10-Year-Old Girl Charged with Family Violence Assault for Fighting With Her 13-yo Sister in a Park

[copboy]

Yall forget that common sence is wrong. Someones feelings might be hurt if they are told that what they think is the crime of the century is nothing more than a nusance. Discression is what makes an officer effective along with common sence. Take those away and we end up with a faciest way of law enforcement. I would be the worst multiple offender if I were arrested for battling my siblings. Now we are very close. This situation would be different if they were say 17 or weapons were involved but this seems to be simple siblings being siblings.

[TXCharlie]

Yeah, when decisions are dictated by liability, common sense takes a back seat.

There may have been things the news media aren't reporting, but the attack itself sure didn't deserve a Class A misdemeanor, because there appears to be zero injuries.

[tapout]

I hate zero tolerance crap. We should be able to use good old common sense. That being said, if there is a zero tolerance situation and my policies stated as much, I'm not risking my career and everything I own because I think the policy is BS. I don't know the comments in the call, witness information or anything about this, but I'd be inclined to do what the officer did. Make the arrest and let the DA sort it out.

i know many officers who think the same way. and thats fine with me if you are consistent and thats how you operate every time. i have no problem with that. but i think you would do more damage to your career by making this arrest and forcing the DA to sort it out, rather then bringing the kids home to mom and letting her deal with it. i would think that the the DA is gonna laugh at you and label you as a brainless robot and drop the charges anyway, and then youre going to look terrible on the front page the next day (ie exactly what happened). you can very easily explain why you didnt make an arrest in this case.

personally, if i do not feel someone should be arrested, im not going to make an arrest. if im ordered to arrest, i will refuse. some other guy can make the arrest in my place if a sgt wants it that bad, or the sgt can make it himself, and ill take the hit for refusing to obey a direct order.

would you be ok with putting this 10 year old kid in jail for fighting with her sister? i mean, think about it. every time you arrest someone, you take their freedom. you take the most basic human right this country was founded on. if this were to go to trial, odds are, nothing will happen in this case. but what if it did? what if a judge had a bad day and gave the kid 30 days and told her he hopes she learned her lesson? i am not ok with that, and i wont be the one putting that kid and that family in that situation.

we make so many arrests, that i think the magnitude of an actual physical arrest gets lost on us sometimes.