Boys Caroling Get Harrassed By Cop (Assumed They Were Drug Dealers) [View All]

[matcom]

<snip>

Fa-la-la-la-get your hands up where I can see them.

It's not the way Christmas caroling is supposed to go.

Three Franklin boys who were out spreading holiday cheer by singing songs of the season and strumming guitars had a run-in Wednesday night with a Franklin police officer who thought they might be drug dealers.

"What is the world coming to when Christmas carolers are frisked by the police?" wondered Michele Mayzik, the mother of one of the boys, 16-year-old Jasper Mayzik.

Jasper said he and his friends, Aaron Kooping and Joe Schultz, tried to tell the officer they were just three guys out caroling. You know, like in the olden days.

"You could see in his eyes that he found that kind of unbelievable," Jasper said.

The boys, all juniors at Franklin High School and high-achieving students, had been caroling for about an hour before this happened.

Jasper said his two friends play guitar and are in a band, and they all thought it would be fun to show up on people's doorsteps singing "Feliz Navidad," "Jingle Bells" and "Jingle Bell Rock." Jasper said he's trying to keep his focus on the simpler joys of Christmas and not just shopping and gifts.

They picked houses that were brightly decorated. The people inside would hear them singing and come outside. One offered them hot chocolate. A few gave money that the boys plan to donate to charity.

After about an hour, they decided to hit another neighborhood where a friend lived. About 7:30 p.m., they drove past the house twice and attracted the attention of a Franklin police officer. He pulled in front of Joe's car, put on his emergency lights and approached their vehicle.

"He wanted to know our names," Jasper said. "He told us to keep our hands out of our pockets and up in the air where he could see them."

The officer explained more than once that he was investigating a drug deal that was supposed to be going down in that neighborhood, a few blocks west of W. Drexel Ave. and Highway 100.

Franklin police Capt. Mike Martens told me Thursday there indeed was such a tip. The officer was just doing his job, and the boys happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time, he said.

At the scene, the officer told the boys he might call in the drug-sniffing police dog and that the animal could "go crazy" on them if they were carrying dope. He seemed to be suggesting yule be sorry.

http://www.jsonline.com/story/index.aspx?id=544804