On September 15, it was an 11-year-old boy at Rymfire Elementary. On Sept. 25, it was a 12-year-old at Indian Trails Middle School: same method–threats made in a group chat away from school, images of weaponry sent to make the point–same result: an arrest and a felony charge.
Last Thursday evening a Flagler County Sheriff’s deputy responded to a call in Palm Coast’s B-Section, where the parent of an Indian Trails Middle student was concerned about a message her 12-year-old had received: another 12-year-old, NG, was threatening to stab him. The boys were in the same group chat and share several classes at Indian Trails.
The two boys had been arguing in the chat that afternoon. Then NG sent the picture of a box of 15 knives and a brass knuckle and made threatening statements, including the line, “I’ll stab your bitch ass with all this illegal shit.” The picture NG sent showed the box of knives opened and its contents displayed in the box and on the carpet around it.
The recipient became afraid of going to school the next day. His mother pursued charges.
Sheriff’s deputies located NG’s address in Palm Coast’s L-Section and got NG’s father’s permission to speak with the child. Beforehand, NG’s father told the deputies that the knives in the picture were, in fact, NG’s. NG confirmed that his was the phone number that had sent the texts and the image, and that the knives were his, though by then he’d deleted the messages. He said he’d sent the messages because he was angry.
Most of the time in the sheriff’s arrest reports involving children making such threats, the child at one point or another concedes that there never was an intention to carry out the threat, that it was an overreaction, that it was meant in jest. In this case, no such explanation was provided. There was no explanation for the anger, either.
The child was placed under arrest on a felony charge of for written or electronic threats to kill or commit bodily harm, and transported to the Flagler County jail for booking, but not holding. He was turned over to the Department of Juvenile Justice in Daytona Beach. Deputies confiscated the box of knives.
“This is an unfortunate situation where we had to arrest a child, but we take threats like this very serious,” Sheriff Rick Staly was quoted as saying in a release issued by his agency. “It is important for parents to be aware of what their children are saying to each other on social media and monitor their activity. I also urge parents to be the Sheriff in your home and make sure that children know the consequences of threatening someone. It may not seem like a big deal to them, but they need to know that it is a felony crime under Florida law and can have serious consequences. It doesn’t matter how old they are or they tell us they were joking when we knock on your door because it’s no joking matter. They will get arrested. Parents, also teach your children how to handle disputes as that education will last them a lifetime.”
The child is likely to face probation in family court and suspension from Indian Trails, at least for a few weeks, when he would either attend the district’s alternative school or receive home instruction.
Jay Tomm says
Again…throwing these kids in jail is NOT THE ANSWER!
feddy says
Your correct, charge the parent or legal Guardian.
R.S. says
Pacifying the society at large by banning weaponry, except for certified and approved cases of necessity might be the answer. Kids will do as their parents do and not by what the parents say.
Skibum says
Throwing these kids in jail is not the answer? I beg to differ.
If a 12-year old is considered old enough by his parents to accumulate a collection of 15 various knives AND brass knuckles, then he is old enough to be accountable for his own bad and illegal behavior that includes the threatened use of those weapons! If a school student is old enough to be allowed to use social media by their parents, then they are old enough to be held responsible by the juvenile justice system when their illegal actions on social media involve threats of violence against others!
This boy’s parents acknowledged that those 15 knives belonged to their son, so they knew full well that he had them. He obviously has some fascination with weapons. What kind of parents allow their pre-teen to accumulate and possess so many knives, and for what purpose???
As Sheriff Chitwood and Sheriff Staly have said before, sheriff’s deputies don’t want to have to be someone else’s kids’ parents, but when parents fail in their parental responsibilities or just are not able to handle kids with violent tendencies, the sheriff’s office WILL provide that necessary parental type of discipline through the justice system.
I had a lot of experience over many years in law enforcement dealing with various types of bad behavior by underage kids, some of whom showed extremely violent capabilities, and many other kids who were just little jerks who needed a real good spanking by their parents when they did something really stupid.
One of the things I liked to do with underage kids I had to deal with who violated the law was to tell them I was taking them by their house to talk to the parents before I decided whether or not to take the kid to juvenile hall. I wanted to gage the reaction first from the child, and secondly, from the parent. Many times the kid would beg me NOT to tell his or her parents. I could tell right away that the parents would in all likelihood deal with the bad behavior on their own, and if it wasn’t a felony, I was more than happy for the parents to take care of their child’s bad behavior in the privacy of their home.
On the flip side, I had those occasions where I took a kid to their home and the mom was home. It seemed some of the most common problems I had with really bad kids were the moms. I cannot tell you how many times I would stand on the doorstep of some kid’s home talking to a mom about their child’s criminal misbehavior when the mom would interrupt and ask their kid if he or she did what I just told the parents the kid had done. She would invariably look at her kid and ask them, “Did you do that?” and more often than not the kid would lie and say “NO!” Wouldn’t you know… the mom would look directly at me and tell me their child is innocent and does not lie! In those circumstances, if I had the option of taking the child into custody and putting them in juvenile hall, I would tell the idiot parent that their kid was going to be arrested and that I was merely notifying the parent that I was taking their child to juvenile hall for processing, and they could contact juvenile authorities to see how long their child would be there.
Growing up, nobody in my family ever saw the backseat of a police car. My brothers and I would have been whipped within an inch of our lives if we had gotten ourselves arrested for something as juveniles. I remember my father-in-law telling me years ago that none of his boys ever were arrested for anything when they were growing up either He said he had a conversation with them when they were young and told them flat out if one of them ever ended up in jail, not to call dad to get bailed out because they would just sit there in jail until they went to court, period, end of story.
Some parents don’t want to be parents, they try too hard to be a child’s friend. In my experience, that never works out well!
Law enforcement does not want to be the adults in anyone’s household, but there are way too many school shootings and other acts of violence involving juvenile offenders in today’s society. Nobody knows when a threat from a 12-year old is a legitimate threat of violence, or a joke of some sort. They cannot wait and do nothing until after another person is killed or injured.
So, YES, put that 12-year old behind bars and make him sit there and contemplate the consequences of his very poor decisions and behavior. That may just be what prevents him from carrying out a threat and actually committing an act of violence in the future.
R.S. says
Skibum, you err here. You are ignoring the facts of human psychology. Moral awareness and full reflection about consequences do not set in until the maturation of the frontal lobes–specifically the prefrontal cortex. This does not occur until about age 25 to 30, a bit earlier in women and a bit later in males of the species. You might as well punish paraplegics for not achieving a victory in the 100-yard dash as leaning on youngsters for not reflecting about consequences. And inflicting punishment to educate is about the dumbest anyone could ever do to any youngsters. Why would anyone want to grow up that the biggest bullies–parents–must always prevail? It just ain’t smart!!!