This is ridiculous. Police arrests about 500 kids in Kmart parking lot on Westheimer.

The part where the police took away the 10 year old girl, who was eating dinner with her dad, is really hard to believe. I can't fathom a policeman, seeing the dad, and "arresting" a ten-year old. Either k-mart is helping to pay HPD salaries, or the police are getting paid per arrest...something harsh has to come of this. I can't believe nobody's been talking about it on the BBS yet...

 

doesn't Houston have a curfew for teenagers? is so, what is it? is it waived on the weekend?

 

This seems really wierd to me as well. Normally, police usually just go in and tell people to go home if they are out somewhere they aren't wanted, don't they?

 

This part about the ten year old seems dubious to me. No way are they hauling my daughter off from dinner. No way. Worst case they would have to arrest me, and then explain HOW they could be arresting my daughter when she was with me eating dinner.

Another thought...how many 10 year old's are eating dinner at KMart at midnight?

Another thought... One testimonial says:

"We went to use the restroom at Kmart and to buy a Scrunchi (hair band), and when we came back to our car, cops were coming in (the parking lot) and they tied our hands," said Brandi Ratliff, 18, who said she was a straight-A student at Waller High School and never had any problems with the law.

then 'In a phone interview, Demmler claimed to have "huge marks on my arms" from tight handcuffs.'

Handcuffs or those little tie thingys? More inconsistencies....

 

Oh my God.

I just read that.

And then I clicked on the link.

And still disbelieving what I read, I went straight to the Chronicle's home page....and there it was on the first page.

I don't believe this. I'm not usually one who finds fault with the police. Hell, I think they have a pretty tough job.....but some head's need to roll for this one.

 

When I was in high school is when Harris County instituted the curfiew of midnight for under 18.

I don't know if they've changed it in the last 4 years.

If people are straggling in the parking lot, just tell them to leave...

 

you *are* kidding right?
Distant in that Earth to beyond the Milkie Way type distant, right?

I don't see the big deal.
One would think that the was Tennamen Square or something

After Checking the Link - looks like they were definately in violation of the Curfew Laws. And those over 18 were in violation of the loitering ordinance.

Rocket River

 

Why am I not even a little bit surprised?

HayesStreet: Way to blame the victims. Guilty til proven innocent, right?

 

Unfortunately, I am not suprised either. If you don't agree those are either dubious (10 year old taken from dinner) or inconsistent (handcuff marks) then please explain why. I don't believe I 'blamed' anyone, I just want the facts before I decide. Unlike, apparently, some of us.

 

My thoughts:

The police could have handled the situation better. Most teens already have a less than favorable image of police, and this raid doesn't help. Businesses like K-Mart have the right to call the police when people are loitering on their property. The police should have warned the teens to scatter or issued tickets instead of handcuffing and hauling them to jail. The ones under 18 should not have been there in the first place.

About the 10 year old girl, where the hell was her dad? Where did her dad go when the cops showed up?

I'm wondering if the police arrested everyone in the parking lot that looked young or if they arrested a portion of the parking lot. Cause a receipt for bottled water proves nothing other than you were thirsty, got water, and went right back to loitering.

 

"We went to use the restroom at Kmart and to buy a Scrunchi (hair band)"

I've never heard of Scrunchi...do they sound like Poison or Warrant? Damn, I might need to check them out...

 

Hayes: You need to understand where they are. The 10-year-old wasn't eating at K-Mart. She was at the Sonic drive in next door. This is a HUGE lot for a Super K-Mart on Westheimer. There is a smaller strip center at the front end of the lot and a Sonic as well.

If they actually did order those at Sonic - sitting and eating mind you - to march over and be arrested...good grief.

Thing is, there is more to this. Kids probably hang out there. It is a big lot with a 24-hour store. The store has every right to ask them to leave or have the Police do so. I just wonder how it went from "Ok, break it up and go home" to "you are all under arrest."

 

is this the K-Mart near Westheimer and Hwy 6??? With the Hollywood Video right next to it and where they have people assemble to show off their cars on saturday nights?

 

The article was full of facts, none of them inconsistent. It said the ten year old was separated from her dad. Is the lesson here that if you're ten years old, don't get separated from your dad or you might get arrested and then accused of lying on a BBS?

I guess you've never been handcuffed with those plastic ties. I have. They're not metal, but they can be (and almost always are) tied too tight. It's not inconsistent to refer to non-metal handcuffs as handcuffs.

I'm not trying to start a fight here -- it just sounded like your first reaction was to doubt the clear victims.

I didn't hear one allegation of an arrest worthy offense. A warning? Sure, why not -- even if they did nothing wrong. A ticket? I disagree, but whatever. A night in jail? Come on!

I do not think all cops are bad or that they all do bad things. I do think that many of them are bored powertrippers who often abuse their power to the detriment of the people they're supposed to be "protecting and serving." This article is clear evidence that that happens sometimes. Picking apart the stories of the kids who spent a night in jail for no good reason is just weird.

 

Regardless of what the kids did or didn't do, is it normal policy to hauled kids off to jail for misdemeanor curfew violations? Especially kids 12-15 years old?

 

This was a terrible situation and really hard to fathom. The police should have handled it better...but at this point we have one side of the story...that of a bunch of kids who were arrested and have to explain why to their parents. I have shopped at this store late at night and I have seen the loitering that goes on. I don't blame KMart for not wanting that. It is their right to call the police and ask that they be arrested once the kids refuse to leave.

All of that being said, something needs to happen here. KMart is much more guilty than the cops here. Vote with your feet...I will.

BTW...anybody notice how the story sounds like they arrested a meeting of the National Honor Society? There sure were a lot of straight A students there.

 

1. I got the impression the 10 year old was separated from her father and was arrested because no superivising parent was found.

2. I'm glad they did something because I live down the street from that KMart and all the loitering kids are damn annoying and a nuisance. They shouldn't be tolerated in loitering there. Do we live in such a backwater that our teenagers have nothing better to do than sit on their tailgates in parking lots? They're pathetic.

3. Police probably didn't handle this well. Especially considering there were a bunch of minors who were violating a curfew and were not cited for it. Besides that, they were too indiscriminate in who they were arresting. A person doing business at Kmart is not a loiterer. But, it is hard to tell who is a loiterer and who is a customer (receipt or no).

4. The cops could have just dispersed them, but they'd all be back the next night. In fact, it's a possibility that they had already been dispersed on previous nights and returned. The kids will think twice about hanging out at Kmart now... or shopping there.

5. I don't give a rat's ass what kind of grades these kids have got. Got straight A's (as if that's hard in the public high schools)? Part-time lifeguard? Never had problems with the law or school? So what; you're still a loiterer breaking the law. Why do they report these things? Should I pity them because they get good grades?

6. These kids are a bunch of sissies. Spent a night in jail. Saw a real-live prostitute. Ate bad food. Got pink marks on their wrists. So? It probably did them more good than harm. They learned something about law enforcement at least. Plus, they have a good story for cocktail parties.

To sum up this formless little rant: HPD should never have let the problem go on for so long. Since they have, they now have to treat people unfairly just to fix their problems from before. They weren't discriminating enough in their arrests, even though I'm sure a majority of the arrests were valid. But, it isn't that big of a deal anyway, certainly not justifying all the whining these kids and their parents are doing.