Teen death at Whitman?

[Anonymous]

This just makes me so sad. Curious why officers could not have charged the boy with underage drinking -- would have saved his life.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Can NBC 4 please forcibly retire Pat Collins? I don't know if it's his age or some other infirmity but his "reporting" is pathetic and disgraceful. Old doddering white men have it so easy.

He'll never retire. He'll have to be carried out with his snow stick.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This just makes me so sad. Curious why officers could not have charged the boy with underage drinking -- would have saved his life.

I feel so terrible for the boy and his family.

[Anonymous]

There’s body camera footage of the police talking to this boy.’ Who knows what they said to him but then he’s outside disoriented in the cold? Great!

Then when his father goes to the police station at 3 am to report him missing on that freezing night they DONT EVEN TAKE A REPORT.
The dad probably drove to the police station because the police wouldn’t even come and talk to him and help when he called.

This is the Bethesda police force in a nutshell - you call them and they don’t even come out - they come out the next darned day. Maybe. Preferably when you aren’t there & the issue is long over.

In how many areas do the Police not even come when you call??
Where else do they tell you that it’s your fault that criminals break into your cars every night?
Bethesda. But you’d think that a human being would be more important than a car break in?
What is the point of having this kind of police force?

Poor family!

[Anonymous]

Teen is such a vulnerable age. It is a small miracle that most of us survived.

I feel so sad for the family.

[Anonymous]

This is such a sad story. So many folks trying to do the right thing that just tragically went wrong. The family hosting the party breaking it up when alcohol was discovered-telling kids to call their parents, the police officers not arresting the kids when maybe they could have, his poor parents that went to police station in middle of night, and his friends. I pray for all those surrounding this death, especially his parents.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:More details from the police: http://www.mymcpnews.com/2017/12/12/update-detectives-continue-to-investigate-death-of-bethesda-teenager/

Sounds like there was a planned party without alcohol and parents were at least loosely supervising, but then extra uninvited kids found out about it on social media and showed up with alcohol and made a mess. When the parents realized what was going on, they told everybody to call their parents for rides and to go home.

This kid was seen to be possibly drunk by the police who responded, but his friends said they were leaving with him so the cops didn't do anything. I guess at some point he separated from the friends and never made it home.

Why his father spoke to the police about his kid not coming home at 3:30am, but then only reported him missing at 12:30pm and tried Find my iPhone or whatever to track him at that point, I have no clue.

Seems like a series of mistakes and misjudgments by various parties that wouldn't have been a disaster on their own, but added up to this sad situation. And even then, probably 99 times out of 100 the kid makes it home anyway. Just tragic.

And I thought this couldn't get worse. I'm guessing the cops thought they were doing him a favor by letting him go. I'm always amazed that kids have the audacity to show up at a home where there are parents present, uninvited and with booze.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:More details from the police: http://www.mymcpnews.com/2017/12/12/update-detectives-continue-to-investigate-death-of-bethesda-teenager/

Sounds like there was a planned party without alcohol and parents were at least loosely supervising, but then extra uninvited kids found out about it on social media and showed up with alcohol and made a mess. When the parents realized what was going on, they told everybody to call their parents for rides and to go home.

This kid was seen to be possibly drunk by the police who responded, but his friends said they were leaving with him so the cops didn't do anything. I guess at some point he separated from the friends and never made it home.

Why his father spoke to the police about his kid not coming home at 3:30am, but then only reported him missing at 12:30pm and tried Find my iPhone or whatever to track him at that point, I have no clue.

Seems like a series of mistakes and misjudgments by various parties that wouldn't have been a disaster on their own, but added up to this sad situation. And even then, probably 99 times out of 100 the kid makes it home anyway. Just tragic.

I thought that a neighbor or a passerby called the cops? I seem to remember that there is a recording of the caller complaining about a bonfire, loud kids, etc ? Did that not happen?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This just makes me so sad. Curious why officers could not have charged the boy with underage drinking -- would have saved his life.

Unless he was obviously seriously impaired, I am not sure you can say the cops should have arrested him, or otherwise taken greater steps to insure he got home. Generally speaking, I am in favor of cops exercising their discretion not to arrest in every instance they could, particularly since it sounds like the party had broken up and people were complying. Plus, it isn't even 100% clear to me based on what has been reported that they would have had probably cause to arrest him specifically at that juncture.

This was a tragedy, but it isn't clear that such unfortunate results were foreseeable at that point and I don't think the cops arresting everyone at the site of a high school party (especially one that seemed fairly tame and was being dispersed) is the answer.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:There’s body camera footage of the police talking to this boy.’ Who knows what they said to him but then he’s outside disoriented in the cold? Great!

Then when his father goes to the police station at 3 am to report him missing on that freezing night they DONT EVEN TAKE A REPORT.
The dad probably drove to the police station because the police wouldn’t even come and talk to him and help when he called.

This is the Bethesda police force in a nutshell - you call them and they don’t even come out - they come out the next darned day. Maybe. Preferably when you aren’t there & the issue is long over.

In how many areas do the Police not even come when you call??
Where else do they tell you that it’s your fault that criminals break into your cars every night?
Bethesda. But you’d think that a human being would be more important than a car break in?
What is the point of having this kind of police force?

Poor family!

The father may have heard that his son was seen talking to police and he stopped by the police station to make sure that his son hadn't been arrested. Maybe he thought that his son, who was apparently popular and very well liked, had gone to one of his many friends' houses and that he would be back home in the morning.

My heart goes out to this boy and his family. No one would have expected this to happen. The boy was in a nice neighborhood, surrounded by fun loving friends, walking home along a well known and often traveled path. I look back on how many times I did that sort of thing when I was younger.....that something like this could happen just wasn't even on my radar.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I drank and partied in HS. I was a good kid-- got good grades, had a job, etc. My parents didn't know I was partying-- they were great parents but were not on top of me every second (and I don't believe any of you who say you know where your kid is all times in HS). This could have happened to me or any of my friends. Right now, this could happen to your kids or any of their friends. If you think 'never my kid' or 'I would kill my kid for that' then you are the type of parents whose kids wont tell them when they need a ride home from such party, etc...be smart people-- maybe not all HS kids drink, but don't kid yourself that your child is somehow safe from all of this because you are such a great parent.

Exact same. I think a lot of you are pretty delusional / would be surprised to find out how easily your kid gives you lip service on this stuff

I'm a pretty strict parent and always ask where kids are going, who else will be there, if parents are home, etc., but I recognize that my kid can lie to me and I have no way of checking. So, DC can say she is going to a movie and really go somewhere else (as I often did as a teen).

The more important thing to do, I think, is to have a curfew (midnight to 1-ish) that is late enough to let them go out but not so late that they can drink a lot and sober up by curfew.

DC knows I will be up when she gets home and knows she will have to have a conversation with me and interact with me long enough when she gets home that I will notice if she is drunk or stoned. She also knows if she breaks curfew or gets caught lying she will get grounded. Finally, she knows she can call me in any situation, even drunk or stoned, and ask for help or a ride.

No sleepovers at parent's houses whom I don't know well and trust to not serve.

I hope all of these things mean that she has some independence with guard rails.

[Anonymous]

For all of you piping up saying ‘he was drinking, he was drinking!’ like it’s this big bad horrible thing, have any of you ever been drinking?
Has anyone, host or police, ever turned you out of their house in the freezing cold during a party without a care?

Even a bar cuts people off at least 45 minutes before closing time. It’s called ‘Last Call’.

We’re supposed to care about other people’s welfare, remember?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This just makes me so sad. Curious why officers could not have charged the boy with underage drinking -- would have saved his life.

Unless he was obviously seriously impaired, I am not sure you can say the cops should have arrested him, or otherwise taken greater steps to insure he got home. Generally speaking, I am in favor of cops exercising their discretion not to arrest in every instance they could, particularly since it sounds like the party had broken up and people were complying. Plus, it isn't even 100% clear to me based on what has been reported that they would have had probably cause to arrest him specifically at that juncture.

This was a tragedy, but it isn't clear that such unfortunate results were foreseeable at that point and I don't think the cops arresting everyone at the site of a high school party (especially one that seemed fairly tame and was being dispersed) is the answer.

Far short of arrest (and fretting over probable cause and unforeseen circumstances), police can simply call the kid’s parents to come pick kid up. It works. Ask me how I know.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Teen is such a vulnerable age. It is a small miracle that most of us survived.

I feel so sad for the family.

agree! I have always said that the goal is to get through the years 18-25 without making a major life-impacting mistake (be that drinking and driving, being raped, getting an STD/HIV, unplanned pregnancy, etc.). Kids/young adults that age have so much freedom and mobility, and don't have the wisdom to make better decisions. We who have made it through, know that we were lucky at least a few times when things could have turned out differently.

This young man made a terrible mistake. It is tragic, but it was an accident. Accidents happen and sometimes, unfortunately, the consequences are grave. That doesn't mean that the police need to do something different. They aren't responsible. The person who sold the alcohol to a teen or who provided it does bear some fault. But, in the end, it was an accident.

[Anonymous]

I am wondering if something else played a role - if he was drunk and stumbling in a wooded area if he fell and hit his head and was concussed or had freak subdural hematoma that prevented him from self-help. Only autopsy will show this.