Comment Re:What do you think? (Score 1) 216
Ok, I will explain it in detail then. (I'm in Canada, not the US btw)
My friend was walking down the street fairly late at night. He walked past a park and saw a kid being violently assaulted by 2 rather large fellows. He shouted and ran over to them. He threw one guy off of the kid, at which time the other guy pulled a knife on him. He shoved him away and kneed him in the head. This was the only contact he had with the 2 guys. He then called the police.
Once everything was sorted out by the police, the parents of the guy who pulled out the knife decided to press charges. The police were shocked, the young kids parents were outraged, even the father of the other attacker thought it was stupid. Turns out the parents are rich lawyers, and were convinced that their kid would never attack someone like that. So they went to court and got my friend convicted. They were seeking jail time for him, but his lawyer managed to get it down to 8 months probation, 36 anger management classes, no drinking while on probation(even though he was sober when this happened), and he can't leave the area.
Everyone else involved, and I mean EVERYONE(included all the police offers involved), thought this was completely ridiculous. He saved a kid's life, and he's the one who gets a criminal record. Convictions like this are causing situations like the one you described, where people will not help you. It might be the right thing to do, but you pay dearly for doing it.
My friend was walking down the street fairly late at night. He walked past a park and saw a kid being violently assaulted by 2 rather large fellows. He shouted and ran over to them. He threw one guy off of the kid, at which time the other guy pulled a knife on him. He shoved him away and kneed him in the head. This was the only contact he had with the 2 guys. He then called the police.
Once everything was sorted out by the police, the parents of the guy who pulled out the knife decided to press charges. The police were shocked, the young kids parents were outraged, even the father of the other attacker thought it was stupid. Turns out the parents are rich lawyers, and were convinced that their kid would never attack someone like that. So they went to court and got my friend convicted. They were seeking jail time for him, but his lawyer managed to get it down to 8 months probation, 36 anger management classes, no drinking while on probation(even though he was sober when this happened), and he can't leave the area.
Everyone else involved, and I mean EVERYONE(included all the police offers involved), thought this was completely ridiculous. He saved a kid's life, and he's the one who gets a criminal record. Convictions like this are causing situations like the one you described, where people will not help you. It might be the right thing to do, but you pay dearly for doing it.
