quote: School violence, a heavy issue with many bad memories attached, nearly became reality here at John Abbott College recently when a student approached another student on the bus one day and began talking about committing violent acts at the school... According to Mr. Henderson, the whole thing actually began outside of school, when a male student apprached another student while on the bus on the way to school and began the possibility of commiting violent acts at John Abbott College...
He was released after spending a month somewhere and I think is currently in proceedings to defend himself, I just found out it was him arrested for it under Canada's anti terrorism laws.
What a load of bull, I bet the kid took his words out of context and made something out of nothing, sure he says some really stupid things and is kind of a conspiracy theorist but he has never commited any violent acts in his entire life.
I'm going to see what I can do, 1 year in jail if convicted would wreck him.
Posts: 1567 | Registered: Oct 2004
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Perhaps it's really, really stupid to "joke" about committing violent acts at school...? Just a thought.
Posts: 37449 | Registered: May 1999
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A year in jail is a bit harsh for misjudging the audience, though. Assuming that's what actually happened of course.
Posts: 2907 | Registered: Nov 2005
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quote:Originally posted by TomDavidson: Perhaps it's really, really stupid to "joke" about committing violent acts at school...? Just a thought.
No kidding. I have a brother who has the unbelievably stupid characteristic of joking about terrorists, bombs, and hijackings the moment he steps into an airport. When you angrily tell him to shut up, he get's offended and demands you talk about why those buzzwords shouldn't be offensive, thus exacerbating the problem.
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I've had two friends almost get expelled from high-school. One of them for writing a poem about beheading his sixth grade teacher, the other for writing "Mufasa" next to a decapitated stick-figure someone else had drawn on the board.
In both cases, character witnesses went a long way to convince the school board and police that the accused would never do anything like that in real life. Of course, they never did, and everything worked out fine.
I'd hate to see him lose his job (as a result of, you know, going to jail) or get expelled from college over this, if he really is harmless.
Posts: 247 | Registered: Feb 2007
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BB: Does your brother insist that it is his right to yell "fire" in a crowded public space?
Seriously, common sense dictates that certain things are outside the realm of free speech. And even if you don't buy into that idea, there's still the notion of simple self-preservation and not turning oneself into a "test case."
There's a guy with a website who swears up and down that a government issued picture ID is not required by any law for you to get on an airplane. So, he refuses to show one. And now he's not allowed to fly anywhere. And he gets to rant about it on a website. He may be right, but he's still a dope.
As for your friend, Sid, the damage he's already done to himself -- please don't blame the person he was talking to for this -- is serious enough to screw up his life for awhile. And, I hope you'll forgive my saying this, but one obvious danger sign of someone "capable of violence" is talking about it a lot. "He says some stupid things" tells me the guy thinks these thoughts on a more frequent basis than is expected or normal -- even among angry or rebellious young people. I don't know him and can't judge ANYTHING from what you've said, but, realistically, if I hear someone going on and on about hurting people, I'm going to alert someone to it, and hope the person gets help. If that also means they suffer from a bit of official scrutiny, or even get locked up for awhile until their essential safety is verified, I might get upset about the violation of rights, but that's not going to stop me from turning them in to whomever has been charged with ensuring safety (e.g., campus police, local PD, etc.).
I would make sure I didn't mishear the person, perhaps, but beyond that...they made their own bed.
(NOTE: I might think twice about turning someone in if I felt that the authorities were abusing their power or if cases kept popping up of people being held without due process...etc. But, to be honest, I'm not going to take a chance that someone talking crazy is really nice but stupid.)
Posts: 22497 | Registered: Sep 2000
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Shocking that this is a friend of his? I mean, none of my friends have ever gone to prison, or been about to. Not saying that makes me awesome, but I am kind of proud to have a good track record.
Posts: 9912 | Registered: Nov 2005
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By the way, is Sid also Blayne? Because this whole thing reminds me of the "prometheusBound" "peligus" days.
Posts: 9912 | Registered: Nov 2005
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quote:What a load of bull, I bet the kid took his words out of context and made something out of nothing, sure he says some really stupid things and is kind of a conspiracy theorist but he has never commited any violent acts in his entire life.
Everybody who has ever committed a violent act in their life had at one time never committed any violent acts in their entire lives.
So it's not really a reasonable way to say that it's automatically unreasonable to make anything of really really stupid talk.
Posts: 15421 | Registered: Aug 2005
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He had not in any way shape or form uttered in his words any violent words whatsoeever, he went on the bus one morning someone came in after him sat across from him. As radeks stop came by the guy grabbed a hold of his arm and got him into a conversation, my friend went into talking about how he wanted to one day start up a school for troubled kids.
3 days later hes arrested for uttering death threats and the police have supposedly found "cd's" with "evidence" on them. He was in a mental hospital for a month before being released and was prelinarily diagnosed with schizophrenia but the doctors took that back and said he was perfectly fine. Now he has to go to a hearing to decide if hes guilty or anything I'm going to write a letter of recommendation for him to use in court and possibly go.
Once this is over hes going to sue my college for treating him as guilty before proven innocent of any wrong doing. There reaction was to kick him out of the college and slap on a restraining order on him before his guilt has been proven.
This sounds like a conspiracy theory.
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If all that is true, Blayne, I hope he prevails in his lawsuit. I do, however, think that you might be missing some crucial details. In our litigious society, police departments, schools, etc. are keenly aware of the limits of their legal powers and it is rare to find a pure case of abuse of those powers such that they would run serious risk of losing a legal action.
If they can produce a credible witness who is willing to swear that your friend uttered death threats, that would at least turn this into a case of "he said/he said."
You earlier seemed not so surprised that he would say things like what he was accused of. Has that changed? If questioned on it under oath, what would say about his past utterances?
Posts: 22497 | Registered: Sep 2000
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I would not be surprised if he said something similar as to be taken out of context, something probably more on the lines of say overthrowing the government and setting up a dictatorship kind of stuffs and revealing the alien overlords for who they are kind of words, but say "I wish to shoot up the school" is not like him and would never do such a thing.
Posts: 1567 | Registered: Oct 2004
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I'm not sure which is worse-- contemplating that a friend is a paranoid, possible-terrorist, or that you live in an effectual police state.
Posts: 14554 | Registered: Dec 1999
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