10 Wild Reasons Children Have Been Arrested

by Johan Tobias

Sure, some children do sometimes go wrong for one reason or another, and do something so evil that the law simply has to intervene. These situations are tragic, and fortunately quite rare, but what isn’t rare is children misbehaving in general. There will always be kids who make the kinds of mistakes that kids do, but that doesn’t mean the adults always know how to handle it. In this list, we will explore 10 times that overreaction to childish behaviors led to arrests. 

10. A Florida 13 Year Old Was Once Arrested For Farting In Class 

Most of us have probably accidentally passed gas in an embarrassing way at least once, and had to excuse ourselves or act like it didn’t happen while looking properly chastened. We have probably also all either been, or witnessed, a class clown farting on purpose or making farting noises to annoy a teacher, especially a substitute. As long as school exists, there will be class clowns causing disruptions who think they are just the funniest people who has ever lived. 

Now, usually when a situation like this gets out of control, the teacher starts with threats, and eventually sends the offending student to the principal’s office. The student then has to accept school discipline for their behavior, and will have to hear about it from their humiliated parents later. This is why it is so strange that one time in a Florida school, it escalated much farther than that. A 13 year old boy was actually arrested for his disruptive passing of gas, and later even admitted to it, which led to charges of disrupting school function — Why the police needed to be called for simple criminal mischief involving an adolescent is a question that will probably never be answered satisfactorily. 

9. A 10 Year Old Boy Was Arrested For Public Urination 

It was a monumental bust when the police came across a young boy who was committing the crime of the millennium — he was caught urinating behind his mother’s car. This dastardly lawbreaker was quickly taken into custody for being so offensive to the public. The arresting officers made sure to harangue the disturbed youth to ensure that he never forgot what a horrible mistake he had made. 

You see, the officer who made the decision to arrest and scold the young boy felt that it doesn’t matter what age you are; clearly showing yourself off in public is a serious crime, and must be treated as one. His mother had been watching for him, and she was trying to help him avoid trauma, as we all know it is rather embarrassing for a kid to pee themselves, but the officers had no mercy. Fortunately, some sense prevailed as the arresting officer was dismissed, partly after video came to light showing him bring the 10 year old to tears over his “crime”. 

8. A Six Year Old Girl Was Arrested At School For A Tantrum 

Let’s face it, if there was camera footage going back to every humiliating moment from our pasts, probably all of us would have at least a few seriously mortifying toddler tantrums to look back on. Now, for most of us when these incidents occurred, at worst we got in a little trouble at kindergarten, or lost a privilege or something for our behavior. However, one time at an American school, a six year old girl was not only disciplined for throwing a childish tantrum, she was straight up arrested and taken away by the police. 

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You see, the teacher was at their wits end because this tiny human had gone so far as to kick at someone, so, flummoxed by this incredible threat to their safety, they called the police. It turns out the same officer who thought it was appropriate to arrest a six year old girl had also arrested a six year old boy on the same day. He was later dismissed for this behavior. It is just as well, as the footage shows the officer was clearly out of line. He was there to help control the situation, not terrorize children. When the child started to settle down because of the officer that should have been the end of it, but he got completely carried away..

7. An Eight Year Old Boy Was Arrested For Hitting His Teacher 

Let’s be honest, even the biggest little kid is, well, still a little kid. So it’s hard to see an eight year old boy as much of a threat to a fully grown adult teacher, who should be able to handle a difficult situation. Unfortunately, at an American school an eight year old boy once got arrested due to a perfect storm of mistakes that really didn’t need to happen at all. You see, the eight year old in question had a substitute teacher that day, and was not getting along with them at all, to the point things were starting to escalate. 

As things got worse, the boy actually warned her not to come close or he would hit her. For some reason, the teacher, instead of deescalating with an eight year old, came close, and got punched in the chest. Showing all the tact and skill with children of a blunt ax, she called in the police, who arrested the eight year old boy for being defiant despite leaving no injury on his teacher. The worst part is it turns out that the boy was listed as being part of a special needs program, had been diagnosed with oppositional defiant disorder, ADHD, depression, and anxiety — he was on medication for all of this. 

6. An Eight Year Old Boy Was “Arrested” Over Potato Chips 

Many of us have been good and neve even tried to shoplift, but a fair amount of people have probably erred in their lives, especially as little kids, and stolen a small item or two. Most people probably feel bad about this, but would hope that if they had got caught, the adults around wouldn’t treat you like you had just killed someone. You’d like to imagine that if you got caught up in such a situation as a kid and made a mistake like that, the people who caught you would make sure the punishment fits the crime. 

This is why a citizen witness with a camera found it so strange when police were oddly combative to questions, and bullying to an eight year old boy, over the theft of a bag of potato chips. He was led away weeping, thinking he was being fully arrested and taken to jail over petty theft of a bag of chips. The police claim once they had him in the car, away from the citizen’s camera,  they told the boy they were taking him home, and did not actually arrest him. They also claim he had “priors” and thus they had a right to be mean to him. However, there is a term for what they did and it is called a mock arrest, which can (and surely is) pretty traumatizing for a small child.

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5. 11 High School Students Got Arrested At Once For A Massive Hallway Brawl 

Let’s start off by noting that, unlike farting in class or throwing a tantrum, looking to cause physical harm to someone else is certainly worthy of repercussions. Still, many people have been in at least one fight, or at least a tussle, in their time at school. Kids are not always the best behaved people, and when you put that many of them together all day, several days a week, with little adult supervision in the hallways, things are going to happen. Most of the time, when people get caught, it just leads to suspension from school, and if repeated, eventual expulsion. However, one time in an American high school things went totally off the rails. 

In this instance, 11 high school students, in the middle of the afternoon, started fighting in the hallways, likely as some kind of group disagreement between two cliques of friends. The fight involved so many people that the school decided the police arresting everyone was the only solution, in their view, that made sense. Rather than suspending students, they went the full nuclear option. Now, arresting all of them may have been a bit much, but it made sense for at least one of the students. One of the highlights of the fight included a female student pushing a deputy so she could get to another female student she wanted to keep fighting with.

4. Kids Get Arrested For Participating In School Food Fights

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We all know the scene from multiple kids movies. Someone throws food at someone, and someone else yells “food fight,” a few more people throw stuff. The rest of the people get angry, or shrug, and decide they might as well start in, and on it goes. The principal eventually walks in and blows a whistle, causing everyone to immediately stop, and stare in dread as they realize they are about to be punished. And, as we know, punishment always comes. Kids are suspended, their  parents are called, and the parents tack on more punishment. 

However, in some American states, they take it a bit more seriously than just a suspension and a call to your mom. After a food fight in Texas, 10 students were charged for their part in starting it, and were given the very serious criminal charge of inciting a riot. Now, the state of Illinois is not quite as strict, but when it comes to mass juvenile arrests over throwing food, they’ve got Texas beat, just in terms of sheer numbers. At a food fight at a charter school in Chicago, 25 students were arrested for their participation and were charged with misdemeanor reckless conduct.

3. A 16 Year Old Boy Was Arrested For Jaywalking 

A 16 year old California boy was lucky to be alive after an encounter with police where he was treated to an amount of excessive force that even some of the most authoritarian officers would be ashamed of. You see, the police felt that the teen needed to be dealt with as a very serious criminal with as many cops as they could scramble, as he was a very dangerous threat. They had caught the adolescent committing one of the worst crimes on the planet, and they needed to take it as far as the law would allow. 

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The dastardly lad had jaywalked, which on a technical level, can also be considered trespassing in some situations. The officer felt full charges should be leveled against this dangerous African-American youth. When the juvenile was combative about being so forcefully charged and detained over something many of us have done with no consequence, backup was called. The story ends with the teen being slammed to the ground by four cops and arrested for resisting, and trespass, while five other cops look on

2. A 14 Year Old Boy Was Arrested For Hacking To Prank His Teacher 

Many of us have done something stupid where we’ve gotten on a sibling or friend’s computer and put a silly or embarrassing image as their wallpaper. It’s innocent kid stuff, and mostly considered a childish prank by all involved and all who witness it. It usually ends in a few cheap laughs, and maybe some harmless payback from the affected party. 

However, one time in an American school, a 14 year old boy’s prank was taken far more seriously than most of our childhood pranks ever were. The menacing youth committed the horrible crime of hacking into school computer systems so he could plant an image of two men kissing on the computer of a teacher he did not like. 

Now, you might think since real hacking was involved, a charge of criminal mischief might be in order, but instead they went ahead and charged him with a full felony cyber crime. Their argument for this is that he could have done something way worse like tampering with grades. Now, most people would likely argue that this same fact is actually in his favor, as he could have done way worse and just did innocent kid stuff. And hey, nothing wrong at all with the concept of police choosing to charge someone for something they might have done. Nope, that’s not a terrifying thought at all.

1. 12 Year Old Black Boy Chased Down, Spit Hooded, Arrested Over Begging 

The actions of the police here are such a farce it is how you would expect a Barney Fife-style cop from a comedy, who gets fired for going too far, to behave. The police saw a 12 year old Black boy running from a private security guard, and without being asked to intervene or having any idea if the kid had even done anything wrong, or had just angered a random security guard, joined in on the chase. Which, to a degree you might be able to understand, because if you see someone fleeing from security, as an officer you might at least want to intervene to find out what the hell is going on. But that’s not where this one ends.

Once they detained the boy, he was — unsurprisingly — combative for being detained by police with no evidence of wrongdoing, and spit at a female officer, to which a 12 year old found himself fitted with a spit hood. Now, some  may think this was warranted, but if the police had looked before they leapt, they would have realized it was the security guard who was committing a crime. You see, the security guard was actually trying to detain the boy because he was panhandling, which isn’t something a security guard can detain an adult for, much less a child.The parents, very understandably and justifiably, filed a lawsuit as they feel the police let racial biases allow them to take the wrong side in a situation without assessing it properly first.

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