January 19, 2011
Crime and Punishment Department
My Civic Duty to Intervene
A depressing story about a group of thirteen-year-olds who allegedly strong armed another thirteen-year-old to rob an iPhone contained what I considered to be a strange additional fact in the case. An 18-year-old "was charged with disorderly conduct after police said he was present at the time of the robbery and did nothing to stop it."
So, just what is my civic duty to intervene in a violent struggle I witness on the street? If I do intervene, and it turns out I was wrong about the perceived facts, do I get immunity from prosecution for violating the rights of the alleged perpetrators? Was I supposed to receive training for this in public school? (Perhaps I was absent that day....)
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On a somewhat related note, if the police order you to help them catch a bad guy and you don't, you could be fined between $500-$1,000 depending on your location.
http://www.snopes.com/autos/law/posse.asp
There's also the personal safety angle to consider: I am physically small, and lots of 13-year-old boys are bigger and stronger than I am; am I nonetheless expected to single-handedly take down three people because they're minors and I'm not?
Another account of the incident puts it a little less alarmingly:
"an 18-year-old, Jeronne Wilford, of 7526 N. Winchester in Chicago, was arrested for disorderly conduct after he became involved in a dispute with officers who were taking the juveniles into custody."
That's about what I figured. Sounds like he got himself arrested for Misdemeanor Disrespect of Cop.
Either Disrespect of Cop or Running of Mouth Without License. I kind of leaped to that conclusion as well. As lousy as some Chicago cops are, they've got enough problems without busing some clown because he failed to get into a brawl with three teenage gang bangers.