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Boy, 11, arrested for having nails at school
The Herald ^ | 05.25.05 | Rebecca Sulock

Posted on 05/28/2005 7:24:30 PM PDT by Coleus

A school resource officer arrested an 11-year-old Rawlinson Road Middle School student Wednesday after the boy went to school with 10 nails in his pocket. The boy produced the three-and-a-half-inch-long nails after Dianne McCray, the school's assistant principal, asked about a jingling sound in his right pocket. McCray asked to see what was in his pocket, and he gave her the nails.

The boy first said the nails were from a project about 10 days before, according to the police report. He then said the nails were for self-defense because a suspicious man had been seen in his neighborhood. He also said he needed the nails for a Boy Scout outing this weekend, the report said.

He was charged with having an unlawful weapon but was not taken to the police station; his father picked him up from school. The Herald is not identifying the boy because of his age.

The boy had the nails from an earlier scouting trip, his father said, and noticed them in his pocket after putting on a pair of pants he had not worn since the trip.

"They were not to be used as a weapon at school," the boy's father said.

McCray then called in school resource officer Ashley Doster, who sought charges against the boy.

State law says anything that can be construed or used as a weapon on school grounds can be classified as unlawful, said Lt. Jerry Waldrop of the Rock Hill Police Department.

"I'm not second-guessing the officer that made the charge," Waldrop said. "The nails could have been used against other students. The juvenile with them did state he had them for protection against a suspicious male in the neighborhood."

But the boy's father said his son did not threaten anyone with the nails, did not do anything violent, and had no intentions to use the nails as a weapon.

"Is a pencil a weapon? Is a pen a weapon? Is a paperclip a weapon?" the father asked. "I think this whole charge is ridiculous."

The decision to have the boy arrested was made by the school's administrators, said Rock Hill school district spokeswoman Elaine Baker, who did not know specifically why the decision was made.

"The information I read was that the student didn't bring the nails to harm anybody," Baker said. "They were left in there (the pocket) from something else."

McCray did not return several phone calls from The Herald.


TOPICS: Crime/Corruption; US: South Carolina
KEYWORDS: boy; boyscout; boyscouts; bsa; bsalist; discipline; donutlist; education; leo; nailed; resourceofficer; schools; students; zerotolerance
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Rawlinson Road Middle School

Resource Officer
Ashley Doster
Email

Mrs. Dianne Hart-McCray
6th Grade Assistant Principal
Email

1 posted on 05/28/2005 7:24:30 PM PDT by Coleus
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To: Coleus

I don't e mail hyphenated teachers.


2 posted on 05/28/2005 7:26:05 PM PDT by international american (Tagline now flameproof....purchased from "Conspiracy Guy Custom Taglines"LLC)
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To: Coleus

filing civil suits is the only way to curb these nonsense arrests.


3 posted on 05/28/2005 7:27:26 PM PDT by oceanview
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To: Coleus

A lot of kids take Tae Kwon Do lessons nowadays. Are they themselves weapons, and should they be banned??


4 posted on 05/28/2005 7:29:05 PM PDT by DTogo (U.S. out of the U.N. & U.N out of the U.S.)
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To: Coleus

Insane. Does the Middle School have a wood shop? If they do, shut it down, no telling what type of nails they have in there /sarcasm


5 posted on 05/28/2005 7:29:38 PM PDT by csvset
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To: international american
I don't e mail hyphenated teachers.>>>
 
Look, no hyphen
 
dhmccray@rock-hill.k12.sc.us

6 posted on 05/28/2005 7:30:42 PM PDT by Coleus (Roe v. Wade and Endangered Species Act both passed in 1973, Murder Babies/save trees, birds, algae)
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To: Coleus

When they outlaw vinyl sinkers only outlaws will ...


7 posted on 05/28/2005 7:33:19 PM PDT by RGSpincich
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To: Coleus; aculeus; dighton; hellinahandcart; general_re
"Is a pencil a weapon? Is a pen a weapon? Is a paperclip a weapon?" the father asked.

Draw a picture of a gun and see what is "construed".


8 posted on 05/28/2005 7:35:41 PM PDT by Thinkin' Gal
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To: Coleus

Getting out my trusty crystal ball: I see a lawsuit for wrongful arrest. I see the plaintiff winning.


9 posted on 05/28/2005 7:36:13 PM PDT by sourcery (Resistance is futile: We are the Blog)
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To: Coleus
Hey, isn't this the same Rock-Hill where the cop shot the woman backing up the car (full of dope and money of course, but he shot her just the same AND didn't realize he'd done so).

It's in the water FUR SHUR.

10 posted on 05/28/2005 7:36:38 PM PDT by muawiyah
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To: Coleus

Got to break their spirit at the first hint of individuality.

Hey! Teacher! Leave those kids alone!


11 posted on 05/28/2005 7:37:52 PM PDT by tet68 ( " We would not die in that man's company, that fears his fellowship to die with us...." Henry V.)
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To: Coleus

How do they teach Geometry without the use of a compass?


12 posted on 05/28/2005 7:38:00 PM PDT by Peelod (Decentia est fragilis. Curatoribus validis indiget.)
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To: Coleus
I smell some very leading questions here:

PRINCIPAL: "And is there anyone against whom you might have needed to use these nails as weapons?"

KID: Well, there was this scary kinda guy hanging around our neighborhood..."

Bottom line: Until his questioners suggested -- and coached him into -- it, the kid had not even thought of the nails as potential weapons.

ENTRAPMENT!!

13 posted on 05/28/2005 7:38:05 PM PDT by TXnMA (ATTN, ACLU & NAACP: There's no constitutionally protected right to NOT be offended -- Shove It!)
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To: Coleus
Click HERE for discussion at zerointelligence.net of this debacle.
14 posted on 05/28/2005 7:38:49 PM PDT by jigsaw (God Bless Our Troops)
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To: Coleus

I wonder if it's possible to strangle someone with a super-strength condom. That would certainly put the school in a dilemma!


15 posted on 05/28/2005 7:39:07 PM PDT by RPTMS
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Comment #16 Removed by Moderator

To: Coleus

I'm sure it's here somewhere, but in what state is this school located?


17 posted on 05/28/2005 7:40:02 PM PDT by nygoose
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To: Coleus

I wonder if there are any dastardly fingernail files laying around teachers' desks at Rawlinson Road Middle School.


18 posted on 05/28/2005 7:41:55 PM PDT by elli1
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To: nygoose

South Carolina


19 posted on 05/28/2005 7:42:57 PM PDT by elli1
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To: Coleus
This is the correct title for your post:

Boy, 11, arrested for having nails at school

Why add the word "Scout"?

20 posted on 05/28/2005 7:46:22 PM PDT by Buddy B (MSgt Retired-USAF)
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