I Think I Need Hadrian the Law Student’s Help with This One
Boy gets 6 months’ probation for prank, the headline reads. And I can understand the basic idea behind why he got in trouble for what he did. You don’t go messing with another person’s personal belongings; and you don’t go putting potentially dangerous chemicals in their food or drink. Especially if that person is a teacher and you are a student. It’s wrong and you should face consequences, both for invasion of their space and for the potential danger. And, in fact, this seems to have been a pretty dangerous prank:
The teacher said she went to a hospital emergency room after experiencing pain in her arm and heart palpitations. . . . The teacher said she saw her doctor after the emergency room visit, and he eventually placed her on medication for high blood pressure.Sounds like a pretty serious “prank.” Until you read what he actually did. He put “a capful” of “a cherry sports drink” in her coffee. Wah? I’m sorry, but how is that dangerous? And how does that cause arm pain, heart palpitations, and high blood pressure? A capful of GI Joe Survival Beverage. The teacher didn’t even know it had happened. The kid was dumb enough to write it on Xanga or tell someone who wrote it on Xanga, so parents found out and one called the teacher. So, yeah, give the kid detention or even suspension for being foolish, but pressing criminal charges? I don’t know this teacher, but I have a feeling she’s not one who’d earn my respect in the classroom.
posted by Degolar @ 9:55 AM
3 Comments:
I think the important point here is the consequences. Detention doesn't cover an emergency room visit. And this is a criminal charge, so I'm guessing the evidence is pretty secure on a causal relationship. If she wanted, I'm thinking her civil case is even better, but I don't really know anything because I've only been in law school for a month. But I would argue, if Prof. M. were calling on me in class, that all of the elements of a battery have been met and that the kid is liable. And them there ER's ain't cheap.
Oh, one more area of expertise I can bring to this discussion. I've worked in law enforcement, so I know from personal experience that the way things get written up in the newspaper often vary wildly from the way they happened in real life. So, there is probably a lot that this story doesn't cover.
I'll bet it wasn't a sports drink, but an energy drink. Lots of ppl. get scary "hard" heart palpitations from concentrated doses of caffeine.
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