Charged with theft, man arrested for plugging car into school’s outlet

A man in an Atlanta suburb was confronted by a police officer for plugging his electric car into an outside outlet at a school. Ten days later, he was arrested at home and charged with theft for taking about 5 cents worth of electricity "without consent."

Better watch where you stick that plug.

Source

The paper to write the arrest warrant likely too more money than his "offense". Couldn't they have handled it a little differently? Wow... 0 tolerance includes intelligence at times. No tolerance for that, either.

Sorry but to keep some faith in humanity Im choosing not to read the article and have decided there is more to the story or its a flat out lie.

There is absolutely no way in a rational world whats described in the OP could happen

Crime is at an all time low but they gotta keep the arrests up to justify more guns, more money, and more personnel. This sets a precedent to arrest anyone that plugs their cell phone in. We need less cops.

reply to post by usertwelve


If i had an external plug i'd have a switch inside and laugh at some idiot sat there for hours trying to charge up their gear on my electricity bill and would even turn it off/on just to annoy the guy

reply to post by abe froman


I think this guy may have been told in the past not to plug in his car in the outlet....I'm thinking this was not his first time doing this....

reply to post by usertwelve


Arresting someone for such a petty crime is a ridiculous. I'm sure there's probably enough change just laying around the parking the parking lot to cover the cost's of the electricity he used.

On the other hand, he could have asked first. It would have saved him from having to deal with all of this nonsense.

I wonder how quickly everyone would change their tune if someone decided to do the same to an outside outlet at your house. If you owned a gas station and someone pulled in then decided they just needed a gallon how would you respond?

When I was younger and I used to do bad things with phones I got caught once placing two local calls from a neighbors house. He wanted the police called, he wanted lawyers engaged. It was such an overreaction until he explained to me that i was stealing from him and stealing is a crime. Ultimately I apologized, gave him $10 from my wallet (more than both calls combined) and became good friends with him. The key to my apology was my admitting that , no matter how small it was, i was stealing and costing him money.

Should this guy be arrested for stealing power, maybe not. Should he get a warning and now that outlet should be capped so only a controlled number of people have access, yes.

reply to post by opethPA


Holy hell,,,, I was just thinking the same thing...along the lines of my neighbor plugging in his weed trimmer in my outlet...I think I would be annoyed..

Man. I don't know how people can be so dumb.

I can see the argument about asking first, but this isn't someone's home we're talking about. This is a school, a public school none the less! So technically, his school taxes paid for the very same electricity he "stole"!

reply to post by opethPA

Should this guy be arrested for stealing power, maybe not. Should he get a warning and now that outlet should be capped so only a controlled number of people have access, yes.

I can fully agree with that. An arrest on this ought to have the Police Department being looked at for their sense of proportion and priority ...but you're right. This was wrong and it wasn't his plug or electricity to help himself to.

The story says the cop did get him on the scene, at the time. So why not write him a citation at the time and then have the Judge figure it out in Municipal court later? Seems like a better approach than Super-Cop's statement here about enforcing the law no matter what.

That was not just any five cents worth of electricity, it was for the kids! He deserves to be beaten up and raped in jail.....

Idiot world.

Precedents need to be set. There's going to be more e-cars on the road in the future not less. Taking from that which isn't yours, public or private, IS stealing. Either from the company or the tax payer.

reply to post by intrepid

Unless TPTB plan to socialize electricity.

usertwelve
reply to post by intrepid

 

Unless TPTB plan to socialize electricity.

Taxes pay for schools. Schools have bills to pay as well. See?

reply to post by intrepid

Socialized electricity would mean its free for everyone. See?

Of course you would see a new item on your tax return that tells you how much you owe into the electricity pool.

I never realized someone else is responsible for fueling your vehicle.


-ain't nobody giving out gas-


I'm going to roll around siphoning gas out of everyones tanks just 5 cent at a time though, I'm sure they wont be mad.


If they get mad I'll scream YOU ONE PERCENTOR!

reply to post by usertwelve


Free? You don't understand the marketplace. Nothing is free. Electricity needs to be harnessed/created. Infrastructure has to be in place and maintained for delivery and all those people that work for them need to be paid. That money has to come from somewhere.

reply to post by intrepid

Read my edit.

Also, socialized electricity was a joke.