3/25 10 year old hadcuffed and arrested for trespassing at Schiavo Hospice

[truthpusher]

Fri Mar 25, 2:32 PM ET
Pinellas County Sheriff's deputies, and Pinellas
Park, Fla., police officers arrest 10-year-old
Joshua Heldreth, of Charlotte, N.C., for trespassing
on Woodside Hospice property in Pinellas park, Fla.
Heldreth was attempting to bring Terri Schiavo a glass
of water. Schiavo's feeding tube was removed by court
order Friday, March 18, 2005. (AP Photo/Chris O'Meara)

link: http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/050325/480/cho10603251929

[SaveElmer]

1. Parents should be arrested for child abuse

These people are really giving Christianity a bad name!!!

[MidwestTransplant]

22. Yup, Child Endangerment

[TahitiNut]

31. "Contributing to the Delinquency of a Minor"

Juvenile Delinquent - "you have to be taught to hate ..."

[SemperEadem]

81. He should be taken from his parents

clearly, they don't have any regard for his age... they thought "hey, he's a minor--they'll just release him back to us..."

they pimped their own child for their own glory and selfish attention.

[Guckert]

2. This kids parents should be in cuffs with him. What a disgrace.

[sarcasmo]

3. Child Protective Services, where are they and how do we get them involved.

[jahyarain]

38. maybe this will be of help

ABUSE: Non-accidental infliction of physical or PSYCHOLOGICAL INJURY or sexual abuse by a parent, adult household member, or other person responsible for care of the child.

i'm not sure, but i would like to think that purposefully sending your child to be arrested would fall under this category

The reporter has to live in the same state

http://www.dcf.state.fl.us/abuse/definitions.shtml

[dave29]

4. again: pouring water down her throat will kill her

she will drown. Do not let your children become murderers. The law is the law.

Let her go in peace.

[nothingshocksmeanymore]

5. Handcuffing a ten year old is ridiculous

While I think the adult accompanying this kid should be looked at, I think it was hyperbolic on the part of the police to handcuff a kid.

[frictionlessO]

25. Cant agree more with you. We don't like it when they pull

this at our protests, no way am I liking it now.

[reprobate]

43. In most jurisdiction handcuffing is required upon arrest .

The cops really had no choice. If a prisoner is NOT cuffed and breaks lose, causing harm to someone else, the jurisdiction is responsible and either the city or county will pay for it.

Ten year old, or forty year old.

Don't blame the cops, blame the parents for this.

[nothingshocksmeanymore]

49. Really? I never knew that.

Crim isn't my field but I honestly never knew there wasn't a distinction as to age of offender.

[Pacifist Patriot]

69. Sadly in this day and age you can't really distinguish.

Children may be smaller, but they can be very fast. I think about what bolters my children are and how quickly they grab things from one another. If one of them was restrained by the police it wouldn't take a nanosecond for them twist away and sprint off or reach out to get a gun out of a holster. Not that they would either get arrested or grab for a gun mind you. :)

This child doesn't look all that big, but my if my sons keep tracking on their growth charts they are going to be larger than the average adult American mail when they are 12-13.

[HarukaTheTrophyWife]

63. When I was arrested, I wasn't handcuffed.

Basically, I was told I was under arrest and I said, "okay." No handcuffs.

[Pacifist Patriot]

68. Depends on the jurisdiction. Most do have mandatory cuffing though.

[cobaindrain]

6. remember the crying girl with the ripped sign at the Kerry rally?

same thing

[moobu2]

80. It's not the same thing really, this 10 year old Childs arrest was planned

staged actually. The police were in negotiation with the protesters for several day's planning it.

[scavok]

7. Let's not forget

That this whole farce is being orchestrated from Karl Rove's office in the White House. While these 10 year old kids getting arrested make good copy, the people who are sending them out to get arrested are bought and paid for partisan hacks.

It would be nice to know what Rove's ultimate aim is here. He looks to be losing in the polls, but that doesn't seem to be fazing him.

Is he trying to make getting right wing judges through the Senate easier? Torpedo Jeb before he upstages his brother? Throw the fundies a bone to distract them from the fact that they don't count anymore?

There is something afoot and it must be working because these protesters haven't given up and gone home.

[LiberteToujours]

13. I don't think Rove is responsible for sending this kid in

His parents are. Rove is powerful, but he's not God!

[DS1]

18. This place really gives too much credit to Rove

You're talking like he has the Force :eyes:

These idiots are acting independently.

[Mizmoon]

8. Cops went too far

Regardless if it's an anti-war rally or a Terri Schiavo vigil, children do not belong in handcuffs. Ever.

[justsomegirl]

11. Where were the parents

If the parents were parenting properly, this child wouldn't have been in handcuffs.

[ElectroPrincess]

12. Parents were bragging on "Fox and Friends" this AM that their

blessed children were begging them to go down to Terri's hospice so they could protest and get arrested. And who could argue with them? I can answer that: Sane vice Fundy parents. :P

I don't blame the cops one bit. I fully blame the Fundy parents that put these children in this tenuous position.

[tsuki]

29. The children were begging to get arrested??? What are these

Fundamentalists teaching their children?

[shadowknows69]

66. that they themselves are cowards that need to send kids

to do their job because they can't afford to have a criminal record lest they be kicked from the country club. SCUM.

[Demit]

9. Aw, the kid prolly begged them to. He's made his fundie bones now.

[TwilightZone]

10. Maybe they should charge him with attempted murder.

Hey, he could have killed her with that water!

(Sorry, bad joke.)

[Chovexani]

15. Wonder if they'll be tried as adults

Since Jebbie's so fond of doing so.

[TwilightZone]

16. They'll probably discover that the arrested kid is one of the ones...

Jeb can't "find" in the child protective services system.

[Chovexani]

19. I almost wish that were the case

Maybe they'd actually have to DO something about that. Where were all these "Culture of Lifers" when it came out that all these kids went "missing"? :shrug:

[NYC]

26. I don't see it as a joke.

Would an adult have been charged with attempted murder?

[TwilightZone]

30. No.

They've arrested adults in this case for the same reason - trying to bring her a glass of water.

I'm sure they're only getting charged with trespassing, as well.

[NYC]

33. Thanks.

[TwilightZone]

35. Though, if the situation were somehow reversed, liberal protesters

would probably be arrested and changed with "making terroristic threats."

[NYC]

39. If they actually got through to her,

it would be manslaughter. (I assume not "murder" because they were not intending to kill her, just taking an action that did kill her.)

That's why I think attempting to take her water with the intention of feeding her that water should be attempted something-or-other. Attempted manslaughter sounds good to me, but I don't know that there is such a crime.

[reprobate]

45. Wreckless endangerment. Or Wreckless Negligent endangerment.

[NYC]

47. Suitable charge.

Thanks.

[reprobate]

44. That's not a joke!

Pouring water in her mouth WOULD have cause her to drown. Fundies, young or old, got no sense.

[LiberteToujours]

14. This is a purposeful strategy of the RW

They're hoping that these images will make people upset at the cops. It's not going to work though. The police are just doing their job and most people can see that.

[ElectroPrincess]

17. Amen, I feel sorry for the cops who have to deal with these nut cases ...

The parents do not truly love their children if they are *using* them in this manner. And they are doing just that because they bragged about what they planned to do on national TV (FOX Cable News Network).

If the parents want to protest and get arrested - fine, but endangering their kids, that's just sick. Child protective services needs to get involved.

I have NO negative feelings toward the cops. They are all that is holding back the freaks from "hooking her up" again. Now THAT would be cruel. Not allowing her the peaceful death that she is on the present course toward at this time.

[Chovexani]

20. IMO

This is no different than those wackjobs who dress babies up in white sheets and bring them to Klan rallies, or the people who drag their kids to those Fred Phelps cult pickets. In fact I'd be willing to bet at least some of these folks are the same people who do that stuff.

I just hope these kids can shake the brainwashing as they grow up. Either way they're going to be in for a world of therapy.

[Options Remain]

21. This was a staged event

its bullshit. more media hype.

[Daphne08]

59. I agree. A reporter on CNN or MSNBC today said it was staged.

[aintitfunny]

23. And in this ring...

Circus acts all. High drama, why not use the kids so they will have this moment throroughly embedded in their little psyche's. They will either be just like good old mom and dad or end of shooting mom and dad and a few others to boot.

[Straight Shooter]

24. Maybe they should start putting little cross or bible charms on the cuffs.

Fundie souvenirs.

[bluedog]

27. check this freak out

[Oeditpus Rex]

28. It's SOP

for suspects to be handcuffed, no matter their age. It prevents escape.

About a month ago, a 5-year-old girl was cuffed by police after she went into some sort of rage at her school. Why school officials called the cops is another question.

[FlaGranny]

32. Are these idiots aware that

if you tried to give Ms. Schiavo a glass of water, she would strangle and drown on it, I wonder? The kids parents need to be arrested.

[Mugweed]

34. The sisters were arrested too

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/B/BRAIN_DAMAGED_WOMAN?SITE=FLPET&SECTION=HOME

"Outside the hospice where Terri Schiavo lay, eight more people - including a 10-year old boy and 13-year-old twin girls - were arrested Friday for trying to bring her water."

I can't find the link, but the original story in the St Pete Times said that the father was "restrained" in a van after the kids got arrested. Apparently he was sending them one by one and the cops got fed up. He doesn't seem to have been actually arrested or charged with anything.

edit: it was two sisters

[XemaSab]

57. "Come play with us Danny..."

[Rex]

36. Good thing they handcuffed him, he looks dangerous!

:crazy:

[ElectroPrincess]

37. That's exactly the effect these selfish Fundies want ...

Why do you think that the Fundy Dad was releasing his children one at a time?

[Catherine Vincent]

40. Now was that really necessary?

Or are they doing this for the cameras?

[gristy]

41. the folks who need to be arrested are the kids parents

Assuming they were accomplices to the kid's bahavior, which would seem a pretty safe bet.

[deadparrot]

42. These kids need to be taken out of their home.

Child abuse.

[kenny blankenship]

46. where *are* his parents?

Cops should take him into protective custody (no cuffs) and have him bring them to where ever his asshole parents are hiding.

The kid lives three states away. His parents brought him or sent him to Florida to break the law apparently.

Unfit parents should do time and lose custody.

[ElectroPrincess]

50. It's police procedure to cuff everyone ... and the Fundies love the press

it gleans to their cause. One guy drove his son from North Carolina to get arrested. Puts a new meaning to piss poor parenting, aye?

[kenny blankenship]

74. For his own good eh?

Standard operating procedure is what you follow normally--but this is a child and not a normal circumstance at all. How's about a little human compassion and flexibility?

I can appreciate that they want (feel an institutional need) to protect themselves against liability if he were to get away and then something happens to him. But, still they are inflicting damage on the kid under the rationale of protecting him from the possibility of harming himself. That's a certainty of harm versus a mere possibility, which is rarely a persuasive argument to me.

A firm fatherly grip on his shoulder or wrist should be sufficient and in the long run much less traumatic.

[_TJ_]

71. Don't punish the kid

He's only 10. He would suffer horribly if he was taken
away from his folks.

[kenny blankenship]

72. I didn't propose for this case as an absolute thing...

Nor very seriously. I said unfit parents should do time and lose custody. It's a general proposition and one most people agree with. It would be up to a court to decide if this particular joker is unfit --I do have my suspicions right off the bat about someone who takes his kid across state lines to break some laws.

Since then, this has come up about Scott Heldreth, the father in question. I don't know that this is the same Scott Heldreth. But if it is, then the man is a registered sex offender, whose crimes involved minor children. Don't be in a hurry to assume his son and daughters would suffer horribly if separated from him.

I don't understand this --I mean he doesn't particularly look like a crazy-eyed dangerous, psycho child molestor!

[EndElectoral]

48. These kids are out of control...Look at this article

http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/ap/20050325/ap_on_fe_st/easter_bunny_attacked

[truthpusher]

54. My favorite line:

"He kept his cool during the attack, deeming it inappropriate for the Easter Bunny to fight back"

beautiful

[imagine1989]

56. wow....

In the eternal words of "Dude, Where's My Car":

Two words: Anger Manage Ment.

[maddezmom]

51. Eight arrested trying to aid Schiavo

Eight arrested trying to aid Schiavo

By BRIAN E. CROWLEY
Palm Beach Post Staff Writer
Friday, March 25

PINELLAS PARK - Thwarted in every attempt to end the slow death of Terri Schiavo, five adults and three children were arrested Friday for trying to bring a small plastic cup of water to Schiavo as she entered her eight day with food or water.

The afternoon arrests were peaceful. Each protester walked up to waiting officers, some falling to their knees, and asked to bring water to Schiavo's room in Hospice House Woodside. When they refused to turn away, they were arrested on a charge of trespassing after warning.

One of those arrested, 10-year old Joshua Heldreth of Charlotte, N.C., walked alone to the waiting officers. When a tall police lieutenant politely asked the boy, "will you leave?" Joshua shook his head and in a little boy voice said, "No."

~snip~
more:http://www.palmbeachpost.com/news/content/news/feeds/0325_schiavo_latest.html

[napi21]

52. This kid's not the first one arrested there today.

I was watching CNN this afternoon, and they showed a group of people who decided they were going in as a group to take Terri a glass of water. There were adults & children in the group. They were all arrested and taken away. It appeared to me that all were quite calm, and they were taken away in a very kind and civil manner.

[w4rma]

53. She cannot *swallow*. Propagandists, zealots and idiots fed this kid lies

And big media are part of the propagandists.

[imagine1989]

55. Regardless of opinion

I think that regardless of a person's opinion on the matter, trying to do something like that kid did and 8 others is unacceptable. Trying to be the "hero". It's not their decision, and its not their position to try and change things. Leave it to the people who know what they are talking about: the attorneys, doctors, and judges.

[Name removed]

58. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[Wonk]

60. Your image isn't showing (re: your ATA question) because it's on geocities

and DU handles links to images on geocities (and a few other free web hosts) like that.

[jmcon007]

61. the raising of another neonut.....

If the neocon right wing Christians believe what they preach and Terri Schiavo passes from this undeniably miserable life she has been forced to endure, I'm assuming their belief is she will go on to a beautiful "life" unimagineable in Heaven. Would they argue this?

Why, then, pray tell, would they be so radical in their insistence that she be "allowed" to maintain her hellish existence here? Is this not cruel and unusual? If her feeding tube were re-attached they would soon forget about her and go back to running, swimming, vacationing, buying their new SUVs, and all things fully functional human beings are blessed to do.
And the neonuts would be happy knowing they saved Terri Schiavo from "Heaven".

[retnavyliberal]

62. Actually, I think....

of all the stuff that has been spouted from this, this was the most reasonable of protests. I watched that today. One would walk up with a glass of water and would be arrested, then the next would walk up. I think it was a peaceful act of protest and one that we would use and be proud of if it was our side of the issue. Now, I am not sure what to think about the use of the children, but don't we teach our children our beliefs? I have seen many threads that have stated, "My 7 year old knows that bush is a murder and started an illegal war".

One thing that I have to make myself remember is that, although I do not agree with the point of view, they are entitled to it.

[Ms. Toad]

67. Thank you...

I am sure folks thought the same thing about my parents.

I first threatened civil disobedience at age 10-11. My parents supported my decision, and fortunately the school responded appropriately and immediately to correct the matter which had escalated to my refusal to return to school, so I did not have to carry through on my threat.

I was 17 or 18 before I ran into a situation in which I was unable to work through legal channels to achieve my goal, and I actually took the step of deliberately violating the law (as opposed to violating a handful of school rules).

I don't know the motives or maturity of these kids' decisions - but I do know my own maturity and depth of conviction around the same age, and I know that children of 10 are not inherently incapable of making a decision of conscience to violate the law, or of understanding the legal consequences of taking such an action.

I am also aware that such maturity is not universal - my 14 year old has declared that she will not participate in dissection. Although I understand her concern very well, it is not clear to me that the maturity/depth of her decision is sufficient for me to be able to support her decision to refuse to participate in all animal dissection (even though a limited version of that decision was one of my acts of civil disobedience against school rules when I was in high school). Fortunately, her biology teacher has an alternative, so I do not have to be as sure her decision is grounded. This is the first decision of this nature that I have seen evidence that she is even close to being ready to make.

Bottom line - I do not know enough to judge either these children or their parents and I am not sure anyone else in this forum knows them well enough to judge the motivating force behind these children's participation in civil disobedience, other than disagreeing with their viewpoint.

Although it is not entirely applicable here, I will offer that one of the fundamental principles of first amendment jurisprudence is that to be valid any restrictions on speech must be viewpoint neutral.

[Endangered Specie]

64. What? No Taser?

</sarcasm>

[American Tragedy]

65. Now there's a great idea. Pour water down into her trachea.

Either the people who put the kid up to this aren't up to speed on basic human anatomy, or they want to finish this thing a lot sooner.

[Pacifist Patriot]

70. Totally staged to engender sympathy and make those...

adhering to the legal rulings appear to be heartless monsters.

[NNN0LHI]

73. But his daddy is a convicted child rapist. How nice

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2005/3/27/152922/839

[Nevernose]

76. What a thoroughly creepy looking man...

http://www3.fdle.state.fl.us/sexual_predators/GetImage.asp?fin=116624

If it is, indeed, the same Scott Heldreth.

[NNN0LHI]

77. Compare the two photos yourself and tell me what you think?

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=132&topic_id=1689485&mesg_id=1689534&page=

[Nevernose]

78. That little comparison is scary on SO many levels

I wouldn't even know where to begin. Thanks for the link.

[NNN0LHI]

79. I agree it is pretty damn disturbing n/t

[Nevernose]

75. "One of six children arrested"

Scott Heldreth has been arrested numerous times for picketing abortion clinics and blocking sidewalks while praying. Now his 10-year-old son, Josh, has followed in his footsteps.

Josh is one of six children - ages 10 to 14 - arrested in the past week for crossing a police line at the Woodside Hospice to take water to Terri Schiavo.

"God's with me," said Josh, who asked his father to bring him here from Kannapolis, N.C., to join others supporting Bob and Mary Schindler's fight to restore their daughter's feeding tube.

Demonstrators have allowed their children - some too young to truly understand why they are there - to pass out religious fliers and hold signs accusing Michael Schiavo, Terri's husband, of murdering her. The children beat 18-litre buckets like funerary drums and wear shirts declaring them "Youth for Life."

What's his t-shirt say below the Star Wars - Jesus Christ logo?


http://www.canada.com/news/world/story.html?id=c11d5347-e7e6-4a53-994a-1ab5be522e65