front doorbell and then ran.

Van Plew said he feared for the safety of his two children and his wife. He chased after the teens, caught the 14-year-old and then made him wait in his home while he called police. The teen suffered a cut on his elbow, a bruise over his eye and a bloody lip, according to the police report.

http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5irkLnrWP2qglcxpGIr4FS0feOJJwD9H4BVF80

What if find odd is that one of the charges is for harrassment. By playing a prank on someone (such as ding dong ditch during the night), aren't you technically harrassing them? How this guy end up with that charge? I guess he said bad stuff to the teen while tackling them or something. :Shrug:

So, any opinions?

LOG · Jul 24, 2010

That was idiotic all around.

Bartholomew · Jul 24, 2010

Uh...

What are police for, again?

Great. Now there's some 14 year old with a spirit of adventure coupled with a newly reinforced sense of entitlement, and next time he trespasses with the intent to harass, he'll do so with the security that the law is on his side.

Don · Jul 24, 2010

Society builds a fancy machine for doing its wash, and somebody gets a tit stuck in the wringer. Oops.

Jakub Bozydar Wisniewski said:
[Statists believe that] the only sure way of protecting oneself against violence, aggression and coercion is to help institute and continually support a vast, monopolistic apparatus of institutionalized violence, aggression and coercion.

Ayn Rand said:
Brother, you asked for it.

Paul · Jul 24, 2010

Van Plew said he feared for the safety of his two children and his wife. He chased after the teens, caught the 14-year-old and then made him wait in his home while he called police. The teen suffered a cut on his elbow, a bruise over his eye and a bloody lip, according to the police report.

[QUOTE: I guess he said bad stuff to the teen while tackling them or something. QUOTE:]

em...

EDIT; He initially was charged with trespass, but that's a violation- level offense that can't be pursued against juveniles in family court,' - FROM THE ARTICLE.

This i find interesting.

Don · Jul 24, 2010

I think Van Plew got off easy. How come he didn't get tazed?

Janice Wells called the Richland Police Department when she feared a prowler was outside her clapboard house in the rural west Georgia town.

The third-grade teacher had phoned for help. But within minutes of an officer coming to her backdoor, she was screaming in pain and begging not to be shocked again with a Taser. With each scream and cry, the officer threatened her with more shocks.

...and since race has been such an interesting topic lately...

The details of the altercation between Wells and the officers have been fodder discussions in the two towns, which are only 10 miles apart. Some have speculated there was a racial component to the altercation between Wells and the policemen; Wells is black and the officers are white.

Stewart County Sheriff Larry Jones, who came to the house seconds after the last electric shock was administered, suspects the outcome would have been different if the woman had been white and the officers black.

At least there's a (relatively) happy ending. The two officers involved got fired instead of commendations.

clintl · Jul 24, 2010

LOG said:
That was idiotic all around.

Yes. But here's the thing - if they're pranksters running away, just let them go. Call the police to report it if you want, but why chase them down when all they've done is knock on the door and run away?

LOG · Jul 24, 2010

clintl said:
Yes. But here's the thing - if they're pranksters running away, just let them go. Call the police to report it if you want, but why chase them down when all they've done is knock on the door and run away?

Yeah, that was what I was referring to.

Both parties were just stupid.
The teen is just an idiot for playing ding-dong ditch and thinking little of the consequences.

Plew because, seriously, you think your family is in danger from a suspicious person who is running away? So you leave your family alone while you chase this person down, and then only call the police afterwards? How does that make any sense?

aadams73 · Jul 24, 2010

Kids ringing the doorbell and running away? Let's hang the little bastards!

(Seriously, that's nothing compared to the stuff my friends, cousins and I used to do when we were that age.)

Wayne K · Jul 24, 2010

I hope they both learned a lesson. Crap like this can end up getting really bad.

Plot Device · Jul 25, 2010

I read this news item last week. I almost posted it here but, I was actually very pissed about it and refrained.

Anyway, the homeowner was in the right, the kid is in the wrong, and I hope to god that a massive legal defense find for the homeowner gets underway.

Cyia · Jul 25, 2010

clintl said:
Yes. But here's the thing - if they're pranksters running away, just let them go. Call the police to report it if you want, but why chase them down when all they've done is knock on the door and run away?

You're assuming he knew they were pranksters.

The homeowner said they rang the bell, and "pounded" on the door. He came to the door in his underwear, so either one of two things was likely:

1. The kids do this a lot and he was sick of it. (Which is why there should be an enforceable penalty from the get go so it never gets to this point.)

or

2. He thought there was an emergency that warranted pounding on the door and immediate enough that he didn't grab his pants, or that they were trying to break in the door to rob the house, which would account for him being concerned for his family.

This was after 10pm; it was dark. That's beyond "prank".

rugcat · Jul 25, 2010

Charges against the man have been dropped.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/07/24/AR2010072401276.html

sulong · Jul 25, 2010

From Rugcats link

A spokeswoman for Albany District Attorney David Soares has declined to explain why he decided not to prosecute.

I wonder why he feels his decision to not prosecute needs to be kept hidden? If there's not enough evidence to proceed, he ought to say so.

Plot Device · Jul 25, 2010

Ah shit! I'm getting madder and madder as I read more of this thread.

I read three different news accounts of this entire affair last week. According to what I pieced together (and no, I do not want to provide links because it juts gets me so mad) the front AND the back doors were both being pounded on/having their doorbels rung AT THE SAME TIME! He was scared! He was scared for his children!

FIRST he saw the shadowy figure in the back yard. That already set off his internal alarms.

SECOND he heard the ront door bell get rung, and simultaneously (or just a second or two apart) he heard the back door getting violently pouded upon -- not a timid whimpy little knock but very forceful pounding.

No one here is going to tell me that they will not swing into full-on "fight or flight" mode with the above two situations all unfolding within less than a minute -- AT 10 O'CLOCK AT NIGHT!

[/mad as hell but I guess I have to keep taking it anymore]

Plot Device · Jul 25, 2010

rugcat said:
Charges against the man have been dropped.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/07/24/AR2010072401276.html

Hooray!

The dumbass father of the boy is a real fucking character up there in the Albany area. Good for the (other wise dumbass) father for backing away from his more typical bull-headedness.

Plot Device · Jul 25, 2010

sulong said:
From Rugcats link

I wonder why he feels his decision to not prosecute needs to be kept hidden? If there's not enough evidence to proceed, he ought to say so.

Ah -- so the father did NOT drop the charges. It's just that the DA won't go after this one. Well then, good for the DA. (And my opinion of the boy's father is again a very poor one.)

backslashbaby · Jul 25, 2010

Plot Device said:
Ah shit! I'm getting madder and madder as I read more of this thread.

I read three different news accounts of this entire affair last week. According to what I pieced together (and no, I do not want to provide links because it juts gets me so mad) the front AND the back doors were both being pounded on/having their doorbels rung AT THE SAME TIME! He was scared! He was scared for his children!

FIRST he saw the shadowy figure in the back yard. That already set off his internal alarms.

SECOND he heard the ront door bell get rung, and simultaneously (or just a second or two apart) he heard the back door getting violently pouded upon -- not a timid whimpy little knock but very forceful pounding.

No one here is going to tell me that they will not swing into full-on "fight or flight" mode with the above two situations all unfolding within less than a minute -- AT 10 O'CLOCK AT NIGHT!

[/mad as hell but I guess I have to keep taking it anymore]

Ah! That's different than I was thinking. Yeah, pounding is terrifying, actually (I had a drunk stranger do it once). I still personally don't run after folks because I think they could shoot/stab you, but I can see them being very scared.

Plot Device · Jul 25, 2010

I wonder if the DA found some angle to force the boy's father to drop charges. Maybe some cerfew violation or something. Or maybe an old sealed court record on a prior offense the boy committed. Or a gazillion parking tickets on the father's vehicle. Whatever the DA did to strongarm that irresponsible dad into dropping charges, good for him. We need more DA's like him.

The thing about ringing someoe's doorbell and running is that it's supposedly a "harmless prank." And in my book, a innocnet man getting arrested and charged with felonies against a minor does not constitute a lack of harm. But this DA ended everything with no harm to anyone (except a few temporary cuts and scrapes on the boy -- serves him right).

rugcat · Jul 25, 2010

Plot Device said:
I wonder if the DA found some angle to force the boy's father to drop charges.

Civilians (like the boy's father) have no standing to file criminal charges. That's entirely up to the DA, who doesn't have to provide a reason, except for the political fallout that can occur.

A victim can refuse to cooperate, which makes a conviction difficult, but a DA can still file criminal charges whether the victim wants to or not. Conversely, no matter how strongly you might feel that a criminal charge be pursued, as a civilian it's simply not your decision.

Which is one reason we have civil courts.

veinglory · Jul 25, 2010

He beat up a 14-year-old kid for ringing his doorbell. What a maroon.

Plot Device · Jul 25, 2010

rugcat said:
Civilians (like the boy's father) have no standing to file criminal charges. That's entirely up to the DA, who doesn't have to provide a reason, except for the political fallout that can occur.

A victim can refuse to cooperate, which makes a conviction difficult, but a DA can still file criminal charges whether the victim wants to or not. Conversely, no matter how strongly you might feel that a criminal charge be pursued, as a civilian it's simply not your decision.

Which is one reason we have civil courts.

Good to know.

Kitty27 · Jul 25, 2010

He's lucky that he wasn't in the Dirty South. He'd most likely had a cap busted in his wee ass. I remember my brothers throwing paint at a neighbors house in the country and he unleashed a 22 on their asses.

I think these kids have been doing this for quite awhile and the homeowner just snapped. Maybe he taught the kid a lesson that he won't forget and good that charges were dropped. These kids better watch it. There are some unhinged folks out here who will give them a lot more than a bit o' slapping.

Plot Device · Jul 25, 2010

veinglory said:
He beat up a 14-year-old kid for ringing his doorbell. What a maroon.

He didnt "beat up" anyone. He saw a small band of trespassors running through his back yard and his front yard. He chased after the trespassors, tackled the slowest one to the ground while in his front yard, and dragged him back into his house. Only after he had him in the house did he realize it was a teenager. He ordered the kid to sit on the floor while he called the police. The kid sat there and bitched and cursed non stop for the full 20 minutes it took for police to get there. The kid also said he had a knife in his pocket and threatened to use the knife on the man and his wife (the wife entered the room). The man noticed the kid was bleeding and offered first aid. The kid refused and just contiued to sit there and also launched sexually loaded insults at his wife. There turned out to be no knife in his pocket, just a cell phone.

Who's the maroon?

Don · Jul 25, 2010

Kitty27 said:
He's lucky that he wasn't in the Dirty South. He'd most likely had a cap busted in his wee ass. I remember my brothers throwing paint at a neighbors house in the country and he unleashed a 22 on their asses.

I think these kids have been doing this for quite awhile and the homeowner just snapped. Maybe he taught the kid a lesson that he won't forget and good that charges were dropped. These kids better watch it. There are some unhinged folks out here who will give them a lot more than a bit o' slapping.

Dammit, Kitty, you beat me too it. Same story in the Wild West. My dad kept a .22 rifle loaded with birdshot by the front door because of occasional vandals that would tear down mailboxes. More than one dumbass kid had to explain all those pepper marks on the back of his car to his dad.

Tackling prankster = Go to jail

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