- Dear Chief Rivera,
-
- Thank you very much for your response. It is quite amazing
how the media often leaves out critical details, seemingly to give their
story more impact. Or, perhaps they genuinely did not know about the upsurge
in gun-related incidents your department has had to deal with lately.
-
- I am happy to hear you have dropped the charges against
the boy, however, as I had mentioned, I, personally, was not so upset with
his mother being charged. I find what she did was downright dumb -- allowing
her child to play with a realistic, black, spray-painted toy gun in a city
replete with a recent history of gun violence. I think she's just begging
for her son to be shot by an officer. It has happened before. Absolutely
stupid of her, in my opinion. If stupidity were a crime, I do believe
she should be charged. My roommate just told me that yesterday, here in
L.A. County, that an ice cream truck had realistic toy guns hanging on
the back, which were for sale to children. Needless to say, he was quite
upset by this, as I'd have been had I seen that. A child playing with
a realistic toy gun in public might as well be wearing a target, as police
often cannot tell the difference between a real gun and a toy gun.
-
- I suspect that the "dozens and dozens" of e-mails
you received may have influenced the department's decision to drop all
charges, and it was probably a wise one to get people off your backs so
the town can return to "normal." Although, I hope all those
gun incidents are not considered normal for Lorain.
-
- I'm not sure what your stand on the entire gun-control
issue is, but I'd like to share a little of my own perspective on the issue,
if I may, as I think it is important to discuss such perspectives when
incidents such as these stir people's "anti-gun" or "pro-gun"
rhetoric.
-
- I read recently about a "Defense Walk" through
Lorain (see article below) where 100 gun-bearing citizens walked with their
guns concealed to demonstrate to the public that it is legal to carry concealed
weapons in Ohio. I am 110% in support of our Constitutionally mandated
right to bear arms, and am also aware that many people, in today's day
and age, are not in their right minds.
-
- There are some things that I am not sure the framers
of our Constitution had in mind when penning the Second Amendment. Today's
people have been exposed to an enormous amount of violence via the media
and entertainment industries, which, in my opinion, will increase the likelihood
of actual violence rather than decrease it or have no effect upon it.
Also, drug, alcohol and mental /emotional problems certainly appear to
be on the rise. The latter as noted by the proliferation of anti-depressive
and anti-anxiety medications on the market in the past few years. Combined
with the stress many people feel from being bombarded with relentless media
reports of ever-increasing violence and worldwide terrorist attacks, we
find ourselves in a situation where many people are just downright scared
and confused. A fearful populace will tend to attack itself and others
when it feels threatened and out of control, as it converts it's fear into
aggression. And finally, the proliferation of violent street gangs was
not something I believe we saw too much of at the time the Constitution
was written -- except, perhaps, for your occasional lynching -- but, I
believe those are categorically different from street gangs, and that those
usually ended in a hanging, burning or beating rather than a shooting.
However, given all this, I firmly believe the Second Amendment is meant
to protect the general populace from enemies, both foreign and domestic,
and that it does just that.
-
- Many criminals are obviously abusing their right to bear
arms at the expense of the rights of law-abiding citizens. But, that's
what criminals do. I believe those criminals would do so with or without
more gun laws in place, and that it is very likely that violent crime would
increase enormously with the outlawing of guns, as it did in Australia
(see article below) where they saw a huge increase in gun-related crimes
-- likely because the criminals with the guns knew no one else had them
anymore. In the article below, official statistics are reputed with what
I feel may be more accurate statistics on how outlawing guns have actually
increased gun-related crimes in Australia. As the saying goes, "If
we outlaw guns, then only the outlaws will have guns."
-
- Anyway, given your additional explanation of the circumstances
surrounding this incident, I think your officer handled the situation extremely
well -- except, perhaps, for charging the child with a crime. I wish your
officer well, and pray for his speedy recovery. It is quite heroic to
risk one's life to protect others. He is quite fortunate he did not lose
his life.
-
- I am forwarding your response to the Morning Journal
in the hopes that they will take the time to re-report this story -- this
time including the wider perspective laid down by the important background
information you just shared with me, which readers need to know in order
to have a more well-rounded understanding of the matter. The initial article,
lacking in sufficient background information, seems to have resulted in
a swarm of hive-minded reactions, resulting in the spewing of angry rhetoric
your way. In light of what you shared, I find the Morning Journal's article
to have been terribly misleading and one-sided.
-
- Keep up the good fight and please pardon my initial ignorance
of the extenuating circumstances that were not reported in the media.
-
- Best wishes,
- Peter Michel
-
-
- ----- Original Message -----
-
- From: Chief
- To:P. Michel
- Sent: Thursday, October 30, 2003 10:20 AM
- Subject: Re: 9 year old with toy gun arrested
-
- Mr. Michel:
-
- I have received literally dozens and dozens of e-mails
relative to this issue. Most of it has been hate filled rhetoric. However,
you seem genuinely concerned and I value your constructive criticism. Actually,
the newspaper story left out some important information (primarily because
the officer didn't articulate it in his report)..there was a vehicle between
the officer and youth..the officer only saw an arm waving a gun and the
top of a hooded jacket...he did not realize that it was a young child until
he was down on the ground...despite the expectations of society officers
are just human and they certainly are not infallible. The charges against
the young boy have been dismissed and today the charges against the mother
are going to be dismissed at the request of the officer. Just for your
information, we have had a dramatic upsurge in the last 3 to 4 weeks of
gun incidents in this area, including a double homicide and 7-8 attempted
murders...a couple of days before a subject shot 3 people less than two
blocks from this incident...several of these incidents have involved young
teenage "gang" members involved in the drug trade. In fact,
this same officer was sent on a young teenage youth carrying and loading
an automatic pistol about two hours later and was injured while making
the arrest...he is currently on "injured on duty" status and
not expected back for several weeks. Thank you for your input.
-
- Chief Cel Rivera
- Lorain Police Department
-
-
-
- ----- Original Message -----
- From: P. Michel
- To: chief@cityoflorain.org
- Sent: Thursday, October 30, 2003 4:15 AM
- Subject: re: 9 year old with toy gun arrested
-
- Dear Chief Rivera,
-
- I just want to express to you how absolutely shocked
I am at what I see to be an incredibly insensitive move your officer made
in arresting that 9 year-old for playing with a toy gun. If the reports
in the news are accurate, then I believe your officer has completely embarrassed
the city of Lorain on a national scale.
-
- While the officer's actions to ensure the gun was not
real and in subduing the child until he could ascertain that it wasn't
real were certainly prudent, his actions after that appear to have been
overreactive. To arrest and charge this child is the height of lunacy
in my opinion. I do not believe arresting the child and charging him is
in any way going to help him or anyone else, as in his mind, what did he
do wrong but play? Charging him for playing is crazy. What lesson will
he learn from this? The purpose of the law is to help foster public safety.
How is charging that child going to do that? Please explain that to me.
Do you think that kid will wave a toy gun in public again after being
handled at gunpoint and handcuffed? Do you really think pressing charges
is going to teach him anything he hasn't already learned?
-
- It is understood that officers cannot always tell the
difference between a real gun and a toy gun, and thus, they need to protect
themselves. I do not fault your officer for the actions he took to subdue
the child as I feel he took the appropriate actions given the circumstances.
However, to press charges on the child for playing will not help him or
anyone else.
-
- If anyone should be charged, it should only be the Mother
-- for allowing her child to play with a realistic looking, black spray-painted
toy gun. That is the height of stupidity.
-
- I believe it would make a great deal of sense to drop
all charges against this boy. The Mother I am not so concerned about.
She is an adult and should have known better. But, give the kid a break.
You're not helping him.
-
- Sincerely,
- Peter Michel
-
-
-
- 9 Year Old Arrested For Waving Toy Gun
- By Michael C. Fitzpatrick
- Morning Journal Writer - Cleveland
- 10-29-3
-
- LORAIN -- A 9-year-old boy
was arrested at gunpoint and handcuffed Saturday because he was waving
a toy gun over his head while seated on a bench outside a store, according
to a Lorain police report.
-
- His mother, Tamyka Saunders of Sheffield Lake, said her
son, Thomas Clark Jr., told Lorain police when they approached him outside
a Broadway business that the gun was a toy. An officer aimed his weapon
at the boy's head, ordered him to the ground, handcuffed him and arrested
hi
- m for juvenile delinquency by reason of inducing panic,
according to the police report.
- Saunders, 28, was also charged with obstruction of justice
and resisting arrest when she pleaded with police not to arrest her son
and to give him a warning, according to a police report.
-
- ''He doesn't deserve this. He is not a bad kid at all.
That's what I was trying to explain to the officer. It's just not fair,''
Saunders said.
-
- Saunders was getting her hair done at the Northern Institute
of Cosmetology on Broadway near Seventh Street when the incident began.
-
- Saunders said she and her son were spending the day together
. Saunders said her son got his hair cut first, and then he went outside
to play while waiting on her.
-
- A passer-by who saw the boy playing just before noon
with a gun -- described by police as a black plastic toy gun -- called
police, who responded to the scene and found the boy ''waving what appeared
to be a black handgun above his head,'' according to a police report. The
report said the gun was spray painted black and resembled a genuine gun.
- At that point, Officer Joe Novosielski confronted the
boy at gunpoint, ordering him to drop the gun and then lie on the ground,
the report said.
-
- Thomas, who his mother said has been diagnosed with attention
deficit disorder, said he was frightened by the incident.
-
- Lorain police said Novosielski handled the situation
properly.
- ''Obviously, someone got scared and called the police.
Nobody driving down the street could tell it was a toy gun, so that's where
the panic comes in. We charge that to anyone doing that,'' Lt. Robert Poli
said. ''We're not going to tolerate anyone walking down the street, sitting
on a bench ... if he's waving a gun around,'' Poli said. ''You don't know
it's a toy gun.''
-
- Saunders said police were not even going to come inside
the cosmetology institute to tell her they were arresting her son. She
said she learned from another woman her son was being arrested.
-
- Saunders, wearing curlers in her hair, said she raced
out to the police car to attempt to intervene on her son's behalf.
-
- ''He (Novosielski) snatched me by the arm and cuffed
me. People were just walking down the street shaking their heads. I did
not cuss at him, and I did not yell at him, because I'm not that type of
person. I feel I'm the one that was disrespected,'' Saunders said of her
arrest.
-
- When informed her son was being arrested, Saunders attempted
to pull her son away from the officer but moved away when told to, according
to the report.
- Police said Saunders pleaded with them not to arrest
her son and to ''just give him a warning,'' according to the report. She
also told police her son ''was just playing'' and that he didn't point
the gun at anyone before asking police, ''Don't you have anything better
to do?''
-
- Saunders was eventually arrested after refusing to move
away from the cruiser where her son had been placed, the report said. The
officer told her to finish her business at the beauty salon and then come
to the station to pick up her son, according to the report.
- She is free on $750 bond and is scheduled to appear in
Lorain Municipal Court today. The report of Thomas' arrest was forwarded
to the juvenile court system, according to the police report.
-
- Lorain County Prosecutor's Office spokesman Mark Hastings
said the report had not been received yet.
- ©The Morning Journal 2003
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