Idiotic Prosecution Story of the Day

“This one really takes the cake:


Topless 3-year-old makes waves at pool

August 2, 2003

BY JACK KRESNAK
DETROIT FREE PRESS STAFF WRITER

It may be all right for girls to bathe topless in pools in, say, Brazil, but don't try going topless at a water park in Detroit -- even if you're only 3 years old.

Karima Sorel and her daughter Suhayla Smith, 3, learned that the hard way Wednesday when security guards at Wayne County's Chandler Park Family Aquatic Park called police on Sorel because she allowed her daughter to play in the pool topless.

Sorel, of Detroit, said she came to the park at about 11:30 a.m. Wednesday. The park, complete with water slides, wave and wading pools, is owned by Wayne County and managed by Winco Enterprises of Detroit.

Suhayla had her bikini bottom on, but her mother had forgotten the matching top.

"If I had the top, I would have put it on her," Sorel said Friday.

But Sorel saw nothing wrong with her daughter going topless, just like the 3-year-old boys splashing around in the pool.

Topless toddlers apparently can spark lust in adults who are sexually attracted to children -- at least that's what Sorel said the park's security guards repeatedly told her during the standoff.

"If there are pedophiles in your park, please harass them and leave my daughter and me alone," Sorel said she told the guards.

So Sorel held her ground -- or better still -- waded deeper into the pool.

The guards then threatened to call Detroit police on Sorel and her topless tot. And finally, at Sorel's own urging, they did.

At about 1 p.m., a police officer from the 5th (Jefferson) Precinct arrived, assessed the situation and, according to Sorel, told the park manager, Lorenzo Douglas, Sorel was doing nothing wrong.

Sorel said Douglas apologized. On Friday, Douglas declined comment, referring a reporter to Wayne County officials.

Sharon Banks, a spokeswoman for County Executive Robert Ficano, said the park personnel are working to maintain a family atmosphere where rules are consistently enforced.

Sorel said she and her husband, New York restaurateur Charles Sorel, have visited beaches in Brazil where swimsuits are a mere accessory.

"What I'm not understanding is the sexualization of a 3-year-old," Sorel said.”

“Where's the prosecution?

Idiotic persecution by an idiot private security guard, maybe, but at least the cop showed some common sense.”

“Did you pick up this story on one of your kiddy porn websites?

What is the point of posting it here?”

“Funny they don't mention the security guard's name. Maybe he's due for a background check and a psych evaluation.”

“What is the point of anything posted here bacflac?”

“Who cares? Stupid!!! More worthless crap from Vio!!”

“Try posting items of interest, besides your own.”

“I guess a 'trip report' about my stop at the porno shop or whatever it was that got you banned would be more appropriate.”

“Hahahahaha!”

“What are you talking about? And no one wants to hear about your porn stops!”

“NY Daily News

Police wrote Queens hospital worker George Pulido a summons for making unreasonable noise because his son Christopher's Winnie the Pooh balloon popped on the street.

"I couldn't believe it," Pulido, 29, of Queens Village, said last night. "It was just a normal-size party balloon and it was an accident. You'd make more noise closing the door of a police car."

Pulido's trip into the ticket twilight zone began innocently the afternoon of Nov. 22 when he took his wife, Christina, 27, an accountant, and sons, Chris, 9, and Brandon, 19 months, to a kid's birthday party at a friend's home in the neighborhood.

Chris was holding a party balloon on a string as the family walked home when it suddenly got away from him at Parsons Blvd. and 105th St., hit the sidewalk and popped.

"Three cops were at the curb in a car and one of them called me over and said he was giving me a ticket," Pulido said.

He said he asked the cop, "Are you serious? You're gonna give me a ticket for balloon popping?"

"The cop gave me a hard look and asked me, 'Do you think popping a balloon is funny?'" Pulido recalled. "At that point I just said just give me the ticket...whatever."

When it was over, Pulido said, "My whole family was upset, especially Christopher because he thought the cops were going to take me to jail. How do you explain what happened to a kid when you don't understand it yourself?"
<snip>
Police brass have consistently denied there is a ticket quota.”

“I bet the cops shlt themselves. Its not funny, but I think when their adrenaline backed off they would have been easier to deal with. Had they thought it was intentional... (think Rodney king)...”

“A felony charge of malicious destruction of property against a 9-year-old Chesterfield Township boy accused of riding his bicycle over wet concrete more than a year ago was dismissed Tuesday by a Macomb County Family Court judge.

Judge Matthew Switalski criticized the Macomb County Prosecutor's Office for wasting the court's time with a case he said was less about rehabilitating a wayward youth than about forcing someone to pay for the damage of a new home.

"I'm going to be devoting two or three days to a case where a second-grader drove his scooter over wet cement -- that just fries me," Switalski said.

The judge said a court referee's authorization last August of a juvenile delinquency petition against Tabarri Waller, who was then 8, was ridiculous.

more...”

“Fry the L'il Bastage!”

“Sounds like a career criminal to me. He must be stopped before he grows!”

“Fernando Tijerina, 13, was playing basketball when he chased a loose ball into the street on Leedwick Sunday afternoon. He didn't look for oncoming cars, ran into the street, and was hit. The boy's mother rushed him to the hospital with a broken leg.

But then police gave the boy a ticket for running into the path of a moving vehicle.

Full Story”

“So I guess getting the ball out of the street counts as jaywalking?

Ok, I'm sorry, but if you're only going 10 miles an hour and you're paying only the slightest amount of attention to what's going on around you while driving, there's no reason you can't stop for a kid that runs out into the street. Either that, or it's time to get your breaks fixed. Either way there's no excuse for this; this is why residential neighborhoods have 25-mile-an-hour speed limits.

Skid marks on the road? Very good at establishing minimal driving speed...
last edited: 5/05/05 7:10:08 PM”

“Behind every rolling ball is a running kid...”

“I'm not so quick to condemn anybody from a news story that we all know they always get accurate?

I always give kids right-of-way but would find it difficult to stop (I drive slow) if a kid is chasing a ball (right-on-it) between parked cars.That's why they have jaywalking laws because it invites disaster.

It sorta sounds like the cop thought part of it was not the drivers fault & she may or may-not have insurance. You KNOW the parent guardians are going to sue.

I know a couple who had a kid slam into the rear quarter panal of their car on a bike & died. THey were never charged with anything, but it devastated them.

Give everyone the benefit of doubt, at least until you've heard ALL sides of a story.”

“I had a friend i the Army who was really bummed one day, I asked what was up he went on to explain that it was the anniversary of running over two young kids and killing em both, they ran in front of his car chasing a ball or toy . They entered the street from between two parked cars and he had about 5 ft to react while going like 15mph, they had no chance.

Yesterday while driving, two kids were on bikes driving down the center ofa residential street that i was driving on. I was going about 10 or so and keeping a safe distance behind them hoping they'd hear my so I didnt have to honk(I was concerned the horn would scare em). I had my window open and could hear one boy say, "hey there is a car" the other boy then started to turn...directly in front of me. I quickly stopped and heard his buddy say, "you are an idiot". This stuff happens way to fast.”

“I think this is an extreme example to form opinions about, I don't think Hollywood could do it up any better.

When I lived in Auburn, Maine, I was watching for the hit by car accidents. And showing them to my kids. (I know, they probably hated me for it...) Anyways, it occured about every six weeks (almost on schedule), I wished I had kept a copy of every case, just for the record.

What was interesting was the common themes involved. Each time, the driver was not charged, because it was not his/her fault. The kids would just step out in front of traffic. Perhaps you have seen it where you live???? Kids know cars are "supposed" to stop, so they walk right in front of traffic without pausing or looking. They may even glare at a car. Some kind of power trip, maybe.

This is what I was trying to impress upon my kids. While it may be a power trip and all that, and they may technically have the right of way, nothing will make up for a screwed up knee for life. Being right doesn't make it so. Look both ways before crossing.

Back to the issue. There are jaywalking laws and crossing against the light laws, but as a practical matter, they do not get enforced. So we have youngsters getting maimed for life. We also have drivers doing nothing wrong who have to live with this, and the least of their worries is getting their car fixed. I supposed the kid who walked out in front of the car is liable, but how do insist they or their parents fix the car?

I suppose a little parental involvement and education are in order. But what do you normally hear? If a kid steps off the curb in front of the car, and a near miss occurs, the parent will yell at the driver of the car while coddling Junior......”

“PEMBROKE - Police in Hooksett are serious about enforcing the local littering laws — even in the case of 4-year-old Natasha Fryou and her wayward bouncy ball.

Natasha's mother and stepdad, Tracy and Brett Carter of Pembroke, were caught off guard when Hooksett Police Officer Dan Bray knocked on their door Sunday morning with a $288 littering citation in hand.

Bray explained to Tracy Carter that he'd observed several objects fly out of a rear passenger-side window of her Nissan Maxima as she drove along Hooksett Road in Hooksett on July 26.

This isn't funny — it's ridiculous. How many judges and police officers have kids who've thrown something out the window? We wrote 'not guilty' on it and sent it back," Brett Carter said of the citation.

According to Bray, the incident happened just after his shift ended on July 26. He said he counted at least four objects fall from the car window onto the roadway within about a two-mile stretch.

"There was a ball and a toy or two, and what looked like a wrapper of some kind," Bray said Sunday night.

continued...”

“Seriously - why would that not be littering?”

“It is littering but....

I would think (hope) that a carefully worded warning to a four year old from an officer in uniform would be more effective than simply breaking off a ticket on mom & dad.”

“The world has gone mad, I tell you! Mad, Mad, Mad!!!”

“his shift was over, but he still found the time to write a ticket. what a trooper”

“Crash...Time and a half pay after offical shift end may have been the incentive!”

“i gotta ask, how does she not notice her child throwing things out the window. my mother would have been on me in an instant. if she didnt know, i gotta think its lazy parenting, and if she did know and didnt go back and pick it up, then screw her. give her the damn ticket”