Black school kids charged with felonies for watching a fight

Maybe this will help negroes realize that there are consequences to ignorant and unproductive behavior. Next time they will think twice before getting into a fight.

Since when is witnessing a fight a crime? If this is the case they should start throwing kids of all colors in jail by the thousands. What a waste of tax payer money

Kids fight. For that matter, adults fight. And if you want to take it to another level, Democratic nations fight; all the time. Our society is one that seems to thrive on violence, just as Romans enjoyed gladiator sports. This is just a thought, but maybe if violent aggression observed in film and video games, heard in music, and used by the government to "bring about peace and spread or restore democracy" was scaled down, our children might come up with other alternatives to settle their disputes and deal with each others' differences in more constructive ways. Giving a child a felony because she/he witnesses a fight is absurd. Perhaps, and I am being sarcastic, they should watch the Jerry Springer Show in order to see a good fight. It is on at least twice a day where I live. My point is that Children learn from adults. Giving them felonies because of their "childish" antics will do nothing for them in the future. It may very well cause them to lose faith in the system, and even worst they may lose faith in themselves.

This is just another example of these small town "Cool Hand Luke"-like Sheriffs trying to show how tough they are on crime by abusing what little power they have. The parents of these children should raise a big stink, the state's attorney should dismiss the charges and the parents should admonish their children that while watching a fight is not a crime, there are more productive ways to use their time than watching two knuckleheads fight thereby putting themselves at the mercy of despotic Sheriffs who target minorities for any trumped up charge they can pull out of their doughnut filled asses. Let's not forget, with Obama in office, these 'good ole boys' are going to do their best to keep their 'nigras' in line, lest they get uppity. It's going to get ugly and we will see more and more stories like this unless we take steps to counter these racist actions disguised as maintaining 'law and order'.

This is just another example of these small town "Cool Hand Luke"-like Sheriffs trying to show how tough they are on crime by abusing what little power they have. The parents of these children should raise a big stink, the state's attorney should dismiss the charges and the parents should admonish their children that while watching a fight is not a crime, there are more productive ways to use their time than watching two knuckleheads fight thereby putting themselves at the mercy of despotic Sheriffs who target minorities for any trumped up charge they can pull out of their doughnut filled asses. Let's not forget, with Obama in office, these 'good ole boys' are going to do their best to keep their 'nigras' in line, lest they get uppity. It's going to get ugly and we will see more and more stories like this unless we take steps to counter these racist actions disguised as maintaining 'law and order'.

To blkbandit, too bad there are not consequences for ignorant statements. Let's get real, fights in school have gone on since the beginning of time and it doesn't just involve negroes. Because its been happening since the beginning of time doesn't make it right, but how far do we go any criminalizing everything that adolescents do? We are getting ridiculous with making everything criminal with possible incarceration. When will common sense begin playing a role in our society again? Are we going to criminalize every kid for every stupid action he makes? I am college educated and work in a professional occupation; however, it every stupid thing I did in high school had been made criminal, I would probably be serving a life sentence. Stop the stupidity, stop making everything that kids do criminal. Use some commonsense or let make it a crime to come up with a stupid law.

Isn't this similar to what happened to Alan Iverson? Why not use the Iverson Defense...It was just practice. We are talking about watching practice? There's no way a felony charge can be applied to fear and common sense. It's like putting anyone who watches a "Hockey Game" in jail for a felony?

Give me a break. The officer claims the fight was planned because students sent text messages telling each other about the pending bout. Please. I remember from my days in middle school people spreading the word (by mouth as texting was not heard of when I was in middle school) about this one and that one gonna fight behind the bleachers after school. I hope the state attorney has the good sense not to pursue these onlooker charges.

Black folks know that when it comes to us retribution is usually swift; therefore, I hope these parents can move fast to get these charges dropped. Young people don't deserve to be treated like common criminals.

Someone want to point out the racial element in this story? I can't find it. And please don't say this couldn't happen to white kids, because that's bunk.

Well T J Destry show me where this has happend to white kids and then we can't say the RACE isn't a factor until then. This is Florida the good ol' south

And I am now convinced that the idiot by the name blkbandit is a WHITE troll who never have anything decent to say

Ha ha ha. Imagine the sherrif (was he white?) going around collecting kids who witnessed a school fight. What court would hear a case like that?

It is heart breaking to see kids fight and I would naturally want to punish them including the onlookers. And dont forget the parents! But to give kids a criminal record for life is absurd. I am not so sure what the right thing to do would be if another kid got badly injured or even died, since that's very possible. If the sherrif was black then it's likely the man was just so sick and tired and not thinking properly about the ultimate result of his action. If he was white, the possibility of racism is there: of attempting to brand black kids as criminals for life. But of course that'll be very hard to prove withoug knowing the man well.

Personally I would have taken the kids to a police station and kept them waiting for "questioning" for a good number of hours. Maybe including their parents.

Eugene Robinson on the other hand would have video taped and broadcast the fight.

I guess they didn't get the rule at home, black kids will not get away with anything in school or life and the system is set up to make them a failure and in this case a life long felon with a bad education.

Around 1969-70, where I went to highschool (Florida), there were 2 white boys who used to go just barely off the school grounds on a regular (sometimes weekly)basis for a continuing lucha libre (bare knuckled fight) under a large oak tree. While I never attended one personally, the fight was always ringed by several rows of students (all white). The school did nothing to stop it because it was "not on the school grounds". The police never showed up either. Everyone in the school knew about it and you could always see where it was held because it was right out in the open. These girls should not have been treated this way adn I hope that the State Attorney has the good sense to drop the charges against them.

"Around 1969-70, where I went to highschool ..." You'll note that Columbine was still some 30 years in the future when you were in high school. Now, at some city schools, they still had sign-ins and suchlike, but you didn't even need to go through a metal detector to get on an airplane, never mind to attend high school. I'm not saying this particular cop isn't racist. Maybe he is. What I'm saying is that schools have tightened up security (okay) and society as a whole has gone a little nuts on the topic(not okay). Stuff we did regularly back in our day, and I'm only a few years older than you, would get you arrested today instead of sent to detention or suspended for a day. Here's what hasn't changed: Schools are wildly inconsistent with their ability to monitor and deal with kids. About 15 years ago, my son was suspended for horsing around with one of his brother's friends in the hall, on the principle that "fighting is fighting and we can't start drawing lines." The next year, he got in precisely this kind of for-real slugfest in the parking lot, surrounded by half the school, and as far as I know, the administration never found out it happened. If they had known it was happening, the cops MIGHT have been called in, back in the 1990s. Today? Dead certain. There would be assault charges. I'll give you this: It may be that the unfair b****** that poor black students have lived with for years is now happening to the middleclass white kids, and I wish justice was increasing instead of unraveling. But it's getting harder to call "racism" in the public schools anymore, because they are all on paranoid lockdown. If kids graduate with any respect for justice and the law, it's despite these rules, not because of them.

Yes we can.

hell yea u r all wrong i dont know why but u r

No excuses.Putting your hands on someone else is a crime!And if a group of people is urging the situation on and gathers to watch it....they are just as guilty of the crime.

This is happening to "white kids". Check the internet under collierville high school fight club.

It sucked that you couldn't? watch those gameboy videos on this.