Talon Posted July 17, 2005 #1 Share Posted July 17, 2005 US police pursue girl over rock An 11-year-old girl who threw a rock at a group of boys pelting her with water balloons is being prosecuted on serious assault charges in California. Maribel Cuevas was arrested in April in a police operation which involved three police cars and a helicopter. She has since spent five days in detention, in which she was granted one 30 minute visit by her parents, and has spent a month under house arrest. Her lawyer accuses the authorities of criminalising childhood behaviour. "They're treating her like a violent parole offender," Richard Beshwate said. "It's not a felony, it's an 11-year-old acting like an 11-year-old." The girl is due back in court at the beginning of next month. Police say they had to investigate as the boy who was hit by the stone she threw suffered a deep gash to his head and needed hospital treatment. He has reportedly acknowledged to officers that he started the fight in late April. 'Obligation' The confrontation happened in a poor district of Fresno, in central California, where Maribel Cuevas lives with her Spanish-speaking family. The girl, who speaks little English, has admitted throwing a rock at a group of boys she says were pestering her with water balloons as she walked down the street. An ambulance was called, but arrived flanked by three police patrol vehicles. A helicopter meanwhile hovered overhead. The 11-year-old was then read her rights twice in English before being detained. "We responded. We determined a felony assault had taken place and the officers took the actions that were necessary," said Fresno Police Sergeant Anthony Martinez. Another police officer told ABC News that the girl, when asked what she thought would happen if she threw the rock, replied that it would make him "bleed". Story from BBC NEWS: http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/1/hi/worl...cas/4689459.stm Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
__Kratos__ Posted July 17, 2005 #2 Share Posted July 17, 2005 An 11-year-old girl who threw a rock at a group of boys pelting her with water balloons is being prosecuted on serious assault charges in California. Maribel Cuevas was arrested in April in a police operation which involved three police cars and a helicopter. Un-bloody-believable.... She threw a rock at them good for her, water ballons can hurt to, when they don't explode and when they do you are still drenched with water. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Talon Posted July 17, 2005 Author #3 Share Posted July 17, 2005 agreed Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
arben Posted July 17, 2005 #4 Share Posted July 17, 2005 Wouldn't it be nice if the authorities were this persistent in more important cases? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
V for Vanity Posted July 17, 2005 #5 Share Posted July 17, 2005 Wouldn't it be nice if the authorities were this persistent in more important cases? 737638[/snapback] My thoughts exactly... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Faeden Posted July 17, 2005 #6 Share Posted July 17, 2005 (edited) The only other people i can think that would lock up an 11 year old child are the Nazis. Sick!!!! What do they think shes going to do, leave the country and seek asylem? Edited July 17, 2005 by Faeden Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Conspiracy Posted July 17, 2005 #7 Share Posted July 17, 2005 whoa... 3 cop cars and a helicopter to find and track down a 11 year old girl? my dear god i could have done a better job at catching her on my bike. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Commander CMG Posted July 17, 2005 #8 Share Posted July 17, 2005 Always good to see the Police and Justice system concentrating on real crime... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thanato Posted July 17, 2005 #9 Share Posted July 17, 2005 isnt it funny, it takes them so long to start an investigation on a murder but if some 11 year old girl acts in self defence she gets hunted down like a dog and arrested, un freaking belivable. ~Thanato Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rhomphaia Posted July 17, 2005 #10 Share Posted July 17, 2005 (edited) Let me play devil's advocate here for a moment. No one mentioned the size of the rock, but one of the boys suffered a deep gash to the head, and it could have been a good sized rock as well. If I were a cop and I saw a boy bleeding buckets from his head with a large hunk of stone on the ground, I would play it safe and make the assumption that she was trying to hit him in the head with it to cause grievous harm. THAT would warrant three cars and a helicopter. Still, that is just speculation however and like I said, I am playing devil's advocate just for the sake of argument. Edited July 17, 2005 by Rhomphaia Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Commander CMG Posted July 17, 2005 #11 Share Posted July 17, 2005 I see this as her using reasonable force to protect herself and realistically how big of a stone can an 11 year old throw and with any degree of accuracy. She was being pelted aby a group of boys and picked the nearest thing to hand to defend herself and I don't think there is any justification in having nearly a full SWAT team after her. Poor kid is an Easy target for the Law enforcment and they should concentrate on real crime. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Super Pancake Posted July 17, 2005 #12 Share Posted July 17, 2005 Why are people who defend themselves are getting arrested and bullies are considered victims lately? Oh and yeah good work by the police on finding a dangerous fugitive. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rhomphaia Posted July 17, 2005 #13 Share Posted July 17, 2005 *Closes his eyes because he knows the crap is going to the fan with this one* Would all of you be saying the same thing if this were a bunch of girls throwing baloons at a boy who then threw a rock? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bathory Posted July 17, 2005 #14 Share Posted July 17, 2005 i do agree that this was an unecessary use of police resources, though its really hard to say if her actions were warranted, if she had walked up and stabbed one of the boys in the chest would we be supporting her? a fair sized rock to the head is more than enough to kill someone, so i dunno its really quite complicated The girl, who speaks little English i find this somewhat worrisome too Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Commander CMG Posted July 17, 2005 #15 Share Posted July 17, 2005 *Closes his eyes because he knows the crap is going to the fan with this one* Would all of you be saying the same thing if this were a bunch of girls throwing baloons at a boy who then threw a rock? 738402[/snapback] You can choose many different scenario's to this like what if they were throwing these at a 90 year old lady with a walking stick. Would it be justified for her to defend herself? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rhomphaia Posted July 17, 2005 #16 Share Posted July 17, 2005 No, I am not insterting a bunch of different scenarios. I merely reversed the roles and asked a question. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nick_fury Posted July 17, 2005 #17 Share Posted July 17, 2005 Wait, so the other day we have a ten year old kid who cut out someones testicle and escpaed any repurcussions, yet now we have an eleven year old girl facing god knows what punishment for tossing a rock at someone. I mean come on, what kid didn't chuck a rock at somebody when they were about that age??? the only difference is her's made this 'deep gash' which will probably be healed by the time this case is heard Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rhomphaia Posted July 17, 2005 #18 Share Posted July 17, 2005 I am not arguing the point that it is messed up and that the authorities are over-reacting. I am just kind of bringing other questions and viewpoints into this thread on the subject. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steeler Mania Posted July 17, 2005 #19 Share Posted July 17, 2005 Maybe she should be allowed to throw rocks at the arresting officers. They didn't throw stones in their youth? Come on, this was an easy pick, now a poor kid is up on felony charges...PLEASE! Leave her ALONE and go catch a drug dealer or terroist! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Clubarm Posted July 18, 2005 #20 Share Posted July 18, 2005 Did it ever occur to anyone that maybe they were bored? Them being the authorities. -Waits to get shot to pieces.- Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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