Pointing a finger gun lands 12-year-old Johnson County student in handcuffs

[We Never Know]

What's next?
Next time just give them the bird lol

A 12-year-old Overland Park girl formed a gun with her fingers, pointed at four of her Westridge Middle School classmates one at a time, and then turned the pretend weapon toward herself.

Police hauled her out of school in handcuffs, arrested her and charged the child with a felony for threatening.

Oops. I forgot a link. Thanks @Revoltingest

https://amp-kansascity-com.cdn.ampp...ty.com/news/local/crime/article235891762.html

 

[Revoltingest]

A link....
https://www.kansascity.com/news/local/crime/article235891762.html
Such ridiculous security theater has real world harmful consequences for the child & family.
If one watches TV, using one's finger as a gun is extremely common, eg, Elaine on Seinfeld.
I'd like to see the cops arrested & jailed for such abuse of authority.
That would curb such excesses.

 

[lewisnotmiller]

So, I'm gonna hedge bets. On the face of it, this looks beyond ridiculous. There is not many facts or background here though.

My gut reaction is that this is madness. I reserve the right to flip flop.

 

[shmogie]

What's next?
Next time just give them the bird lol

A 12-year-old Overland Park girl formed a gun with her fingers, pointed at four of her Westridge Middle School classmates one at a time, and then turned the pretend weapon toward herself.

Police hauled her out of school in handcuffs, arrested her and charged the child with a felony for threatening.

Oops. I forgot a link. Thanks @Revoltingest

https://amp-kansascity-com.cdn.ampproject.org/v/s/amp.kansascity.com/news/local/crime/article235891762.html?amp_js_v=a2&amp_gsa=1&usqp=mq331AQCKAE=#aoh=15707543639078&referrer=https://www.google.com&amp_tf=From %1$s&ampshare=https://www.kansascity.com/news/local/crime/article235891762.html

How utterly stupid and disgusting.

When I was in 5th grade, we had a very nice tool cart and we did wood projects an hour a day. One of the projects to go with our history section was for each boy to make a life size flintlock rifle, over the period of a couple of months. Some were very well done and detailed. Do you think we pointed them at each other ?

None of us got arrested or turned into a mad shooter. Go figure.

 

[Stevicus]

What's next?
Next time just give them the bird lol

A 12-year-old Overland Park girl formed a gun with her fingers, pointed at four of her Westridge Middle School classmates one at a time, and then turned the pretend weapon toward herself.

Police hauled her out of school in handcuffs, arrested her and charged the child with a felony for threatening.

Oops. I forgot a link. Thanks @Revoltingest

https://amp-kansascity-com.cdn.ampproject.org/v/s/amp.kansascity.com/news/local/crime/article235891762.html?amp_js_v=a2&amp_gsa=1&usqp=mq331AQCKAE=#aoh=15707543639078&referrer=https://www.google.com&amp_tf=From %1$s&ampshare=https://www.kansascity.com/news/local/crime/article235891762.html

Yes, this does seem a bit over the top, at least in calling the police over something that could have been handled through the school's disciplinary procedures. Why call the police? Apart from everything else, the police have limited resources and a lot of other things to do. School discipline shouldn't have to be one of them.

But if they do start having cops meting out discipline in the schools, it would probably turn out like Cool Hand Luke. One slip up, and you spend a night in the box.

 

[Revoltingest]

Yes, this does seem a bit over the top, at least in calling the police over something that could have been handled through the school's disciplinary procedures. Why call the police? Apart from everything else, the police have limited resources and a lot of other things to do. School discipline shouldn't have to be one of them.

But if they do start having cops meting out discipline in the schools, it would probably turn out like Cool Hand Luke. One slip up, and you spend a night in the box.

What we have here is a failure to communicate (by the school).

Anyone who doesn't get that should watch the movie.
Btw, it's one of the sweatiest movies ever made.

 

[Shadow Wolf]

What we have here is a failure to communicate (by the school).

Anyone who doesn't get that should watch the movie.
Btw, it's one of the sweatiest movies ever made.

I know it only from a Guns 'N Roses song.

 

[Shadow Wolf]

Police hauled her out of school in handcuffs, arrested her and charged the child with a felony for threatening.

Oh, big tough guys gotta protect us from a middle school aged girl.

 

[Valjean]

Handcuffs were entirely over the top for a finger pointing offense.
Chinese finger traps were all that was needed.

 

[Shad]

What's next?
Next time just give them the bird lol

A 12-year-old Overland Park girl formed a gun with her fingers, pointed at four of her Westridge Middle School classmates one at a time, and then turned the pretend weapon toward herself.

Police hauled her out of school in handcuffs, arrested her and charged the child with a felony for threatening.

https://amp-kansascity-com.cdn.ampproject.org/v/s/amp.kansascity.com/news/local/crime/article235891762.html?amp_js_v=a2&amp_gsa=1&usqp=mq331AQCKAE=#aoh=15707543639078&referrer=https://www.google.com&amp_tf=From %1$s&ampshare=https://www.kansascity.com/news/local/crime/article235891762.html

The charge seems over the top. This seems more like a mental and parenting issue due to the question and answer. Both kids seem messed up.

Damn I getting old.

 

[HonestJoe]

There is clearly an effort by the media to spin this in a particular manner and lots of people reacting to it are submitting to that. There is this quote which suggests there is something more to the incident that the picture they’re trying to paint;

A person familiar with a more detailed incident report spoke to The Star on condition of anonymity. The person said that during a class discussion, another student asked the girl, if she could kill five people in the class, who would they be? In response, the girl allegedly pointed her finger pistol

That isn’t to say the arrest was right (or wrong), only that we’re not being given all the available information (to an extent, quite rightly) and therefore aren’t really in a position to judge. There is an ongoing legal process which would obviously cover the legitimacy of the police actions.

I think there is an interesting contrast that is all too common with this kind of thing. When there is some kind of school shooting, especially when it’s committed by a younger person, there is usually lots of apparently minor incidents and events in their past and people complaining that the authorities didn’t react quickly or firmly enough to those signs of impending disaster. I think this is a classic example of authorities responding to exactly that kind of apparently minor and stand-alone incident but being instantly condemned for doing it before anyone has all of the relevant information. They literally can’t win.

 

[Shadow Wolf]

I think there is an interesting contrast that is all too common with this kind of thing. When there is some kind of school shooting, especially when it’s committed by a younger person, there is usually lots of apparently minor incidents and events in their past and people complaining that the authorities didn’t react quickly or firmly enough to those signs of impending disaster. I think this is a classic example of authorities responding to exactly that kind of apparently minor and stand-alone incident but being instantly condemned for doing it before anyone has all of the relevant information. They literally can’t win.

Assuming that true, and it was an early intervention of sorts, they went about it in the entirely wrong way.

 

[HonestJoe]

Assuming that true, and it was an early intervention of sorts, they went about it in the entirely wrong way.

I’m not saying it was the right way to do it but I’m also saying that in circumstances of actual shootings, there is an immediate knee-jerk response form people complaining that the police didn’t do exactly what they did here. It doesn’t matter what the right level of response actually is and whether the authorities do that or not. People are always going to moan that they’re doing it wrong.

If the police hadn’t arrested her, we’d all be reading a similar story focused on the “victims of this aggressive bullying” with their parents complaining about no serious action being taken against the perpetrator and lots of people here would be supporting them, probably including some of the same people complaining now. There are extensive mixed messages and regular double standards from the public (along with the media and politicians, who feed and encourage it for their own benefits). Again, the authorities literally can’t win.

 

[Shadow Wolf]

Again, the authorities literally can’t win.

They could, if they weren't such bungholes. For one, we don't even know why she picked those kids. Maybe she's bullied? Maybe it's dumb teen stuff? If it's bullying, they need to look at those she picked, rather than adding to her grief. If it's dumb teen stuff, they severely over reacted. Kind of about on the same level as that one teacher who grabbed a student by her hair and threw her so hard her desk went with her.

 

[PureX]

Yet another hyperbolic empty "report" intended to incite righteous indignation rather than convey any pertinent information.

 

[HonestJoe]

They could, if they weren't such bungholes. For one, we don't even know why she picked those kids. Maybe she's bullied? Maybe it's dumb teen stuff? If it's bullying, they need to look at those she picked, rather than adding to her grief. If it's dumb teen stuff, they severely over reacted. Kind of about on the same level as that one teacher who grabbed a student by her hair and threw her so hard her desk went with her.

You’re missing the point. I’m not saying what you describe would be wrong, indeed, I support it as an approach in such situations.

I’m saying that even if they’d taken that exact approach, they’d still be being attacked by the media, politicians and ignorant private individuals (often the same ones!), especially if she took some kind of violent action in the future. This means that the alarmist tabloid reports and knee-jerk reactions don’t automatically mean what is being reported actually happened or what actually happened is wrong. To properly determine that requires much more information that we have available to us at the moment and a much more calm, neutral and rational approach that most of the instinctive reactions involve.

 

[9-10ths_Penguin]

What's next?
Next time just give them the bird lol

A 12-year-old Overland Park girl formed a gun with her fingers, pointed at four of her Westridge Middle School classmates one at a time, and then turned the pretend weapon toward herself.

Police hauled her out of school in handcuffs, arrested her and charged the child with a felony for threatening.

Oops. I forgot a link. Thanks @Revoltingest

https://amp-kansascity-com.cdn.ampproject.org/v/s/amp.kansascity.com/news/local/crime/article235891762.html?amp_js_v=a2&amp_gsa=1&usqp=mq331AQCKAE=#aoh=15707543639078&referrer=https://www.google.com&amp_tf=From %1$s&ampshare=https://www.kansascity.com/news/local/crime/article235891762.html

I get the sense that the article doesn't tell the whole story.

 

[nPeace]

What's next?
Next time just give them the bird lol

A 12-year-old Overland Park girl formed a gun with her fingers, pointed at four of her Westridge Middle School classmates one at a time, and then turned the pretend weapon toward herself.

Police hauled her out of school in handcuffs, arrested her and charged the child with a felony for threatening.

Oops. I forgot a link. Thanks @Revoltingest

https://amp-kansascity-com.cdn.ampproject.org/v/s/amp.kansascity.com/news/local/crime/article235891762.html?amp_js_v=a2&amp_gsa=1&usqp=mq331AQCKAE=#aoh=15707543639078&referrer=https://www.google.com&amp_tf=From %1$s&ampshare=https://www.kansascity.com/news/local/crime/article235891762.html

I didn't read the article, but in my view, small things can lead to big things.
I have seen cases where young children made threats, were disciplined, and returned to school, and carried out those threats.
Perhaps if the law is involved more often in "petty" crimes, it would help deter bigger crimes, or send a message to parents, to not encourage child gangsters, but take delinquency seriously.

Perhaps people should start calling the cops on young "porn stars" too. Maybe it would help reduce promiscuity.

In Satan's world? Not a chance.

 

[SomeRandom]

What we have here is a failure to communicate (by the school).

Anyone who doesn't get that should watch the movie.
Btw, it's one of the sweatiest movies ever made.

We actually watched that for school a few times. Cool Hand Luke, the Green Mile and Shawshank Redemption were the trifecta go to for school movies.
Apparently my high school really liked Prison Dramas.

 

[Twilight Hue]

What's next?
Next time just give them the bird lol

A 12-year-old Overland Park girl formed a gun with her fingers, pointed at four of her Westridge Middle School classmates one at a time, and then turned the pretend weapon toward herself.

Police hauled her out of school in handcuffs, arrested her and charged the child with a felony for threatening.

Oops. I forgot a link. Thanks @Revoltingest

https://amp-kansascity-com.cdn.ampproject.org/v/s/amp.kansascity.com/news/local/crime/article235891762.html?amp_js_v=a2&amp_gsa=1&usqp=mq331AQCKAE=#aoh=15707543639078&referrer=https://www.google.com&amp_tf=From %1$s&ampshare=https://www.kansascity.com/news/local/crime/article235891762.html

The Socialists still at it, clapping cuffs on kids huh? That will put fear of the deep state in her.

Idiots.