There is a story in Not the Bee about two Pennsylvania girls who got hauled into criminal court because they were twisting a swing around on a playground and it broke. And the local gendarme charged them with criminal mischief.
Having learned the hard way to read beyond the headlines, I went to the original story. Because I was hot. And there it was…
There were five kids who were playing when the chain broke on the swing. The city charged the parents $59 a piece to fix the damage. Three of the parents paid up to repair the swing.
The fourth parent, didn’t.
Because in a sane world, if your kids break something, even by accident, you pay for it and the situation goes away. But no…
Katie demanded more information:
“Show me the evidence my daughters did this on purpose and show me the swing was even inspected prior to this occuring.”
She didn’t pay and so her 10 and 12-year-old daughters were CHARGED WITH A CRIME.
Did the city take the situation to the next stupid level? Yes it did. They could have just taken her to civil court first and not traumatized the girls.
Was the mother a stupid bint who could have avoided this by just paying up? Yep.
Shit happens, accidents happen. Back in the day, there wouldn’t have been a question. You break it, you buy it, accident or no.
Midwest Chick's Place 
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