West Virginia teen arrested for wearing NRA shirt to school

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If it were in my community, I'd be all over the fire/police commission at city hall to FIRE THE COP and DISMISS THE CHIEF!

Why?

Because the cop arrested a mouthy brat of a teenager who wouldn't shut up?
(some people will see it that way...)
Charged him with "obstruction", which can be virtually anything the cop thinks it is, including "disrespect of cop"...?

For that, you think the officer AND the chief ought to be fired?
No, my friend, that's too much. Waay too much for that...

However, what happened AFTER the arrest, now that is something to get steamed about! And for what happened afterwards, the cop, chief, AND the DA need a serious lesson.

Arresting the kid, taking charge of the situation, ok, maybe it should have been handled better, but its a small matter, or would have been, if they had just used the arrest to remove the kid from the situation, and then dropped it. But they didn't. They kept pressing on, until it at last became clear that it was a losing game for the prosecution. It is THIS lack of good judgment that needs to be corrected.

Only small people fear to be proven wrong. Seems like we have a number of people in this system that just aren't big enough for their duties.

Arresting someone so the officer has control, and can defuse a potentially dangerous situation happens all the time all over. I don't know if its SOP, but it happens constantly.

Arresting someone for the same reason in a situation that isn't likely to get dangerous, just ugly, happens a lot, too. Maybe it shouldn't, but it does. Generally, if there's no real clear threat or violation, these things get dropped right away (once the original situation calms down). Lots of times, people don't even get "booked". But other times?

Other times they take it to court. This time, dropping the charges at this point, shows them with egg on their faces, publically admitting (without saying so in so many words) that they were in the wrong. They hate that.

but what they hate worse is losing in court. That makes them officially wrong.

They compounded a bad decision with a worse decision, and now have dropped it all, hoping it will just go away. I hope it works out for them...

People shouldn't get fired for a simple mistake. Particularly when the mistake is not one that gets someone physically harmed, or worse.

However, when a chain of officials make consistant and mutually supporting mistakes, there is a problem, and it does need to be fixed. Firing someone can be just a big a mistake as arresting that kid was. These things need to be reasoned out, not rushed into. Firing officials (at each or at any level) is an option we can always employ. It just shouldn't be the first choice, any more than arresting that kid should have been the officers first choice (or at least the one he chose).

Now, as to the teacher who began this mess, and the school who supported him, even after it was clearly a wrong choice, That's a slightly different matter. It too needs to be corrected.

"OFF WITH THEIR HEADS!" is emotionally satisfying, and it does prevent a recurrence by those individuals, but it doesn't correct the situation that caused the issue in the first place, generally. It might, if the trouble is the individuals. Trouble is, that after you say "off with their heads", you cannot later say "on with their heads!" It just doesn't work like that...

[Dixie Gunsmithing]

Just from where this took place, I can see the deputy being ignorant of the law, but as it went up the rungs of the ladder, it should have been stopped. First, the Chief of Police, should have released the kid, and thrown it out, next the DA should have not taken it, and told the chief they had no case, but then it gets worse and is brought before a judge, who lets it continue, and didn't tell the DA he had no case. It is one taking up for another, and another, in that the government never does any wrong.

It seems to me, that each one involved, needs to sit through a course on civilian rights, and their rights under the US Constitution, before they are allowed to work within the government again. Just wait until election, when all those gun owners go vote.

[Glenn E. Meyer]

http://www.nraila.org/legislation/fe...dismissed.aspx

Thankfully, on June 27th, common sense prevailed, as the parties agreed no further legal action would arise from the case. In the agreement underlying the order of dismissal, Jared did not admit guilt to any offense, and the State made clear that "[u]nder [the] circumstances [it] is not interested in the possibility of creating a juvenile criminal record for this Defendant." For his part, Marcum has offered an apology for any perceived disrespect to the officer, and he and his mother agreed to forego any civil action against the City of Logan, its police department, the police

Seems that's it, folks.

[zxcvbob]

Sounds like the school is still fair game

[Al Norris]

Glenn, you left out the whole of the last of that paragraph...

[Jared] and his mother agreed to forego any civil action against the City of Logan, its police department, the police officers involved. During the episode, NRA was in contact with and provided assistance to Marcum's attorney.

Folks, that's your NRA dollars at work, if even in the background.

[Glenn E. Meyer]

Not deliberate. Just cut and paste. Good job, NRA.

In fact, got the info from an NRA-ILA e-mail that gave the link.

[Tuzo]

What is the follow up to this unfortunate incident of teacher zealousness and ignorance leading to court action? Due to the loss of face and effective authority, the school board and/or school will revise zero tolerance policies and definitions to include suggestive messages (NRA t-shirts for example) and other forms of innocent action (pop tarts bitten into the shape of a handgun). If this happens then anything remotely suggesting a firearms will be grounds for disciplinary action or police/court intervention.

Observation of teacher behavior applicable to quite a few in the profession:

After retiring from industry I tried teaching at the secondary level. Physics was my subject but I did not continue after student teaching and certification. Why? First of all the monotony after a military and industry career was too much to bear. Students were no different in character and behavior than my days as a high school student. Teachers who began their careers in their 20's, however, were seen through a mature set of eyes and some of them seemed not much more mature than the students. Hence the Logan teacher who pressed a situation through "immature" reasoning. His misplaced authority was questioned and he lost face leading to escalation, student arrest, and court.

Teachers are under appreciated and certainly under paid and this unfortunately leads to a profession that is a bit less than professional - as explained in the basic education course in teacher's college. My sympathies reach out to the student and also to the teacher who instigated this mess.

[lcpiper]

What is the follow up to this unfortunate incident of teacher zealousness and ignorance leading to court action? Due to the loss of face and effective authority, the school board and/or school will revise zero tolerance policies ..........

Tuxo, I take it that this is a prediction of future actions the school may likely take to reduce the risk of a recurrence of this type of issue?

I see this as a very likely possibility, that instead of accepting that they were in the wrong they will in turn decide they must take additional steps to insulate themselves from legal intervention. Let's hope you are wrong.

[Double Naught Spy]

Well, the lawsuit filed on behalf of The lawsuit was filed on behalf of Tanya Lardieri and her son, Jared Marcum that the school violated the son's constitutional rights to the 1st amendment were thrown out of court.

Plaintiffs plan to refile.

http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/...missed-but-re/

[Aguila Blanca]

Hmmm ...

The Charleston Gazette-Mail (http://bit.ly/1RGOfeC) reports that a federal judge dismissed the case because of the inaction of plaintiff’s attorney, Benjamin White. The attorney said he plans to refile the lawsuit this week.

I hope Mr. White plans to represent the kid pro bono from now on. Although I'm not sure I'd be happy about being represented by an attorney who couldn't be bothered to follow up on my case enough to even keep it in front of the court.

And I speak from experience on that topic. I've been in that situation, and I assure you ... it sucks to be deprived of your day in court because the attorney you hired to get you your day court couldn't be bothered to file the paperwork on time.

[308Cajun]

Hi, My name is Scott. Newbie here, and my first post. I just had to comment on this story. We see stuff like this on the news all the time where someone's child is "disciplined" for not being "politically correct", apparently in violation of several constitutional rights. I'm sure some of these stories are either exaggerated, or maybe even downright false. But, knowing the mindset of the typical members of academia, I'm pretty sure there is a lot of truth there. What I'm wondering is why aren't these school administrators and school boards having to comb lawyers out of their hair when one of these stupid situations arise.. In a place like W.Virginia, why aren't the local citizens not blistering the ears of their elected representatives, the school board members. It seems to me if you put enough pressure on a politician, to the point of threatening to un-elect him next time he runs for office, some of this crap would be curtailed. But it doesn't seem to be happening. Have the American people become nothing but sheep.

[Sweet Shooter]

@308Cajun... I completely agree with you. The two problems as I see it:

1. Politicians and elected "officials" usually have agendas that blinker their outlook, and they forget very quickly that they are hired by the people to work for the people.

2. The people forget very quickly how poorly they are served (actually treated) by the ones they elect, even on massive international scales, not just local levels. We actually don't care enough to do anything about it. Until it affects us directly... Being told how to dress is no big deal, Hollywood dictates that every day. Having a family member arrested is what it takes to stir the pot.

Why should we worry? We get what we deserve right?
-SS-

[Frank Ettin]

Old news at this stage. If something further happens with this case, it would be best for someone to start a new thread.