This meme hasn't been used in a while ;)
Posted on 12/05/2013 8:03:17 AM PST by Impala64ssa
Here's a weird twist in the brave new world of electric cars: A driver ended up in jail on theft charges after plugging into a school's outlet without permission. The kicker: He got maybe 5 cents worth of juice for his trouble, reports 11Alive. The mess began when Kaveh Kamooneh drove to his son's middle school in Chamblee, Ga., to watch his kid play tennis. He spotted an exterior outlet and plugged in his Nissan Leaf, only to get stopped by a police officer after about 20 minutes.
The officer filed a report, and police showed up on Kamooneh's doorstep 11 days later to arrest him. He then spent 15 hours in jail. Kamooneh acknowledges he didn't ask permission to juice up, but he adds that it was a Saturday morning and nobody was around. "A theft is a theft," says an unsympathetic police sergeant. Maybe so, but "if electric cars are to become more commonplace, so too must locations for emergency booster charges," observes Lindsay Abrams at Salon.
Of course. Having him sit in a lead/acid cell would have been cruel and unusual.
I had that type of conversation with my sons. If one of them brought something they “found” I would jump their case. I told them that it belonged to someone else and they should have left it there unless they knew who it belonged to and intended to return it to them. I had to have that conversation a couple of times, but they all finally got the message.
“I suppose this guy is a ahem, JOULE thief?”
A multifaceted question...
Yup. I would bet that if dads at home had this conversation with their sons until the lesson was learned, we’d have far fewer problems as a society. Of course, you’d have to start with homes that had a dad in attendance.
So they arrest him eleven days later? Instead of just mailing him a citation? This looks like the DA’s office trying to pad their conviction record—— and of course rake in some loot.
BTW, It is a common practice for LEOs around the country to work security when off duty. Wonder if any Chamblee police do that and do they report their earnings to the IRS and state?
True. I didn’t have a dad in the home when I grew up, so I never had that conversation. I wanted my kids not to do the dopey crap I did.
Whatever happened to the Jones and Smith surnames?
With current events the way they’ve been lately, nothing shocks us any more. Anyone with a spark of decency is depressed by the static* quo. There’s not enough economic activity being generated to sustain growth. Even massive intake of coffee can’t keep us amped up. We’re on the downward side of the arc.
*intentional malapropism
Good to know. I’ll be over later with my extention cord. Maybe I’ll hook up to your cable and wifi, too.
The rest of the story, he had been kicked off campus by the school before, was a jerk to the cop:
Wednesday evening, Chamblee City Manager and Police Chief Marc Johnson issued the following statement:
We received a 911 call advising that someone was plugged into the power outlet behind the middle school. The responding officer located the vehicle in the rear of the building at the kitchen loading dock up against the wall with a cord run to an outlet. The officer spent some time trying to determine whose vehicle it was. It was unlocked and he eventually began looking through the interior after verifying it did not belong to the school system.
The officer, his marked patrol vehicle and the electric vehicle were all in clear view of the tennis courts. Eventually, a man on the courts told the officer that the man playing tennis with him owned the vehicle. The officer went to the courts and interviewed the vehicle owner. The officer’s initial incident report gives a good indication of how difficult and argumentative the individual was to deal with. He made no attempt to apologize or simply say oops and he wouldn’t do it again. Instead he continued being argumentative, acknowledged he did not have permission and then accused the officer of having damaged his car door. The officer told him that was not true and that the vehicle and existing damage was already on his vehicles video camera from when he drove up.
Given the uncooperative attitude and accusations of damage to his vehicle, the officer chose to document the incident on an incident report. The report was listed as misdemeanor theft by taking. The officer had no way of knowing how much power had been consumed, how much it cost nor how long it had been charging.
The report made its way to Sgt Ford’s desk for a follow up investigation. He contacted the middle school and inquired of several administrative personnel whether the individual had permission to use power. He was advised no. Sgt. Ford showed a photo to the school resource officer who recognized Mr. Kamooneh. Sgt Ford was further advised that Mr. Kamooneh had previously been advised he was not allowed on the school tennis courts without permission from the school . This was apparently due to his interfering with the use of the tennis courts previously during school hours.
Based upon the totality of these circumstances and without any expert advice on the amount of electricity that may have been used, Sgt Ford signed a theft warrant. The warrant was turned over to the DeKalb Sheriffs Dept for service because the individual lived in Decatur, not Chamblee. This is why he was arrested at a later time.
I am sure that Sgt. Ford was feeling defensive when he said a theft is a theft and he would do it again. Ultimately, Sgt. Ford did make the decision to pursue the theft charges, but the decision was based on Mr. Kamooneh having been advised that he was not allowed on the property without permission. Had he complied with that notice none of this would have occurred. Mr. Kamooneh’s son is not a student at the middle school and he was not the one playing tennis. Mr. Kamooneh was taking lessons himself.
If he had walked up to a drinking fountain on school property and taken a drink of water, or even filled up his water bottle I doubt the police sergeant would have been so enthusiastic about prosecuting the 'crime'.
Just more proof the police are power-mad and out of control.
This has to stop! :) My lunch break is almost over...but I’m still going to be laughing, chuckling, and tempted to check in for more gems. But yours was brilliant, I tell you...BRILLIANT! Well done!
He should be jailed just for having an electric car.
So then it’s okay if I siphoned a bit of gas from one of the school busses?
I suggest that you rethink your argument. ;>)
Technically, as a public school, it belongs to all taxpayers.
Taking electricity from an outlet on school property is not all that different from taking a drink of water from a drinking fountain on school property.
Yes, I get a charge out of it, myself.
“Chief, should we bring in this guy?”
“Yeah, socket to him!”
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