Teen accused of stealing 65-cent carton of milk at middle school to face trial

[Anonymous]

The only good thing to come out of this article was that the lawyer admits that racial profiling can come from anyone. So much for only whites being able to be racist.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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Anonymous wrote:Sounds like they gave him every opportunity to fix it without it becoming a big deal, and the student wanted to escalate it. Now he gets to be a victim of institutional racism, which I'm sure will get him on TV and so on.

Or, on the flip side, he did nothing wrong, felt like he did nothing wrong, and was blamed for something and offered an opportunity to cop a plea when he was actually innocent? So now he is trying to make a stand to show the biases of the system?

I agree with this. He didn't do anything wrong. They need to throw this case out- over a .65 cent milk. The prosecutors should be ashamed.

Stealing not wrong in certain culture?

He didn't steal it. It had been paid for. That's how free lunch works. This is no different than if you checked out, and accidentally left an item that was paid for by the register, and you went back and grabbed it.

That is so so wrong. Try that at the grocery store next time.

If only we lived in a world in which such accommodations were free from abuse.

[Anonymous]

I wonder if anyone posting has ever spent time in the madness that is a middle school cafeteria.

He was wrong for refusing to cooperate, but that's pretty much what this age group does. The school is wrong for escalating this over a carton of milk that's been accounted for with federal dollars and really wasn't stolen. This should have been handled (in my opinion) with an administrative/parent/student conference and an administrative lunch detention for a couple of days.

[Anonymous]

1. We really do not know what happened. Stealing food in the lunch line is a problem at some schools. Is it right to let a child get by if he did steal it? He could have told the cashier that he forgot it.
2. And, FWIW, it is not just free lunch kids who steal. There was a much publicized incident a few years ago of an affluent student at a very affluent public school who ended up being expelled from his school as a result of stealing food. He was not African American.
3. It sounds to me like the real problem was the child's behavior toward the officer. Is this okay?
4. This did not start out as an occasion for a trial--it started with a belligerent kid. Why wouldn't he go see the principal?
5. Yes, the judge will probably throw this out--and the family will sue. Another frivolous law suit and a lesson not learned.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Something similar happened to my daughter last year. She was a second grader and went through the line and grabbed her meal and then sat down. She then realized that she forgot to grab something that went with the meal (included). The line was long so she went straight to the item and grabbed it. A child started to yell at her that she was cutting in line and more kids joined in. A cafeteria worker came and started to yell at her. She was so flustered that she didn't say anything and I was sent a note home. She explained what happened, and has never wanted to buy food from the cafeteria ever again.

Aren't there people in the lunch room to help with this kind of thing? People were screaming at a second grader? I'd be ripping them all a new one until they fixed that.

[Anonymous]

I guess I'm trying to understand why there is a damn police officer in the cafeteria policing the lunch line

That is bullshit

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I guess I'm trying to understand why there is a damn police officer in the cafeteria policing the lunch line

That is bullshit

Our middle class suburban high school had a police officer. I don't remember if our middle school did or not, but it wouldn't surprise me.

I thought they were for community relations mostly, and for arresting the kids who did drugs or brought in guns, etc. Apparently also for dealing with unruly students during the lunch period.

[Anonymous]

Rapists get probation if they're white males, but black males who take FREE milk worth $0.65 should go to jail. Got it America!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Rapists get probation if they're white males, but black males who take FREE milk worth $0.65 should go to jail. Got it America!

Truth

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It's a sixty five cent carton of milk that the school did not pay for. That milk is paid for by the USDA, a federal agency. So they are going to spend thousands of dollars to prosecute a .65 product. Idiots. Oh, it's Virginia.

Yes, let everyone know there are no consequences to illegal behavior. Steal small stuff...it's fine....

He didn't steal it. But heck, we always go after the poor for the minor thefts. We rarely go after white collar criminals who steal millions. How many bankers have been prosecuted for stealing sixty five thousand, sixty five million .. . .

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Rapists get probation if they're white males, but black males who take FREE milk worth $0.65 should go to jail. Got it America!

Doing your part to further race relations in this country, I see. Exaggeration and inaccuracy...

[Anonymous]

Even if the kid didn't handle the situation perfectly, this is not the sort of incident that should result in criminal prosecution. How about some restorative justice within the school system? Studies show it has much better results for all students in the long-run.

Unfortunately, the presence of these resource officers, which is supposed to make things safer, often has the opposite effect and they can certainly escalate things unnecessarily.

[Anonymous]

Your only reading one side of the story. I am sure the police/cafeteria works saw it this way: a student cut in line to get milk and when asked about it he refused to cooperate ergo they thought he was stealing. The cafeteria workers nor the police should be expected to remember, who is a FARMS student. Also, even if he is a FARMS student taking an extra milk (2) would also be considered stealing. He really just needed to explain himself and since he didn't, the situation escalated.

[Anonymous]

The kid refused to talk to the principal. I think the family chose to go the court route.

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:Frickin ridiculous

My father was an assistant principal. He faced down kids with knives and nunchucks. And I don't believe law enforcement was ever involved.

Seriously? Going to court over a milk? I just can't

The kid was offered the option not to go to court. He chose not to take that option.

He was offered a punishment. I wouldn't accept a punishment if I didn't do anything wrong. Good for this kid to have a backbone.

His mother is either backing him or making him go to court for this. Taking a stand on pricniple is a valuable life skill, backing down and apologizing to smoothe things over is another valuable life skill.

The school sounds somewhat unreasonable here, but they are the authorities. If he were to act like a responsible student (soon he'll be driving, not much longer until he's an adult), apologize rather than escalate, then he wouldn't need to go to court, in front of a judge.

Yes, it's a good thing that he and his mother are taking a stand against the unreasonable school/"authorities". Maybe they should take responsibility now for their over-reaction, rather than force this in front of a judge.