Boy arrested over Xmas gift
2006-12-06 14:57
Columbia, South Carolina - A fed-up mother had her 12-year-old son arrested for allegedly rummaging through his great-grandmother's things and playing with his Christmas present early.
The mother called police on Sunday after learning her son had disobeyed orders and repeatedly taken a Game Boy hand-held video game player from its hiding place at his great-grandmother's house next door and played it.
He was arrested on petty larceny charges, taken to the local police station in handcuffs and held until his mother picked him up after church.
"It was only to teach my son a lesson. He's been going through life doing things ... and getting away with it," said the boy's mother, Brandi Ervin.
Police did not release the boy's name.
The mother said her son was diagnosed in the last year with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, but that his medicine does not seem to help.
She said he faces an expulsion hearing at his school. Rock Hill police captain Mark Bollinger said the boy took a swing at a police officer assigned to the school last month. He has been suspended from school since then.
The boy's case will be presented to department of juvenile justice officials in York County, who will decide what happens to him, Bollinger said.
His mother hopes he can attend a programme that will finally scare him straight.
"It's not even about the Christmas present," she said. "I only want positive things out of it. ... There's no need for him to act this way. I'd rather call myself than someone else call for him doing something worse than this."
- AP