Georgia Cop Reportedly Pulls Gun on Children Building Tree Fort After Neighbor Calls 911

[Oceander]

reason.com

Georgia Cop Reportedly Pulls Gun on Children Building Tree Fort After Neighbor Calls 911

Ed Krayewski|Apr. 4, 2014 9:34 am

Police in Henry County, Ga., reportedly harassed a group of pre-teen boys who were building a tree fort in the woods behind their house after a neighbor called 911 on them (!). According to Omari Grant, the 11-year-old who came forward,

two officers, one with his gun drawn, rolled up on him and a few of his friends as they built a fort in the trees behind his home.
 
"I was thinking that I don't want to be shot today, so I just listened to what they said," Omari said.
 
Omari said the officer holding his gun also used foul language and made him and his friends lay down on the ground.
 
"I learned that they're supposed to help you not make you feel scared to even come outside," Omari said.

Omari's mother filed an internal affairs complaint with the police department, and police say they're now investigating the incident to see if it was "justified" or not.

The husband of the neighbor who called 911 said police pulling a gun on a child was "shocking," but that his wife called because of "falling hazards, tripping hazards, all types of hazards." His wife's primary concern, he said, "was concern for the children and concern for the environment." So instead of calling her neighbors, or going to warn the children about "hazards," she called police on a group of children.

After the incident, which the child called terrifying, Omari says now he knows it was a bad idea to cut down branches for a tree fort. It's never too early for police to compel compliance in you.

The police department refuses to identify the cops involved, but says they remain on the job.

h/t sloopyinca

[Oceander]

yawn.  just another hum-drum day on the beat.  nothing to see here, move along, move along - i said move along or you'll get the baton and the pepper spray, and then maybe the tazer!!!


Oops!  Sorry, just channeling my inner cop there.

[andy58-in-nh]

I have a recurring vision of huddling in a dark basement with my grandchildren, telling them in hushed tones about what America was like when it was free.

[mountaineer]

After the incident, which the child called terrifying, Omari says now he knows it was a bad idea to cut down branches for a tree fort.

Assuming the kids were cutting down someone else's tree branches in the property behind their parents' house, it would be a possible case of vandalism or destruction of property. Nevertheless, the guns and cursing on the part of cops was overkill. Something like, "Hey, fellas, do you have the property owner's permission to build a tree house here?" probably would have sufficed.

[Chieftain]

Concern for the children and concern for the environment??

All too often it is easy for someone with an agenda to get a public agency to go do their unreasonable harassment for them.  It is all too easy to sound convincing on a 911 call and get any number of agencies to respond strongly.  The cops over-reacted but we don't know exactly what the caller reported, either.

This is a form of "swatting" and I can only hope someone reviews that 911 call to see exactly what was said to invoke this kind of response.  That woman needs a lesson in consequences for her actions.

 

[Oceander]

Concern for the children and concern for the environment??

All too often it is easy for someone with an agenda to get a public agency to go do their unreasonable harassment for them.  It is all too easy to sound convincing on a 911 call and get any number of agencies to respond strongly.  The cops over-reacted but we don't know exactly what the caller reported, either.

This is a form of "swatting" and I can only hope someone reviews that 911 call to see exactly what was said to invoke this kind of response.  That woman needs a lesson in consequences for her actions.

 

which is why the 911 operators need to get more information than just the bare minimum the caller first gives them; once it's been determined that it's not a life-threatening thing with imminent death or serious bodily injury, then the operators should get more detailed information before they send the coppers off.

[xfreeper]

Well, the cops went home safe. That's all that matters  /s

[rustynail]

He didn't shoot their dog?

[240B]

I got swatted once. I was at an apartment and parked in someone's reserved spot. There were no markings or indications at all that the spot was reserved. The owner of the parking spot called the cops because his spot was taken by someone, namely me.
 
The cop showed up, believe it or not, and waited for me, in hiding, to come to my car. I got in my car and he shows up holding the door open. I am totally and completely confused, and politely asked, "What the hell are you doing?" One thing led to another and I wound up handcuffed and in jail again.
 
Funny thing was, the guy wanted me out of his spot, which I did not know was 'his spot', but because he called the police instead of just talking to me, or waiting a little while, or putting a note on my car, my car remained there for 24 hours afterward. I guess he thought the cops were going to 'give me what for' and let me know how wrong I was to park in his spot and that I should never do it again. I don't know what he was thinking. I'm sure he would have towed me except the apartment has some policy that makes him wait a certain amount of time. 
 
I can picture some little guy, saying "I'm telling on you. I'm going to tell Daddy what you did." Idiot. That's what he wanted IMO. He didn't want me to just leave, he wanted to tell on me first. And the same as the story above, I do not know what exactly he said or 'reported' when he called them.
 
I have seen it a hundred times over. You never call the police unless you are wounded and bleeding, or someone is trying to kill you. If you call the police into a stupid argument, the situation is going to get much, much, worse real fast. And in the end, everybody loses. Including the fool that calls them.
 
Cops are not councelors or therapists, they use force and they take people to jail. That is what they do. Unless that is what you need, DO NOT CALL THE POLICE.
 
Some people are too stupid to live.