Article

2020-10-27 -Land of the Free

Case Dropped After 4th Grader Faced Criminal Charges For BB Gun In Room During Online Learning

[DailyCaller] Prosecutors dropped criminal charges against a 4th-grade student after he was seen with a BB gun during an online class in Louisiana.

Rondell Coleman, 11, was read his rights and interrogated following the Sept. 18 incident after a police report alleged the boy was "brandishing a gun on camera," according to WDSU. Coleman’s school, East Baton Rouge Parish, recommended him for expulsion and the boy was forced to enroll in another district, the local outlet reported.

"This is a BB gun," Coleman’s grandmother told WDSU. "You’re going to come and read a kid rights because he has a BB gun? I don’t know if they’re confused that we’re not on campus. We’re in our home. We are in our private home."

Louisiana Solicitor General Liz Murrill contacted the 11-year-old’s original school and criminal charges were dropped, according to WDSU. Coleman has since returned to East Baton Rouge Parish, but family said the boy is more quiet and "doesn’t understand what he did wrong," the local outlet reported.

Ka’Mauri Harrison, another Louisiana 4th grader, was threatened with expulsion after he too was seen with a BB gun during an online learning session months prior to Coleman’s case, according to WDSU.

Murrill said both incidents exemplified government overreach.

"We just saw this to be very significant government overreach, and I think everyone in the country is sympathetic to that and that first story really triggered that firestorm," she told the local outlet.

The incidents have prompted state legislators to create the Ka’Mauri Harrison Act, which affords legal protections to online students and mandates schools to create disciplinary procedures by the end of the year, according to WDSU.

The bill is awaiting Democratic Louisiana Gov. John Bel Edwards’ signature, the local outlet reported.

Any word on whether the Democratic governor plans to sign the thing, or must it await a Republican in office?

Posted by 746 2020-10-27 12:08|| || Front Page|| [11137 views ] Top

#1 Murrill said both incidents exemplified government overreach.

I call it school stupid groupthink.

Posted by gorb 2020-10-27 14:19|| 2020-10-27 14:19|| Front Page Top

#2 People who get caught up in zero-tolerance fanaticism lose all perspective. Eventually they lose all credibility too.

Posted by M. Murcek 2020-10-27 14:28|| 2020-10-27 14:28|| Front Page Top

#3 There might be a case pending in Baltimore as well, if I recall correctly.

Posted by Clem 2020-10-27 14:39|| 2020-10-27 14:39|| Front Page Top

#4 All 4 local grandkids are getting BB guns for Xmas.

They all live in MA so the guns will be staying at our log cabin in NH.

People that would have a fit like this should be smeared with honey and staked on an ant hill.

Posted by AlanC 2020-10-27 15:28|| 2020-10-27 15:28|| Front Page Top

#5 Several more similar cases in the school district (and also other districts.) Their understanding is that during remote learning the home is part of the school and subject to the school zero-tolerance rules. The student may avoid criminal prosecution but school disciplinary action is still pending, as far as I know.

Posted by Glenmore 2020-10-27 15:49|| 2020-10-27 15:49|| Front Page Top

#6 How things have changed in three generations. Back in the 30s, my dad and his buddy used to take their hunting rifles to school, keep them in their lockers for the day, and go hunting on the way home.
A friend of mine said that in the 60s, he took a 1911 pistol to school. He exchanged it for another, from one of his teachers.

Posted by Rambler in Virginia 2020-10-27 16:04|| 2020-10-27 16:04|| Front Page Top

#7 Their understanding is that during remote learning the home is part of the school...

They're full of shit.

Posted by Rob Crawford 2020-10-27 16:10|| 2020-10-27 16:10|| Front Page Top

#8 Come on people, be fair - do you expect a teacher to be able to distinguish between a BB and a dangerous assault weapon?

Posted by g(r)omgoru 2020-10-27 16:21|| 2020-10-27 16:21|| Front Page Top

#9 ...well no more than a keen eyed 'journalist' can discern the difference between a tank, armored personnel carrier, armored car, or self propelled artillery.

Posted by Procopius2k 2020-10-27 18:36|| 2020-10-27 18:36|| Front Page Top

#10 I don't care if the kid has an ack-ack battery. If it is not illegal and he is AT HOME, then these Marxist teachers and school administrators can go perform unnatural acts on themselves.

Posted by Clem 2020-10-27 18:42|| 2020-10-27 18:42|| Front Page Top

#11 Reasonable-minded good people on the “Left” and the “Right” share the same common enemy:

dark elitist platonic would-be philosopher kings with voracious avarice in their cold hearts, and lacking in any basic human empathy or even shreds of decency.

All they want is power . . . exactly what we must never let them have.

Posted by cingold 2020-10-27 18:46|| 2020-10-27 18:46|| Front Page Top

#12 The family should sue the teacher, school board, and police that took this serious. This is a crime, the teacher and police violated their civil rights and should pay.

Posted by 49 Pan 2020-10-27 19:04|| 2020-10-27 19:04|| Front Page Top

#13 The perps all probably have qualified immunity from any damages.

However, a case establishing that this is a violation of civil rights could pave the way for other victims to recover damages. Also, an injunction barring any future violations might be comforting.

Posted by cingold 2020-10-27 19:37|| 2020-10-27 19:37|| Front Page Top

21:25 Anomalous Sources
21:05 swksvolFF
19:54 Rambler
19:53 Rambler
19:17 Pancho Poodle8452
18:47 Pancho Poodle8452
18:32 technochitlin
18:19 Angstrom
17:48 49 Pan
17:38 Lord Garth
17:29 alanc
17:09 BrerRabbit
16:13 Pancho Poodle8452
16:08 Beavis
16:08 Lord Garth
15:52 Lord Garth
15:28 trailing wife
15:26 Pancho Poodle8452
15:26 trailing wife
14:34 Frank G
14:28 Melancholic
14:27 NoMoreBS
14:14 swksvolFF
14:12 swksvolFF