Woman Pepper-Sprayed Teen Who Threw Snowball At Her Car - Arrested

[matcom]

<snip>

The snowballs came flying at the gray Honda. The driver allegedly became angry. A 16-year-old bystander got an eyeful of pepper spray.

It all happened in the parking lot of Andover High School Wednesday afternoon, the latest in a series of altercations between adults and juveniles to end in criminal charges.

At about 2:30 p.m., 48-year-old Marie Needs was picking up her child from school when a group of students began throwing snowballs at her car, said Andover police Lieutenant William MacKenzie. Needs became angry, yelled at them, and sped around the parking lot, MacKenzie said.

''She was driving through the parking lot, and she had got hit with a snowball or two," said Joey Cataldo, a 16-year-old Andover High School junior who by all accounts was not part of the group throwing snowballs.

Needs then parked her Honda, blocking Cataldo's Lincoln Town Car, and went after at least one of the students with a tire iron in her hand, according to Steve O'Connell, a spokesman for Essex District Attorney Jonathan W. Blodgett. At some point, Needs told police, she was hit with a snowball.

http://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/articles/2005/03/18/confrontation_with_student_leads_to_arrest_of_woman_48/

[Renew Deal]

1. Anarchy

:headbang:

[THUNDER HANDS]

2. haha

dork!

:D

was it a 'yellow' snowball?

[William Bloode]

3. I am going to have to agree with the woman.

I am sure she felt very threatened. Not to mention the teens needed a bit of a wake up call, maybe gettin' shown up by a middle aged lady will make them think a little harder next time.

[redqueen]

4. You've gotta be kidding.

If she was feeling threatened, why'd she park and get out of her car and take off after one of the kids with a tire iron in her hand?

[William Bloode]

5. Nope not kidding.

I have no sympathy for the boys in question. In fact their parents should further punish them for disrespect when they get home.

[Susang]

7. She went after them with a fucking tire iron

They were only throwing snowballs at her car. Don't you think she escalated the situation by overreacting just a little?
:wtf:


BTW, the kid she sprayed wasn't one of the kids throwing snowballs at her car. She was blocking his car, he was only trying to get out of the parking lot. Try reading the article.

[redqueen]

16. I know... he was just there. If I was that kids' mom I would sue!

Crazy woman...

[Susang]

19. No shit!

All he did was ask her to move her car so he could get out of the parking lot.

[Kathy in Cambridge]

17. So you think her reaction was NORMAL?

:wtf:

Her reaction was at best uncivilized, and at worst, indicative of someone who has sociopathic tendencies.

Do you think if someone sprayed graffiti on your car that it would be OK to shoot them? Because that's the kind of extreme behaviour that woman exhibited.

[Susang]

34. crickets chirping

Funny, how there's no response. I wonder why? :shrug:

[William Bloode]

47. Maybe because i don't live on the computer?

I still stand by what i said. I was kinda confused over whether the kid who got pepper sprayed was involved or not. If he was just the victim of her rage she deserves it, if he was he got what he deserved.

Sorry but teens should have more respect for adults than this, and if they did get their butt kicked for actions like this once and awhile there would be less of this type thing happen. When i was young if you did this to an adult you not only would have gotten smacked around, your parents would have smacked you around to.

And no i don't think a tire iron or pepper spray was excessive for a 48yr old lady vs a group of 16yr old teens, that just kinda evened the odds.

[Zuni]

9. but mace is a little over the top for a snowball

mace really fucking hurts. Maybe if they winged rocks at her car or shot her with a BB gun, then it would be appropriate, but a snowball.

Luckily, this woman wasn't carrying a gun.

[Susang]

13. She was charged with possession of a firearm

If you read to the end of the article, it's very enlightening.

Also, the kid she peppersprayed didn't throw anything at her car. She was blocking his car from leaving the school's parking lot.

[sakabatou]

31. Aha!

Misuse of a firearm AND multiple traffic violations.

[Zuni]

35. That is scary

I would hate to pass her in traffic

[Bouncy Ball]

26. Oh. My. God.

So a couple of snowballs thrown at her car gives her the right to chase the kids brandishing a tire iron and then PEPPER SPRAY THEM?

Hell, if she had had a taser gun, she could have just tasered them, that'd be GREAT, huh?

:eyes:

Overreaction, anyone?

[LiberallyInclined]

45. how were they "shown up" by her?

she was the only one arrested, and rightfully so.

[Zuni]

6. she should ask her doctor about Paxil

She needs some sort of mood altering medication

[Goathead]

8. D.C. metro area buses just installed cameras

because so many buses where getting nailed with snowballs. Snowballs, the next WMD? Look out Norway we're coming to get ya and were bringing the inspectors!

[redqueen]

20. Are snowballs way more dangerous than I think they are or something?

:wtf:

[StopTheMorans]

24. yes, one broke my fucking car window this winter when i was driving

past harvard stadium on the side of my car where my girlfriend was sitting. if i would have found the kids (it took me time to stop the car, back up, and run into the apartment complex where it happened) i would have beat the shit out of them; i don't think that it's cool to throw something at someone who is in traffic, and then spray glass on their car and SO. i'm glad in retrospect that i didn't find the kids, but it's bullshit just the same. if you're 16, you should fucking know better.

on edit: try driving in boston, which is bad enough, and then getting hit with a snowball as you're in heavy traffic. the situation described above is a different one, but i can certainly see where the woman is coming from, even if she has anger issues...

[redqueen]

27. Dayum!

Think it had rocks in it?

Glad you admit the woman has some anger and control issues. Some of these responses are worrying.

[Goathead]

25. Apparently it is a snowball and rock mixture n/t

[StopTheMorans]

10. my car got hit by a snowball this winter, and i couldn't find the kid

fuck this kid; he got what he deserved. this is hilarious.

[Susang]

15. He didn't throw the snowball

Read the article completely. He was in the car behind hers. Not funny at all, if you ask me.

[StopTheMorans]

23. ok, i just read the caption. that kid didn't deserve it, but i wouldn't

say the same about the kid/kids that were throwing snowballs. if you're going to physically attack someone (a snowball can break a window; it did to my car this winter), then you'd better be prepared for physical retaliation as a result. the kids were 16, it wasn't like they were 12. that being said; this kid didn't deserve to be sprayed...

[Susang]

41. Not with a tire iron

Sorry, but I can't agree with you there. I don't agree with meeting pranks that are meant in fun with violent, aggressive behavior. Like this case, people get hurt and killed that way.

I realize that you had a horrible experience when your car was hit, but this situation is clearly not the same as what happened to you. They were in a school parking lot, not in traffic. Her car was not damaged, she could have easily kept on driving and reported it later. Her child went to the school and most likely could have told her who was throwing the snowballs. She could have walked into the school and reported it to them. She could have called the cops. She had many other solutions at hand and she chose the tire iron and pepper spray.

Any embarrassment her child might have felt by having his mother call and report that incident is now going to be three times as bad because of this mother's behavior in pepper spraying an innocent student.

[Kathy in Cambridge]

11. That was in my sister's town

that lady is a nut...

[jswordy]

12. Just another sign of our increasing intolerance for each other

Couple years back, a guy SHOT some kids throwing snowballs at his passing car from a cornfield. Sigh.

[El Fuego]

14. Yeah, the kid deserved it.

[redqueen]

18. Is ANYONE reading the article?

The kid she maced didn't throw jack frickin' shit!

[Susang]

22. Apparently not

I give up. :eyes:

[shawcomm]

29. But he was sixteen

He was going to do something to deserve it sooner or later.

:evilgrin:

[Kathy in Cambridge]

21. Did you read the article? She MACED a kid who wasn't involved!

[MissB]

28. Dangerous woman

She needs some help.

[kick-ass-bob]

30. Please note - the sprayed kid did not throw a snowball. He was trying to

go to work.

No one is reading the article...

[jswordy]

32. Still, just another sign of our increasing intolerance for each other.

SOMEONE WILL PAY...I DO NOT CARE WHO DOES!!!!

[ProfessorGAC]

33. I Posted This In The Other Thread, But

I went to HS with a guy who KILLED (shot) an 11 year old boy for throwing snowballs at his car. Used a 30-06 and fired four shots through a 4 foot stockade fence at the movement he saw between the boards. Killed one kid, wounded a 10 year old, and shot a bullet through the winter coat of the 8 year old brother of the dead boy.

Guy was in my homeroom the next morning! The NEXT MORNING!!!!! Shot an 11 year to death for throwing snowballs, and comes to school the next day like nothing happened.

He's still in prison. He's been there for 32 years. He got 99 years for the killing. But the sentence was set as 7 years for attempted murder of the youngest kid, 12 years for attempted on the 10 year old, and 99 years for the murder. So, after 3 years, the second sentence started. After 5 more the third sentence started. So, he's on his way to 40 years before parole, but after the first 8 years.

Just in case you missed it, yes; HE SHOT AND KILLED AN 11 YEAR OLD KID FOR THROWING A SNOWBALL AT HIS CAR.
The Professor

[Susang]

36. Amazing

Maybe it's me, but I just don't get the anger. :shrug:

[ProfessorGAC]

38. Nor Do I

If someone hit me with a two pound rock dropped off a viaduct, i might have a different reaction, but a snowball is just a snowball!

Yet, Mitok didn't think that. He shot at three kids, hit two, killed one.

The Professor

[Susang]

40. Crazy

I was the target of snowballs all the time when I walked home from school every day (I wasn't a popular kid). My instinct was never to attack the people throwing them, it was always to try and get away from the damn snowballs!

I think some people, particularly the adult in this story, must be taking out their frustrations from other areas in their lives out on these snowball throwers. That or they just need to cut down on the triple lattes from Starbucks. ;-)

[ProfessorGAC]

42. You Not Popular As A Kid???? I Can't Believe It

Hee Hee! Nobody could be as unpopular as me! I'll be the unpopular one around here.
The Professor

[Susang]

43. One day, if I'm brave, I'll post a childhood picture

The horror...the horror. :scared:

[Zuni]

37. That is fucking scary

Life without parole is the sentence i would have given him. He is obviously very dangerous.

[ProfessorGAC]

39. We Didn't Have LWP in Illinois Then

We do now, but didn't back in the early 70's. I agree with you. Just that there was no such option for the judge back then.
The Professor

[nytemare]

44. Well, now THAT kid won't use snowballs at all

:)

It was only a pro-active attempt on the lady's part to keep this kid from doing the thing the other kids were doing, that's all.(sarcasm, sarcasm)

I might have thrown snowballs back at the kids, or got my bat out and attempted to hit them like baseballs, saying, "come on, pitcher, give me a good one." Having lived in Florida all these years, I miss the good ol' snowball fights of my youth.



:D

[LiberallyInclined]

46. NEVER leave your car...judges HATE that.

Once you get out of your car, you are provoking trouble.
unless your car is on fire, or stalled on a train track, you shouldn't get out, but rather just drive away.

[DS1]

48. Wow, I wish I'd have been there

:argh: