Electric Car Owner Arrested For Stealing 5 Cents Of Power

Azhar said:
In my context, lawyers are politicians. Corporations and politicians rule this country in spite of the citizen's needs.
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Counterpoint: most politicians are lawyers. It's not the market system that is the biggest problem with this country: it's the hideously malformed, diseased, and putrefying "justice" system whose members either end up as lawmakers or judges, and the only difference is that lawmakers take months to pass laws while judges can craft the law however they wish in a matter of moments in a courtroom.
 
No doubt arresting him was an extreme thing to do, but hey - they succeeded in making an example out of him. I bet EV owners will think twice about plugging in their car somewhere "public" and walking away from it.

This is different from plugging in your phone because a phone doesn't draw a kilowatt. The guy here only got 5 cents of electricity - but the cop didn't know that. All the cop saw here was a wire going from a vehicle to a plug in front of the school - someone uneducated in basic electronics doesn't know how much electricity could be moving through that wire. Say a cop saw a someone siphoning gas out of a government vehicle: even if he only got a nickel worth of gas I would expect him to be reprimanded.

What I imagine happening is that when the man returned to his car and he probably made a dick out of himself prompting the police officer to further pursue the situation. The man wasn't arrested until a few days later when it was confirmed that it did indeed qualify as theft. Why the situation wasn't defused there is beyond me - clearly the guy doesn't know how to deal with cops.

TLDR: Idiot backwoods cop seizes opportunity to make example out of idiot self-entitled electric vehicle owner.
 
haz_mat said:
No doubt arresting him was an extreme thing to do, but hey - they succeeded in making an example out of him. I bet EV owners will think twice about plugging in their car somewhere "public" and walking away from it.

This is different from plugging in your phone because a phone doesn't draw a kilowatt. The guy here only got 5 cents of electricity - but the cop didn't know that. All the cop saw here was a wire going from a vehicle to a plug in front of the school - someone uneducated in basic electronics doesn't know how much electricity could be moving through that wire. Say a cop saw a someone siphoning gas out of a government vehicle: even if he only got a nickel worth of gas I would expect him to be reprimanded.

What I imagine happening is that when the man returned to his car and he probably made a dick out of himself prompting the police officer to further pursue the situation. The man wasn't arrested until a few days later when it was confirmed that it did indeed qualify as theft. Why the situation wasn't defused there is beyond me - clearly the guy doesn't know how to deal with cops.

TLDR: Idiot backwoods cop seizes opportunity to make example out of idiot self-entitled electric vehicle owner.
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That also teaches them when told to stay off of school grounds

If you read the article the cop had to go find the guy, he then tried to claim the cop damaged his car.

there was nothing extreme here really. Guy wouldn't stay off the school grounds where he had ZERO right to be. He didn't have a child in that school, he had been told multiple times before to stay off that school grounds. They could have just as easily arrested him for trespassing and been valid.
 
Exavior said:
That also teaches them when told to stay off of school grounds

If you read the article the cop had to go find the guy, he then tried to claim the cop damaged his car.

there was nothing extreme here really. Guy wouldn't stay off the school grounds where he had ZERO right to be. He didn't have a child in that school, he had been told multiple times before to stay off that school grounds. They could have just as easily arrested him for trespassing and been valid.
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Wow I guess I missed that part. It would have been a completely different headline, but it sounds like the cop could have shot the guy and been within his rights... Particularly considering the uneasy atmosphere surrounding schools lately.
 
Probably trying to get his ticket quota for the month.
That's why its better to speed at the start of the month instead of the end.
 
runudownquick said:
Exactly, next thing you know people will be up in arms because the water had to be cleaned at the local sewage plant. "Insert 10 cents to drink at this fountain please."
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Correct me if I'm wrong, but schools are NOT open to the public like a park. Going to a park and taking water from a fountain that is expressly put there for the public use is a different kettle of fish to going to a school and using their resources. Yes, both might be paid for with tax dollars from the public's pocket, but that doesn't mean they're both for open public use.

Unless you want a system where you use what you want when you want... in which case don't complain about the taxes when they hit 95% of your income :p
 
The linked story paints a clear picture.. he had been warned not to use the school tennis courts before. His child is not a student there and he had been obstructing school activities and asked to stop. To assume he has a right to
1. use school facilities while having already been told to stop and
2. use school district resources(electricity) without permission
are all really big mistakes.

The fact that he "only" used 5 cents seems irrelevant. If there was a school maintenance vehicle gas pump on site and a cop showed up in time to stop him after only pumping 5 cents worth of gas people would be saying "I'm glad they stopped him before he could get more"
 
haz_mat said:
Wow I guess I missed that part. It would have been a completely different headline, but it sounds like the cop could have shot the guy and been within his rights... Particularly considering the uneasy atmosphere surrounding schools lately.
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Wow ... how did you even get here ... even the most tough-on-crime posters in this thread just argued that the guy should have been arrested for a minor infraction and be forced to pay a fine. You are actually arguing that the guy should have been killed

I would advise you to seek psychiatric help
 
Exavior said:
So his son was NOT a student at this school, he has been told to stay off the school grounds, and did not listen. It is his own fault for all of this.
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Which is odd. He should have been arrested for trespassing. The article update paints a very different picture than when the story broke.

Gotta love journalism.
 
You don't arrest someone for something like this unless he refuses to stop. I guarantee you this will not go to any form of trial. The DA would kick that out so fast that your head would spin. He/she doesn't want to go after a 5-cent robbery with no real victim.

So the only real punishment is the arrest itself and all the time and resources it eats up. The cop should be reprimanded for wasting MUCH more tax-payer money than the "thief" did.

Of course, this could also be a flag-pole prosecution to see how the courts are going to handle this type of situation (plugging electric cars into power outlets that don't directly belong to you).

worm
 
it's not a "robbery" it's a theft. prosecutors can and do prosecutor for "5 cent" (more accurately, when little to nothing of value is taken at all) robberies all the time.
 
I don't think he should have been arrested over the incident, but from the synopsis, the guy sounds like a dick. I'm okay if people who behave like dicks get shit going through life. Don't be a dick, how hard is that? I know people love to jump on the 'power hungry cop-hating' bandwagon, but the citizen was nowhere near being in the right. Regardless of whatever monetary loss was inflicted, however slight, he was not entitled to it. He was also (supposedly) told before that he did not have permission to be using the tennis courts, and was asked to leave. He didn't. Is the cop further toward the 'unreasonable' side? I'd say yes. But this didn't sound like the first time he was causing problems.
 
So he drives an electric car and plays tennis? And does what he wants? Talk about playing the part.
 
haz_mat said:
Wow I guess I missed that part. It would have been a completely different headline, but it sounds like the cop could have shot the guy and been within his rights... Particularly considering the uneasy atmosphere surrounding schools lately.
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The headline had to do with how the story first broke. poor guy minding his own business plugged in for a few minutes and was charged out of the blue and the big bad school system wanted to charge him. Then the reasons came out from the cop and the school as to why he was charged and it was completely different than what he was saying and made everything justified.

LeninGHOLA said:
Which is odd. He should have been arrested for trespassing. The article update paints a very different picture than when the story broke.

Gotta love journalism.
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yup.
 
haz_mat said:
This is different from plugging in your phone because a phone doesn't draw a kilowatt..
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Yeah but another difference is that you get additive effects of large numbers with cell phones. How many people have electric cars vs cell phones? How many of those electric car owners are going to plug in to random places vs. cell phone users? I see that crap all the time in my class, students coming in, often I'll see anywhere from 1 to 6 cell phones plugged in around the room, not a big deal IMO, they paid their tuition, and much like they get to use the lights over head to help them see they get to use the electric socket to charge their cell up.


Easiest solution? Unplug the cord from the wall, leave a note on the windshield that says you can't do that, or perhaps write a ticket if he was in fact breaking the law to a point that obviously he felt justified enough to arrest.
 
I don't understand why so many people are comparing this to people charging their cell phones in coffee shops, restaurants, etc. Typically the proprietor of the business generally doesn't preclude paying customers from using available wall sockets for charging devices, and explicitly or implicitly allows it. Sometimes they'll disallow the use of the business' power, and post warnings/notifications or verbally tell customers, and in that specific case, it's not okay to use the power. Or better yet, they'll remove wall sockets if they don't want people using them.

The big difference is assuming an available wall socket that you don't own is there for your personal use. It's not. And if you have been told to stop using the socket and continue to do so, you're a dick, and deserve whatever situation you brought upon yourself.
 
Prox7 said:
He did break the law but common sense should be used here.
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On his end yes. Read the entire store and you will see no lack of common sense was on the part of the cop or the school.

sfsuphysics said:
Yeah but another difference is that you get additive effects of large numbers with cell phones. How many people have electric cars vs cell phones? How many of those electric car owners are going to plug in to random places vs. cell phone users? I see that crap all the time in my class, students coming in, often I'll see anywhere from 1 to 6 cell phones plugged in around the room, not a big deal IMO, they paid their tuition, and much like they get to use the lights over head to help them see they get to use the electric socket to charge their cell up.


Easiest solution? Unplug the cord from the wall, leave a note on the windshield that says you can't do that, or perhaps write a ticket if he was in fact breaking the law to a point that obviously he felt justified enough to arrest.
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I guess you missed the update and everything that was posted after it the day after this story broke. First off the guy wasn't ever arrested that day to start with. Cop did tell him to leave but took his information down. It wasn't till after he talked to the school and found that this guy was told numerous time to get off their property and was not allowed to be on school property unless he was given explicit permission to be there. He did not have such permission, so they wanted to press charges.

My guess is that the school looked at it two ways, they could have him charged with trespassing to get through his head to stay off the school grounds, or they charge him with theft which would be a tad more punishable and really make sure to get his attention. Because it would seem a school telling him to stay off their grounds since he has no reason to be there didn't wasn't working when they were yelling at him for being on school grounds during school hours disrupting student activities, or showing up at other random times.


teh_chem said:
I don't understand why so many people are comparing this to people charging their cell phones in coffee shops, restaurants, etc. Typically the proprietor of the business generally doesn't preclude paying customers from using available wall sockets for charging devices, and explicitly or implicitly allows it. Sometimes they'll disallow the use of the business' power, and post warnings/notifications or verbally tell customers, and in that specific case, it's not okay to use the power. Or better yet, they'll remove wall sockets if they don't want people using them.

The big difference is assuming an available wall socket that you don't own is there for your personal use. It's not. And if you have been told to stop using the socket and continue to do so, you're a dick, and deserve whatever situation you brought upon yourself.
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Further more when you have been told to stay off the property that you have zero right to be on to begin with, you should also assume that you probably shouldn't be there.
 
zero right to be on school grounds? The the part about him picking up his kid or watching his kid play sports was completely fabricated?
 
sfsuphysics said:
zero right to be on school grounds? The the part about him picking up his kid or watching his kid play sports was completely fabricated?
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Keep in mind the difference between a "right" and a "privilege". Good luck getting on any school campus without permission/authorization. The powers that be can bar him from being on school property.
 
punisher said:
Keep in mind the difference between a "right" and a "privilege". Good luck getting on any school campus without permission/authorization. The powers that be can bar him from being on school property.
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True enough, however unless they did ban him any sort of sporting event usually implies permission to all.
 
sfsuphysics said:
zero right to be on school grounds? The the part about him picking up his kid or watching his kid play sports was completely fabricated?
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Did you even read the article? His kid goes to a different school and he was taking tennis lessons. He was also asked by the school not to take tennis lessons during school hours so that the students could use the facilities.
 
sfsuphysics said:
zero right to be on school grounds? The the part about him picking up his kid or watching his kid play sports was completely fabricated?
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Yes it was, he made up that part.

His kid go to a different school, he himself has been on the school grounds using their tennis courts many times and has been told by them to stay off the school grounds and stop using them. He was there again himself using them, his son (if there) was just watching him as it was him that was playing a game of tennis with somebody.
 
sfsuphysics said:
zero right to be on school grounds? The the part about him picking up his kid or watching his kid play sports was completely fabricated?
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sfsuphysics said:
True enough, however unless they did ban him any sort of sporting event usually implies permission to all.
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What impresses me most is that you continue to post without reading the article :p The key part is highlighted for you.

The report made its way to Sgt Ford's desk for a follow up investigation. He contacted the middle school and inquired of several administrative personnel whether the individual had permission to use power. He was advised no. Sgt. Ford showed a photo to the school resource officer who recognized Mr. Kamooneh. Sgt Ford was further advised that Mr. Kamooneh had previously been advised he was not allowed on the school tennis courts without permission from the school . This was apparently due to his interfering with the use of the tennis courts previously during school hours.

Based upon the totality of these circumstances and without any expert advice on the amount of electricity that may have been used, Sgt Ford signed a theft warrant. The warrant was turned over to the DeKalb Sheriffs Dept for service because the individual lived in Decatur, not Chamblee. This is why he was arrested at a later time.

I am sure that Sgt. Ford was feeling defensive when he said a theft is a theft and he would do it again. Ultimately, Sgt. Ford did make the decision to pursue the theft charges, but the decision was based on Mr. Kamooneh having been advised that he was not allowed on the property without permission. Had he complied with that notice none of this would have occurred. Mr. Kamooneh's son is not a student at the middle school and he was not the one playing tennis. Mr. Kamooneh was taking lessons himself.
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The arrogance and entitlement that so many people here feel that they should be allowed to take things that don't belong to them, astounds me. Things have changed so much since I was a kid; we used to be able to leave the car open, even with packages in it, and no one would touch it, because they knew it was wrong. But today, it seems that almost 50% of the population feel that they're entitled to take anything they want, with no repercussions. No wonder this world sucks so much today. This, and the knockout game thread, really wakes me up to how many people really, really suck, because they believe that the laws are only for others to follow, but that they're 'special', and can do anything they want to.
 
LeninGHOLA said:
Poor analogies, always poor analogies. It's MUCH more like he got himself a cup of water without asking.
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It'd probably be closer to 'he stole a cup of coffee from the school break room' in terms of actual cost parity. I was fine overlooking the cost as it's the act of taking something that isn't yours to take that matters, but if you want to nitpick then I suppose we can go that route as well.
 
Tytalus said:
It'd probably be closer to 'he stole a cup of coffee from the school break room' in terms of actual cost parity. I was fine overlooking the cost as it's the act of taking something that isn't yours to take that matters, but if you want to nitpick then I suppose we can go that route as well.
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Up until the point where he was told to not be using the tennis courts in the past, and until the officer instructed that he should be using the power and to stop.
 
Conker said:
I heard from a someone i know that heard from a cop that when they are bored they give tickets out. They give tickets to just give them out usually. There are quotas that these police men have to meet. I think LA got busted recently for leaking out the quota information. Anyone who tells you they don't have quotas are liars.
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What's your point? People don't get tickets for obeying the law. If you're obeying the law, you won't get a ticket.

FWIW, I'm a cop, we don't have quotas and I'm not lying. /end stupid argument from someone who gets their information from "someone i know heard from a cop."
 
kirbyrj said:
What's your point? People don't get tickets for obeying the law. If you're obeying the law, you won't get a ticket.

FWIW, I'm a cop, we don't have quotas and I'm not lying. /end stupid argument from someone who gets their information from "someone i know heard from a cop."
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lol was my brother who asked a cop at a gathering at a company picnic. The cop said they do that stuff. Give tickets when they get bored and twiddle their thumbs waiting around for something to happen. This is out in California. You might be a minority of the rest of the cops. Most cops will find any reason to give a ticket even if they are wrong they won't ever say sorry and let someone go. I have met good cops that are honest but most are on ego trips. Power trips. Some cops will pull you over just for driving out late. I got pulled over once and the cop asked why are you smiling so much. Was listening to some music on a way back from a family gathering. Luckily i didn't get written up for anything that time. One time i was sandwiched in between 2 suvs and some how i got the speeding ticket. Only because my car is a coupe and i'm a younger guy so i know how a cop thinks. He thinks he can nail me in court because of my age and type of car. People are not dumb in the world. Go for the easy kill i see. That ticket was over 500 bucks. One of many reasons why most cops can't be trusted.
 
kirbyrj said:
What's your point? People don't get tickets for obeying the law. If you're obeying the law, you won't get a ticket.

FWIW, I'm a cop, we don't have quotas and I'm not lying. /end stupid argument from someone who gets their information from "someone i know heard from a cop."
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And I've been tailed by a police officer on the highways so many times I've lost count going back and forth to work where the guy is less than a foot off my ass, trying to get me nervous so I speed up or do an improper lane change so he can ticket me.
And if you tap the breaks just a little to try and get them to back off? They either increase speed and plow into you, which you get cited for, or they pull you over for "suspicious activity" in hopes of catching you improperly wearing a seatbelt or any other crap they can dig up.
I've found the only thing to do is just take my foot off the gas, turn on my blinker and go to the far right lane, it discourages them.
And I'm not a speed demon, I rarely hit 5mph over the speed limit.
Waayy too many douche cops out there.
 
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