8yo Edward Hart Faces Two Felony Counts After An Altercation With Police

[Whisper]

8yo Edward Hart​

Edward Hart, 8, faces two felony counts after an altercation with police and damage done inside a police vehicle,
[...]
“I don’t even think he did anything wrong in this case. He’s special need,” Robert Bluhm said.

Bluhm said his stepson, Edward, ran away from the Hillside Learning and Behavior Center in Allegan. That’s where Edward Hart attends school.
[...]
An Allegan police report lays out what happened from the responding officer’s perspective. The report states a teacher and the principal chased after the 8-year-old. A third teacher caught up with Edward at a party store a block away off of M-40.

Bluhm said, “He’s ran away from the school before. He has, and he’s made it to M- 40 before, but he’s never made it as far as he did this time.”

Police were called to help,
[...]
school staff requested the officer drive Edward back to the school. When he was asked his name, Edward is said to have cursed at the officer and assaulted him.

“He has special needs. He has anger issues. They know this, and they’re going to throw him in the back of a cop car all by himself,
[...]
The officer said Edward broke the rear police camera in the back of the car. As a result, the 8-year-old has been charged with malicious destruction of police property and
resisting and obstructing.

“If they had him under control, why didn’t they ride with him in the back of this cop car. So this incident would have never took place?”
[....]
asked if parenting played a role in Edward’s behavior.

“We did. We disciplined him majorly. He has a day in a timeout chair. He had one week with no TV and he lost his [Nintendo] DS for life, we took it away because if we have to pay for this camera and pawn that off,”

That’s all the Allegan City police chief said the department is asking for a $50 payment to repair the broken camera. The police report said Edward’s mother was informed of the pending juvenile charges.

Chief Rick Hoyer wouldn’t go on camera,
[....]
the goal is to recoup the money. Hoyer said he doesn’t agree with the prosecutor’s office decision to charge the 8-year-old criminally.

http://fox43.com/2014/04/21/8-year-old-special-needs-boy-charged-with-two-felony-counts/

 

[Valasca]

Ok, that's it. In the near future, every child will have a felony by the age of 10.

 

[cubby]

@Whisper, why is it all lined thru?

Even the policeman thinks the charges are not right, he's a kid doing what kids do, tearing things up when they're mad, and he was unsupervised and whose fault was that, not the kid's fault.

That's a bit much, felony charges at 8yo, he didn't kill anyone, he just tore up a camera.

 

[Whisper]

@Whisper, why is it all lined thru?

Even the policeman thinks the charges are not right, he's a kid doing what kids do, tearing things up when they're mad, and he was unsupervised and whose fault was that, not the kid's fault.

That's a bit much, felony charges at 8yo, he didn't kill anyone, he just tore up a camera.

that one article no matter what I do i cant get the lines out from that one page only
give me a few minutes lol Im trying

 

[cubby]

@Whisper then don't worry about it, it's still readable. But everybody gonna wanna know why they're there! LOL, my computer or mouse ( can't really figure out which one) has stopped highlighting, so I can't cut and paste or anything else you use with highlighting.

 

[Whisper]

its the article itself I just tried something and its the original article
going to see if I can find it someplace else and switch it

 

[Whisper]

there I found it on a diff page and its got no lines lol

 

[AZmomof3]

Nevermind

 

[Britefutr]

Wtf? A felony, are you kidding me?

I just have to ask why he is labeled special needs. Judging from the article I would suspect that he is spoiled and his parents were completely inept at managing a defiant child. Now he has no idea how to handle his emotions, and no concept of dealing with authority figures. I cannot fathom my child cursing and hitting a police officer when they were 8. This kid has a long road ahead of him.

 

[Benighted]

Autism maybe? One of my friends has a severely autistic lad about the same age and he's injured her several times during violent outbursts.

 

[happypessimism]

I really hate the term 'anger issues'. I used to know this kid, who every time he got in trouble, would always say, "I have anger issues!" Like it should excuse his behavior. Finally, one day after I had heard he had hit his mother, I told him, "Here's the thing, Howie. If you know you have anger issues you should be practicing and working on them." And gave him this long, drawn out speech. It didn't really work though...

 

[KKmom]

I wonder if the prosecutor is charging this just so it can get in front of a judge and get the kid help and make the parents to do some real work with this kid before it gets even worse. A lot of times the prosecutor will make the charge more serious knowing a judge will reduce it but it also gives the judge more power and options to work with.

 

[cubby]

You know I hadn't thought of that but it really makes sense, the kid does seem to need some help.

 

[Anubis]

“We did. We disciplined him majorly. He has a day in a timeout chair. He had one week with no TV and he lost his [Nintendo] DS for life, we took it away because if we have to pay for this camera and pawn that off,”

A felony is drastic true, but if he continues unabated, he will end up on here with a worse charge later. If no one can control the kid, as is evident by his running away from a school designed for kids with behavior issues, then whats next? Juvie?? Of course, the punishment his parents gave him is a joke, smh. If the kid is this troubled, why does he have the DS in the first place. In my house growing up, my mom would have had us removing rocks from her garden at a cost of $1/bucket until we paid her off. Outside, hard work and absolutely no priveledge until the wrong is right. He loses a week of tv and his mom pawns his ds to pay off the bill. That punishment doesn't fit his crime.

 

[Bermuda]

I don't know about everywhere but here in the south I think the most fearful punishment for us was grandma making you go pick your own switch of the willow tree because you knew if you didn't go out and get a good one. She'd go out the and get the best on off the whole damn tree. I'm talking me and my cousins would be crying before we got to the tree and not so much the whooping manly the thought scared shit out of us. It wasn't that bad in reality. lmao but it kept us from breaking stuff and being complete assholes for each other.

 

[TKaz]

I don't know about everywhere but here in the south I think the most fearful punishment for us was grandma making you go pick your own switch of the willow tree because you knew if you didn't go out and get a good one. She'd go out the and get the best on off the whole damn tree. I'm talking me and my cousins would be crying before we got to the tree and not so much the whooping manly the thought scared shit out of us. It wasn't that bad in reality. lmao but it kept us from breaking stuff and being complete assholes for each other.

Yeah but...you're thrown in jail for that nowadays.
No switches in the southwest...grandma used a spatula. With holes. Made it way faster than a spatula should be.
Plus..he's special needs. A spanking isn't going to change what his brain can't process for whatever reason.

 

[Kittyskyfish]

The Hillside Learning and Behavior Center is a dedicated public special education school. I would hope he's there for valid behavioral disorders because it's tough to get special needs kids into programs like these. There's always more children that would benefit from these services than slots available.

Just my observation - I do not agree with using time out as punishment, especially a whole day. Time out is a tool for teaching self control. It should be used as a child's cooling off period, a place to reflect on what they did wrong, and a place that doesn't have the stimulus that causes outbursts or bad behavior. If the child can't obey time out rules, *then* punishment is used (losing privileges).

 

[cubby]

I think sometimes (tho definitely not all the time) a kid is special needs simply because the parents keep telling him that he's special needs, I knew a kid that most of the time had no problems with anyone when he was at Cub Scouts with adults or with other kids, but according to his parents he had huge anger issues and ODD and ADHD but none of us ever saw that in him, tho he did talk ALOT. Of course, we only saw him once a week for a couple of hours but generally after a while kids relax and show themselves as they truly are, and honestly it rarely happened that we had disciplinary problems with him. But when his parent would show up to pick him up he would just go crazy, screaming, hitting, running around throwing things, so we soon figured it out that his main problems were his parents not him. If you tell a child enough times you are special and you can't control yourself so you pretty much get to do whatever you want to do, what do you think is going to happen?

 

[ASC1]

Chief Rick Hoyer wouldn’t go on camera,
[....]
the goal is to recoup the money. Hoyer said he doesn’t agree with the prosecutor’s office decision to charge the 8-year-old criminally.

I think this prosecutor is nuts.. two felony counts on an 8 yr old.. in which no living thing was harmed???? Seriously don't see how sending a disturbed kid to juvie jail is going to help anything with his anger and issues.. Hope they do an inpatient therapy type thing...

 

[ASC1]

But when his parent would show up to pick him up he would just go crazy, screaming, hitting, running around throwing things, so we soon figured it out that his main problems were his parents not him.

See.. that doesn't scream special needs to me.. that screams that something was off in that house... I'd have been gently asking the kid if things were okay and letting him know he could talk to you guys at church... it's hard to tell what he was dealing with at home. They could have been crazy bastards and treating him like hell and he was just acting out - then again, he could be off his rocker and they are just the trigger.

 

[ASC1]

I think sometimes (tho definitely not all the time) a kid is special needs simply because the parents keep telling him that he's special needs

Also think it's a bad idea to give kids an out.. telling them they have something wrong with them, could lead them to stop trying to control themselves and do better.. giving them smaller self control tests and congratulating them.. I'd think that would be more helpful. Even if a kid is messed up.. I don't see giving them something to blame it on as especially helpful. They need encouragement and constructive discipline way more than excuses.

 

[ASC1]

"I have anger issues!" Like it should excuse his behavior.

Yeah.. that's exactly what I think... excuses won't help him. neither will labeling him "special needs".

 

[cubby]

I don't think they were treating him bad, instead just treating him too good, or just giving him excuses to do what he wants to do. They would excuse him b saying things like---He's just so excited, he can't help it, he doesn't understand, he needs to explore his surroundings, etc, etc, etc, ad infinitum. The kid was alright, nothing special about him, his parents were the special ones.

 

[yvross]

The Hillside Learning and Behavior Center is a dedicated public special education school. I would hope he's there for valid behavioral disorders because it's tough to get special needs kids into programs like these. There's always more children that would benefit from these services than slots available.

Just my observation - I do not agree with using time out as punishment, especially a whole day. Time out is a tool for teaching self control. It should be used as a child's cooling off period, a place to reflect on what they did wrong, and a place that doesn't have the stimulus that causes outbursts or bad behavior. If the child can't obey time out rules, *then* punishment is used (losing privileges).

That said @Kittyskyfish is what leads me to think the child may have some issues but the worst part of those issues are his parents and their lack of skills or the umph to work to find ad use better more appropriate methods of teaching this kid....

 

[Kittyskyfish]

That said @Kittyskyfish is what leads me to think the child may have some issues but the worst part of those issues are his parents and their lack of skills or the umph to work to find ad use better more appropriate methods of teaching this kid....

Thanks, I agree. His parents need an intervention. Whether they are contributing to his behavior or aren't effective enough in managing a disorder, they need guidance and evaluation because he's out of control.

 

[Britefutr]

I did get an interesting perspective from a psychiatrist. He stated that "special needs" is a catch all bucket for every learning and behavioral deficiency you can think of. Many parents are too lazy to teach and discipline their children. Then they want a pill to curb the bad behavior. In order to prescribe meds you have to have a diagnosis. One of his least favorites is "defiant personality disorder". It used to be a real psychosis but it has come to just mean, lady, your kid is a brat.

I agree with other posters, weeding out the true special needs has become quite a problem.
@cubby, I saw similar behavior from my neice. Basically they just didn't parent her and she was a nightmare. We felt so guilty that we couldn't stand our own neice. At six years old she was an evil manipulative snotty brat. She finally started school and guess what? It took about three days and the teacher reported that she became well behaved and a joy to teach. Was still a nightmare at home but through working with the school they did finally learn how to parent.

 

[cubby]

It just seems everytime I read an article about teenage brains not being able to function like an adult and that is why they act up like they do, because they just don't understand how to behave like an adult. I know everyone has read an article like that. I believe it just gives the parents an excuse for the kids when they act up "Well he's 14, he just doesn't get it, yet" , which in turn gives the kids an excuse to act like they want to. "Hey I'm only 14 what do you expect my brain's not fully developed yet!" I think it's all a load of hogwash, myself. I firmly believe that kids that are always treated like children always act like bratty children, expect that they can be more and teach that they can be more and they will be more.

If this doesn't make sense my only excuse is I'm tired and it's late!

 

[Krystal]

it's a bad idea to give kids an out.. telling them they have something wrong with them, could lead them to stop trying to control themselves and do better..

Ugh, it's a sign that the Apocalypse is near. I would agree a million times if I could and show lots of love.

As the parent of an autistic child with severe autism related depression and anxiety I am frequently asked how I "taught" my son to behave properly. Umm, it's called parenting. He can't read hardly at all and I accept that but he CAN control his behavior, aside from his autistic quirks (finger flapping and a high pitched noise) and Goddamn it he will. Autism will NOT be his crutch, fuck that, it will be what makes him do his best to prove ignorant motherfuckers wrong!

 

[PaJ1]

I did get an interesting perspective from a psychiatrist. He stated that "special needs" is a catch all bucket for every learning and behavioral deficiency you can think of. Many parents are too lazy to teach and discipline their children. Then they want a pill to curb the bad behavior. In order to prescribe meds you have to have a diagnosis. One of his least favorites is "defiant personality disorder". It used to be a real psychosis but it has come to just mean, lady, your kid is a brat.

This is completely true. My clients have to be diagnosed with something in order to receive services. If there's no concrete diagnosis to support their bad behavior, it's always classified as "Defiant Personality Disorder" or "Mood Disorder NOS" (NOS means "not otherwise specified"). Everytime I get one of these, I know I'm in for a very long, difficult treatment period, because without a real diagnosis (PTSD, RAD, ADD, etc.) it's hard to figure out the root of the problem. It's more about teaching the kids to learn to control their behaviors instead of treating the issue that's CAUSING the problems.

 

[Caveman]

most fearful punishment for us was grandma making you go pick your own switch of the willow tree

My mom had a plastic belt that hurt like H@@@. I took it one day and slowly feed it out a hole in my screen window so it would drop behind a hedge of rose bushes, never to be seen again. Of course, when I turned around, there she stood with those arms folded. Needless to say, that belt hurt even worse with all the rose thorn scratched on my legs.