Colorado 11 year old arrested at home for drawing stick figure with gun

[cali]

ARVADA, Colo. -- An 11-year-old Arvada boy was arrested and hauled away in handcuffs for drawing stick figures in school, something his therapist told him to do.

His parents say they understand what he did was inappropriate, but are outraged by the way Arvada Police handled the case. The parents do not want their real names used.

They say “Tim” is being treated for ADD and his therapist told him to draw pictures when got upset, rather than disrupt the class. So that’s what he did. Last October, he drew stick figures of himself with a gun, pointed at four other stick figures with the words “teacher must die.”


He felt calmer and was throwing the picture away when the teacher saw it and sent him to the principal’s office.

The school was aware that the boy was in treatment, determined he was not a threat, notified his parents and sent him back to class. His mother, “Jane” was shocked when Arvada Police showed up at their home later that night.

<snip>

http://www.kdvr.com/news/kdvr-arvada-police-arrest-11yearold-over-inappropriate-stick-figure-drawing-20110221,0,7099823.story

[willing dwarf]

1. Fear rules

Kids need outlets for their anger and emotions. The emotions aren't bad per se, but we act like it's the emotion which is the problem. Drawing a picture to get some distance from the emotion is a good thing. Why are people so literal in their perspective?

The funny thing is there is a zero tolerance for hateful feelings and drawings like this, but we have such loose gun laws.

Ban the guns, accept the strength of feelings America. America, grow up!

[Demstud]

56. Wow, I'd be in prison...

I could not have survived in todays school environment. I drew quite a few violent stick figure cartoons all the way up through high school (I'm also likely ADD).

[inademv]

2. arresting him was definitely not the proper action

[BeFree]

7. Right

The parents should be detained. They need to take some responsibility for their child's actions.

"Teacher must die"? WTF? What have they done to this poor innocent child that makes him so mean?

[Name removed]

8. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[cali]

11. wtf? You actually believe that the parents should be detained

for this. Save us from that kind of shit.

[BeFree]

14. Yes

They need to be questioned. Whenever I got in trouble as a kid, my Dad got in the middle of it, much to my chagrin at the time but ultimately the correct course of action.

What? You think parents should take no responsibility of their kids actions?

[cali]

17. I think legally detaining these parents is sick shit.

very sick. Look, these parents obviously are paying attention to the kid- he's in therapy. they're aware he has a learning disability and frankly, I don't think he should have gotten in trouble for this at all. His therapist recommended he draw as an outlet.

[inademv]

19. There is no indication here that the parents were aware

of this sort of incident or sentiment on behalf of the child before. The only proper solution to this whole thing is for there to be an open dialogue between the child, his parents, and the therapist to explain to him what the problem was with the picture he drew and figure out why he drew it in the first place.

[BeFree]

23. yep

Detain the parents and put them in consultation with a therapist to figure out why their kid is whacked. Make the parents realize what their spawn is doing. They seem to have chosen to ignore the reality, looks like they must be forced to confront it?

[inademv]

33. "They seem to have chosen to ignore-"

What he hell are you talking about? They already had him in therapy. The breakdown is clearly a problem in communication between the child and his parents. Speaking from experience (as someone who went to therapy sessions as a child), a kid in that situation is already less likely to communicate effectively with his parents.

Your lack of empathy and critical thinking outside of a solution involving a punitive incarceration is rather irritating, I must say.

[BeFree]

41. You said it

""The breakdown is clearly a problem in communication between the child and his parents""

But then you go on and claim that I want ""punitive incarceration"" which is made up bullshit, and a failure on your part of communication. Think about that.

[inademv]

46. "Detain the parents" "forced"

[frylock]

72. BeFree..

very Orwellian screen name.

[dionysus]

50. i think your "suggestion" is what's "whacked"

[cali]

60. it's so clear you didn't actually read the article.

just pathetic.

[pscot]

20. That's a bizarre response

Utterly clueless.

[BeFree]

28. Wroong

The bizarre response is the kid scribbling "teacher must die".

Believe me, I respect allowing freedom of expression, but there have to be limits, and letting everyone off the hook while the teacher is threatened is what is bizarre about the comments here.

[Name removed]

30. Deleted sub-thread

Sub-thread removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[Arkansas Granny]

36. A similar incident happened in our family when a young boy had been bullied

schoolmates, which led to his inappropiate actions. It had nothing to do with anything the parents did or did not do. The parents are not always to blame.

In this case it sounds like there are some unresolved problems between the boy and a teacher.

[no limit]

43. I don't have kids and I sure as hell don't have kids that suffer from ADD. So you know what I do?

I shut the fuck up when it comes to situations like this as I really have no right to speak on it.

Maybe you should do the same.

[dionysus]

48. oh brother...

:rofl:

[Hassin Bin Sober]

53. It's gotta be performance art. No?

[dionysus]

55. it's the only logical explanation i can think of...

:shrug:

[frylock]

71. detained for what?

please BeFree, do explain what charges they should be jailed for.

[NV Whino]

3. Um, let's see...

which state just ruled that open carry is okay on school campuses? I guess it's okay to carry guns, but you just can't draw them. (every pun intended.)

[WatsonT]

6. I'm curious

which state ruled that 11 year old were allowed to open carry?

[NV Whino]

10. Gee, sorry

I forgot this :sarcasm:

[Jackpine Radical]

4. The nation has gone 'round the bend. Down the rabbit-hole.

We're passing concealed-carry laws & jailing kids for drawing stick figures.

[pscot]

25. The country has definitely taken a turn

for the weird. I hardly recognize the place any more.

[BobbyBoring]

65. I hardly recognize the place any more

Me either. What ever pill we swallowed was the wrong one. America is unrecognizable from many standpoints. The most glaring is that every suburb looks the same. This attest to the corporate takeover.

What's worse though is our wrong is right and right is wrong approach to everything.

I can't see where hauling the parents off would do any good, nor do I see the logic in arresting an 11 year old boy who is obviously troubled. What is the message HE is receiving?? Next time, it's better to shoot teacher instead of putting my thoughts on paper?

Maybe the teacher gas some culpability here. Why would he want the teacher dead? That's the real question~

[WatsonT]

5. Zero tolerance is necessary

First it's stick guns, then stick assault weapons. What next, murals involving guns, paper-mache? Sculpting!?!??!


My god can you imagine it?

[RC]

9. Sadly I can.

Images of guns bad, real loaded guns good.

[WatsonT]

15. A real loaded gun

in the hands of an ADD 11 year old = bad.

In the hands of a competent adult who took care to learn the basic rules of gun safety = no problem.

Images of guns in anyones hands: harmless. Except maybe paper cuts.

[RC]

16. I think I should have added

:sarcasm: to my post.

Sorry.

[Jackpine Radical]

47. Don't you hate it when you have to do that?

[FourScore]

12. LOL. It really could get out of hand.

Why...this could spill over into all forms of artistic expression!!! Good God, the humanity!!!

[NoPasaran]

21. Right first it's a stick figure with a gun

Next a stick figure with a tank.

Pretty soon... stick figure Hitler!

[WatsonT]

44. Never again

[hughee99]

24. Perhaps they'll send a picture of him to Guantanamo. n/t

[WatsonT]

45. Or a postcard

[BoWanZi]

42. LOL, your post drips of sarcasm, I hope and pray that was your intended outcome

[FourScore]

13. Meanwhile, when is the next gun show in Arvada? n/t

[BeeBee]

18. Misleading subject line.

"he drew stick figures of himself with a gun, pointed at four other stick figures with the words “teacher must die.”"

That's a bit more than just drawing a stick figure with a gun.

[hughee99]

22. And the proper way to handle this, as every knows

is to take an 11 year old with ADD who's in therapy already, go to his house, and haul him away in handcuffs. If nothing else, it should guarantee that he remains in therapy for a good, long while and has plenty of things to discuss.

Almost no one is saying that nothing at all should be done (though yes, I did see 1 person above saying this), but does anyone believe THIS was the appropriate way to address the issue?

[cali]

27. I think the only thing that should have been done, is that his parents and therapist

should have been informed.

[BeeBee]

29. I didn't give my opinion of the proper way to handle this...

but this child made a specific death threat against the teacher. What were they supposed to have done? Pat him on the head and say good boy?

[cali]

31. notify the parents and therapist and not making a freakin' court case of it.

[BeeBee]

34. So if the child did come back to school and shoot the teacher,

what would you say then? They had a specific death threat against the teacher and they're just supposed to notify the parents and therapist?

[cali]

38. yes.

and was it really a threat? or just an expression of dislike? Maybe even momentary dislike. Again, the kid evidently had NO history of violence or physical aggression against anyone.

[immoderate]

51. There was no threat. The kid didn't give the note to the teacher. He threw it away.

I think of the doodles and flip animations I made of stick figures fighting, and dueling with pistols.

I often describe sitting all day in school as "a torture we should inflict only on children." But jailing a kid for a drawing of anything is stuff from an alternate universe. :scared:

--imm

[aikoaiko]

64. I don't think the drawing and text constitutes a specific death threat.

[BeeBee]

66. Did you read the article? He drew a picture of himself pointing

a gun at other figures with the text "teacher must die." That does sound like a very specific threat to me, especially since the drawing was done at school.

[aikoaiko]

67. In totality it was not a specific threat. Are you sure you know which teacher he was referring to?

He threw away the paper versus leaving it on a teacher's desk.

There is not a specific threat.

[cali]

26. not really. look, if the kid had had any history of violence

then I can see being concerned about the drawing and words, but he didn't.

[Shagbark Hickory]

32. Mmkay. Had me til the "teacher must die" part.

Throw the shink in jail though. They belong in there anyway.

[cleanhippie]

35. Ban high capacity pencils.

[aikoaiko]

63. that made me chuckle.

[MorningGlow]

37. Good grief, if that's the case, my 7 YO should be locked up for life

Even though we are not a gun-favoring family and never bought him army toys or weapons, he LOVES war, guns, tanks, fighter jets, you name it. And that's what he draws when he has free time at school. I don't like it, but that's his "thang". Then again--and I think this is the area for concern (although not arrest--sheesh)--he's never written that anyone real (anyone besides the enemy fighters on paper) must die.

I say get the kid to his therapist to find out why he wants his teacher dead.

[cali]

39. the kid has a therapist.

[MorningGlow]

40. Yes

Get him back there ASAP, is what I meant.

[immoderate]

52. Because it's the teacher.

These are child fantasies. They are normal. You can't make childhood fantasies criminal!

--imm

[cali]

62. exactly.

[knitter4democracy]

49. Oh, heck, what teacher hasn't had a kid draw a picture of killing them?

Kids don't understand the real nature of violence. The best answer was to ignore it the first time as a kid letting off steam. If it happened again, send him to the principal just so it's on record, but don't take it any further than that. I've never even reported a kid for drawing a picture. I've reported one for threatening to "cap me", but he's one who'd actually do it, so that's why.

We're all way too high strung these days.

[immoderate]

54. Yay!

There are people who want to criminalize childhood fantasy. :crazy:

Also agree that children fantasize about power. They don't see it as violence, and don't think about the real consequences. Not when they're drawing.

--imm

[knitter4democracy]

58. It's just crazy, I think.

I teach violent kids, and I would never react to a drawing. If they're drawing it, they're not doing it, and the vast majority of the time, they're not planning anything, just letting off steam.

[immoderate]

74. I think of things I've done in class for amusement.

In grade school, we used to make little flip animations to amuse each other. We did head-bashings, and stabbings, and shootings and other bizarre "scenes." We tried to make it outrageous. We made each other laugh.

Those friends went on to run their communities. If it were now, they'd be arrested.

--imm

[Initech]

57. It's official: we live in project mayhem from Fight Club.

[cali]

59. Do people actually read the frickin' article? Evidently a lot of you don't

According to the police report, "Tim" explained he made the drawing to release anger and would never hurt teachers or anyone. At first school officials did not want to press charges, but changed their mind when police called them later that night. A juvenile assessment report shows he's never been in legal trouble before and is at low risk to reoffend.

[JI7]

61. this is messed up, seems like they were doing the right thing

until they arrested him. what was the point of that ? it's good people were aware and communicating about his problems. his parents were trying to get him help.

what was the point of arresting him ? it might have made things worse for him.

[Danger Mouse]

68. Fantastic idea! What better way to handle a child that is in therapy already?

Traumatize them! That'll learn the little ingrate. The only mistake they made was they forgot to taze him for good measure.

:sarcasm:

Honestly, what the hell is wrong with these idiots?

[bergie321]

69. If only

All of the other students had guns...they could have shot the kid and saved the police the trouble of arresting him...

:sarcasm:

[ManiacJoe]

70. No warrant = no entry.

[RobinA]

73. Fer Cryin' Out Loud

What 11-year-old boy doesn't draw figures with guns? I thought it was normal.