Friday, November 02, 2007

Hot Water

The Only Ones display their impeccable respect for the law yet again.

Two Staten Island cops are in hot water for trying to scare a 14-year-old boy they caught tossing eggs on Halloween by stripping off his clothes and dumping him in a desolate area, a police source and family members said.

The cops drove the teen to a swampy area of the 122nd Precinct, dropped him off wearing only boxer shorts and socks and left, the source said.

I'm sure that two cops driving a boy out to a desolate area and taking his clothes off would scare the kid- but, correct me if I'm wrong, isn't their job to enforce the law not terrorise youngsters? And they're in "hot water" for stripping a minor nearly naked and leaving him in a remote area without a thought for the kid's safety? What if some child predator had seen a nearly naked boy walking alone at night and had attacked him? Surely some sort of child endangerment laws have been broken here? The boy's father adds another detail to the story not mentioned elsewhere in the article-

"Rayshawn was taken to a secluded, remote area, stripped of his clothes, beaten by the officers and left for dead," said his father, James Hezel.

Funny that particular detail isn't mentioned by the journalist- only the stripping and dumping. Was the boy actually hit? If so, why doesn't the press mention that too? In any event, the police are facing the usual serious consequences for breaches of conduct by those who are supposed to "protect and serve".

Elliassen and Danese were put on modified duty. Their guns were taken away, and they were both working behind desks, the source said.

"The officers were placed on modified assignment based on a complaint made and the matter is under investigation," an NYPD spokesman said.

What on earth possessed two adult men to strip a teenage boy to his underwear? And think for a moment about what charges two men not working in law enforcement would be facing if they had taken a teenage boy to a secluded spot and stripped his clothes off him to teach him a lesson.

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