89-year-old charged with keeping kids' ball

89-year-old charged with keeping kids' ball

www.breitbart.com

BLUE ASH, Ohio (AP) - Police in Ohio say an 89-year-old woman is facing a charge of petty theft because neighborhood children accuse her of refusing to give back their football.
Edna Jester was arrested last week in the Cincinnati suburb of Blue Ash.

(visit the link for the full news article)

Edit to add:
Video of 89 yearl old woman being arrested.

[edit on 21-10-2008 by cbass]

Well, Here we go again. I hope this police officer is proud
of fulfilling his duty to uphold the law and saw fit to arrest an 89 year old woman.
What if this was your grandma that you saw in hancuffs being escorted out to the Police car.
And for what? Keeping a kids ball that landed in her yard?
I thought that was just standard operating procedure in a neighborhood with crabby old people. It was when I was a kid. That was just a given.
Then we have the loser who called the police in the first place. If I were the parent of that child, I would have said
"Son, I will buy you a new ball, but if you get this one taken away from Ol'lady Crabapple, thern you're out of luck". Am I wrong?

www.breitbart.com
(visit the link for the full news article)

[edit on 21-10-2008 by cbass]

6 months in jail for petty theft?

Another thing, the ball landed on her property. You are not wrong, as far as I'm concerned threatening an 89 old lady with jail, whatever her abusive and vulgar traits might be, is the only petty thing in the article.

This is wrong in so many ways. My Nanna use to do the same thing, she maintains hers garden quite well, hard work for an old lady.At first she would hand the ball back, but then as time went on it was like the local kids were purposely doing it.It frustrates old people, they feel its disrespect.I hope when this old lady gets to court the judge has a good mind to throw out the case and repremand the arresting officer for wasting time.This was clearly an issue that could have been settled at the front door,not at the police station, thanks for posting.
Btw....Whats pink and wrinkly, and hangs out your undies ????



Your Grandma!!!

God lovem.

Yeah, this should just be tough luck to the kids.

It's the cops that took this call seriously that annoy me. Don't you have any murders to solve, or something?

reply to post by cbass


Your not wrong cbass.. the threat of loosing a ball teaches kids about responsible playing... I have two boys that live beside me. Their balls used to come over all the time and every 20 minutes I would have to stop what I was doing to answer the door and fetch their ball.. this was annoying but I did it nonetheless.

Sometimes when I was out for a while, I would come back home and find that the boys had climbed the fence and been in the backyard. I found broken pots, a broken garden light, plants snapped in half, palings ripped off my fence, cracks in windows and so on - all on separate occasions and of course - the boys didn't do it! These things just all magically happened by themselves. Their mother was no help either (denying everything) so I started keeping the balls and giving them to a charity that gives toys to under privileged children.

Thankfully it doesn't happen anymore and they have finally learned after loosing their prized soccer ball (signed by Beckham) how to be responsible with their play. I promised to give it back to them if they could prove to me that they could play responsibly for 3 months.. and guess what - they did! However this didn't fix the hundreds of dollars damage that they did to my property.

Many parents are to blame for forcing other people to educate their children, often at the other persons expense!

IRM

at least they didn't feel she was so much of a threat that they had to tazer her.

which anymore it's a wonder they didn't

it's a shame when children are taught the lesson that they can do whatever they want and the other person will get in trouble. poor grandma

I don’t see any age discrimination in the law except in the case of minors. So if she broke the law and an officer was sent to her house, then she pays the price. Not really the officers choice in the matter if they want to enforce the law or not, unless they want to claim it’s a civil matter. If she had been smart about it, she would have called the police first and had them trespassed off her land.
Two things though that I am sure added to this:
1) I will bet this is not the first time or call, and the police were sick of the argument.
2) I will bet she gave the officer an earful when they arrived at her house.

Both of those constitute POP (pe’ven off the police) offences and tend to make officers more prone to arrest you.

The police asked her to give it back, but she refused. She said she'd give it back on her own time. Then they gave her a ticket, to appear in court, which she refused to sign. So, off to the clink, granny!


Edit to add: newspaper article source:


[edit on 21-10-2008 by Ian McLean]

reply to post by Ian McLean


Well that explains it then.

People don’t understand that the days of calling Barny Fife in to get your cat out of the tree, are gone. Now when they dispatch a car, eight times in ten someone is going for a ride in it downtown. Police have too much liability to worry about in this day and age to be messing around with the silly stuff, and they have to follow the letter of the law very closely.

reply to post by defcon5


"and they have to follow the letter of the law very closely."

No they don't. Read the news.

reply to post by defcon5


Nice and clean cut for you mate. What they don't mention is what it took for it to get to that point. I bet that the kids were little spoilt brats who's parents let them run-a-muck on the whole neighborhood.

It wouldn't surprise me if the poor old lady had her hand forced by the parents lack of action, authority & guidance into keeping the ball. I bet they drove that poor old lady insane on many occasions leading up to this and it was a last ditched attempt on her behalf to get the respect (and peace) she deserved.

Keeping the ball is a consequence.. not an action!

IRM

reply to post by TruthTellist


Actually, I have a lot of police officer friends, and they have to follow it very closely if they want to keep their jobs long term. There are bad apples in every bunch, but the majority do as they are expected to do. Also many of the news items you hear about police (especially on places like prison planet, and even ATS) are often incorrect in their assessment of what the law really is. A prime example is use of force, and I normally point out the “Use of Force Matrix” and that pretty much ends the topic every time. Again there are often situations where the officer is doing exactly what he is supposed to, but the other guy cries foul and takes it to the press, who don’t know what the law really is, and it sounds unfair to them, so they write about it.

Originally posted by InfaRedMan
Nice and clean cut for you mate. What they don't mention is what it took for it to get to that point. I bet that the kids were little spoilt brats who's parents let them run-a-muck on the whole neighborhood.

It wouldn't surprise me if the poor old lady had her hand forced by the parents lack of action, authority & guidance into keeping the ball. I bet they drove that poor old lady insane on many occasions leading up to this and it was a last ditched attempt on her behalf to get the respect (and peace) she deserved.

I am going to take it from the “mate” remark that you are not a US citizen, so let me explain this another way. There is a right/legal way to handle things, and there is a wrong/illegal way to handle things in this country. The right/legal way to handle this is to have the police trespass the kids off your property. Which means that after that point any time they go on your lawn, you can call the police who will arrest/fine the kids or their parents. The wrong way is to try to enforce the law yourself, which she did. The way things are in this country with everyone as sue happy as they are, means that everything has to be done just so or you stand to get in trouble.

reply to post by defcon5


One in three recent Atlanta Police Academy graduates have criminal records


Sad Really. It explains alot. I always suspected it.

[edit on 21-10-2008 by TruthTellist]

reply to post by defcon5


Agree with that, but this snipped from the article I linked caught my eye:

The incident was caught on tape by people across the street who support Jester.

So, the neighbors across the street actually caught this incident on tape? Before or after the cops were called, I wonder? Either way, it speaks strongly to a pre-existing situation, and the probability of provocation. From what side, or exactly what the back story is, isn't clear.

But certainly when the cops show up to do their job, in good faith and by the law, it's wise to cooperate.

reply to post by TruthTellist


All this means is that they applied to the force and went to the academy. Anyone can go to a police academy, as a matter of fact they cannot discriminate against you going. Going to the academy is a long hall from being accepted by an actual police force, unless you were recruited and the force paid for you to go to the academy. I have known many officers who have attended academy and not been able to get on with a force for various reasons. I have known some who had to settle for being prison guards or jail deputies rather then road deputies. Its actually very selective in most places, and you have to go through extensive testing and background checks first. Now, what the exact situation is in Atlanta, I cannot tell, but here in Florida, those guys would not even be considered. One guy I know was rejected here, because he admitted to using steroids for one football season while in high school, after graduating top of his academy class.

reply to post by defcon5


They graduated and got jobs in Law Enforcement - Most in Atlanta.

Nice Try though.

Yeah look it isn't her ball is it?
And she is keeping it without there permission.
So it is petty theft.
However for silly things like this they shouldn't need to arrest people.
Just summons them and fine them.
It is a waste of resources.
While they are arresting her some child molester is abducting a kid.

reply to post by TruthTellist

histories that have made them unqualified to serve on other departments.”
But Atlanta police say it’s not so simple. Officials have been trying without success for more than a decade to grow the department
to 2,000 officers, an effort hurt by this year’s budget crisis. With competition for recruits intense among law enforcement agencies, Atlanta has had to make concessions.

So, you can find one place in the whole country where they have allowed this to happen. It says right in the article that these folks were rejected by other agencies. If nothing else, it shows how high the bar is set over all in hiring law enforcement personnel.