Teen arrested for making a story about killing a dinosaur.

[Jayce Reinhardt]

Quote:

Alex Stone, a high school student in Summerville, S.C., says he was suspended on the first day of school and detained by police for a joke.

That joke? A series of mock Facebook statuses for a class assignment in which he made up a story about buying a gun to kill a dinosaur.

Stone’s mother had a beautiful reaction to what the family believes is an overreach by authorities. “I mean, first of all, we don’t have dinosaurs anymore,” Karen Gray told CBS affiliate WCSC. “Second of all, he’s not even old enough to buy a gun.”

Stone told WCSC that the class work in question included a fictional scene in which, he said, “I killed my neighbor’s pet dinosaur, and then, in the next status, I said I bought the gun to take care of the business.”

After his teacher reported the fictional scenes to school administrators, things escalated.

Police have a different take on the incident, focusing on the last part of Stone’s fake status, where the teenager says he “bought a gun” to “take care of business.” Authorities told The Post and Courier that officers entered Summerville High School to search Stone’s belongings after the student explained to administrators that the assignment was “just a joke.”

In an earlier report on the incident, district officials told WCIV that a student wrote about bringing a gun to school, for which he was taken into custody.

He was detained for disorderly conduct, based on what police describe as his “irate” demeanor during the search. Stone’s mother told WCSC that her son was suspended from school for the rest of the week.

Police did not find a gun during their search.

No word on the condition, existence or species of the dinosaur.

Source

[Zered Heizien]

murrica

[Blood Valkyrie]

Isn't fictional storytelling protected under free speech?

[Pessimist]

Blood Valkyrie

Isn't fictional storytelling protected under free speech?

Perceived threats are not. And it's really not a stretch to see how a single status update reading "I bought the gun to take care of the business." out of context might look like a threat. If he had said the "I bought a gun then killed a dinosaur" all under one heading, I might not have given this a second glance. But I don't know about you, but on the rare instances I check Facebook, I don't get all status updates on my feed in a sequential order.

[Blood Valkyrie]

Pessimist

Blood Valkyrie

Isn't fictional storytelling protected under free speech?

Perceived threats are not. And it's really not a stretch to see how a single status update reading "I bought the gun to take care of the business." out of context might look like a threat. If he had said the "I bought a gun then killed a dinosaur" all under one heading, I might not have given this a second glance. But I don't know about you, but on the rare instances I check Facebook, I don't get all status updates on my feed in a sequential order.

So, they didn't see the parts about the dinosaur.

[Pessimist]

Blood Valkyrie

Pessimist

Blood Valkyrie

Isn't fictional storytelling protected under free speech?

Perceived threats are not. And it's really not a stretch to see how a single status update reading "I bought the gun to take care of the business." out of context might look like a threat. If he had said the "I bought a gun then killed a dinosaur" all under one heading, I might not have given this a second glance. But I don't know about you, but on the rare instances I check Facebook, I don't get all status updates on my feed in a sequential order.

So, they didn't see the parts about the dinosaur.

Whoever reported him to the authorities may not have. He mentioned the dinosaur in different status update, apparently separate from the one mentioning a gun. I know on my personal feed I don't necessarily get status updates from friends in any sort of order that makes sense.

[Lady Vizsla]

[shadowmoon522]

[fairy-phoenix]

emotion_facepalm emotion_facepalm emotion_facepalm emotion_facepalm emotion_facepalm emotion_facepalm emotion_facepalm emotion_facepalm emotion_facepalm emotion_facepalm emotion_facepalm emotion_facepalm emotion_facepalm

[David2074]

Pessimist

Blood Valkyrie

Pessimist

Blood Valkyrie

Isn't fictional storytelling protected under free speech?

Perceived threats are not. And it's really not a stretch to see how a single status update reading "I bought the gun to take care of the business." out of context might look like a threat. If he had said the "I bought a gun then killed a dinosaur" all under one heading, I might not have given this a second glance. But I don't know about you, but on the rare instances I check Facebook, I don't get all status updates on my feed in a sequential order.

So, they didn't see the parts about the dinosaur.

Whoever reported him to the authorities may not have. He mentioned the dinosaur in different status update, apparently separate from the one mentioning a gun. I know on my personal feed I don't necessarily get status updates from friends in any sort of order that makes sense.

That, plus another take could be that one post possibly made him look delusional (I killed a dinosaur) and the other made him sound like armed delusional (I bought a gun).

In a sense it was over reacting but on the other hand had the police ignored the call from the school and then he shot somebody there would have been parents screaming bloody murder and suing the school and the police for not doing their jobs to keep their kids safe. It seems like a no win for the cops. Immature kid probably was over reacting during the search.

Fictional or not, it's rather stupid to post on FB that you bought a gun (illegally since you are a minor) and that you killed anything belonging to your neighbor. Had he written one long continuous story that was obviously a work of fiction it would likely have gone better.

I do think being suspended for a week was overkill on the part of the school. Unless it was based more on stuff he said / did during the search than the fictional FB posts.

Lucky for him he didn't claim to have nuked the dinosaur with a bomb he bought from terrorists.
He might still be in a holding cell in some undisclosed location. smile

[Pessimist]

David2074

Pessimist

Blood Valkyrie

Pessimist

Blood Valkyrie

Isn't fictional storytelling protected under free speech?

Perceived threats are not. And it's really not a stretch to see how a single status update reading "I bought the gun to take care of the business." out of context might look like a threat. If he had said the "I bought a gun then killed a dinosaur" all under one heading, I might not have given this a second glance. But I don't know about you, but on the rare instances I check Facebook, I don't get all status updates on my feed in a sequential order.

So, they didn't see the parts about the dinosaur.

Whoever reported him to the authorities may not have. He mentioned the dinosaur in different status update, apparently separate from the one mentioning a gun. I know on my personal feed I don't necessarily get status updates from friends in any sort of order that makes sense.

That, plus another take could be that one post possibly made him look delusional (I killed a dinosaur) and the other made him sound like armed delusional (I bought a gun).

In a sense it was over reacting but on the other hand had the police ignored the call from the school and then he shot somebody there would have been parents screaming bloody murder and suing the school and the police for not doing their jobs to keep their kids safe. It seems like a no win for the cops. Immature kid probably was over reacting during the search.

Fictional or not, it's rather stupid to post on FB that you bought a gun (illegally since you are a minor) and that you killed anything belonging to your neighbor. Had he written one long continuous story that was obviously a work of fiction it would likely have gone better.

I do think being suspended for a week was overkill on the part of the school. Unless it was based more on stuff he said / did during the search than the fictional FB posts.

Lucky for him he didn't claim to have nuked the dinosaur with a bomb he bought from terrorists.
He might still be in a holding cell in some undisclosed location. smile

Pretty much. Just think of what the media would do if they got word of the out-of-context 'threat' and the school *didn't* react. They'd shriek about how school wasn't taking enough measures to protect the students and happily paint the kid as a potential crazed killer in waiting.

Yay for mass media.

[A mali]

This reminded me of that shoot the dinosaurs game. Pretty bloody. I bet those dinosaurs in this article would be highly offended. They are not given the respect due their species.

[FirstBornTripletZack]

Blood Valkyrie

Pessimist

Blood Valkyrie

Isn't fictional storytelling protected under free speech?

Perceived threats are not. And it's really not a stretch to see how a single status update reading "I bought the gun to take care of the business." out of context might look like a threat. If he had said the "I bought a gun then killed a dinosaur" all under one heading, I might not have given this a second glance. But I don't know about you, but on the rare instances I check Facebook, I don't get all status updates on my feed in a sequential order.

So, they didn't see the parts about the dinosaur.

I think the second part the "taking care of business" part is what "concerned" them, but still what if they write about Harry Potter and using the Avada Kadavara curse to kill their teacher or another person, would they be investigated and suspended for that as well.

[Ame Yuki Kaze]

Whose demeanor wouldn't be irate during a police search of their home over something they posted online?

We fail as a nation.

[A Mythic Angel]

shadowmoon522

Hey look! It's a Ferguson cop!