Zero Tolerance Watch: Teen Faces Felony Charges for Science Experiment

The case of Kiera Wilmot.

Meet Kiera Wilmot, a 16-year-old student in Bartow, Florida. Before last week, Bartow High School Principal Ron Pritchard tells WTSP-TV, she had "never been in trouble before. Ever." But then, the station reports, she

mix[ed] household chemicals in a tiny 8-ounce water bottle, causing the top to pop off, followed by billowing smoke in [a] small explosion.

Wilmot's friends and classmates said it was "a science project gone bad, that she never meant to hurt anyone."

Even the teen's principal said, "She made a bad choice. Honestly, I don't think she meant to ever hurt anyone. She wanted to see what would happen [when the chemicals mixed] and was shocked by what it did. Her mother is shocked too."

The explosion happened around 7 a.m. Monday morning on school property, and no one was hurt. Staff, along with the school resource officer, acted quickly.

The principal told 10 News, "She told us everything and was very honest. She didn't run or try to hide the truth. We had a long conversation with her."

So: No one was hurt. There's no sign that Wilmot was up to something malevolent. The kid's own principal thinks this wasn't anything more than an experiment, and he says she didn't try to cover up what she had done. What punishment do you think she received? A stern talking-to? A day or two of after-school detention? Maybe she'll have to help clean up the lab for a week?

Nope. The budding chemist has been kicked out of school and charged with a couple of felonies:

Wilmot was arrested Monday morning and charged with possession/discharge of a weapon on school property and discharging a destructive device.

The teen was expelled and will now complete her education in an expulsion program.

Miami New Times reports that Wilmot will be tried as an adult.

A statement from Polk County Schools says, "We urge our parents to join us in conveying the message that there are consequences to actions. We will not compromise the safety and security of our students and staff." As far as I can tell, the only person in this story facing a serious threat to her safety and security is the girl who might have to serve a prison sentence -- but then, she doesn't go to Bartow High anymore, so perhaps the school system doesn't think she counts.

Bonus link: "5 Ridiculous School Security Scares."

Update: Three more details in this story from the Lakeland Ledger: She mixed the chemicals outside rather than indoors, she didn't leave the area afterwards, and according to police she "said she thought the materials would produce only smoke, not an explosion."

Update #2: The New Times has acquired the police report and posted it here, along with the school district's not-at-all-persuasive defense of its actions.

Comments

[Jack the Reaper]

too early for a nut punch...thanks.

[fish]

too early for a nut punch...thanks.

Never too early for a nut punch at reason.com.

[Jack the Reaper]

But without my caffeine shield, it just hurts worse.

[sloopyinca]

Fucking mens rea, how does it work?

[Pro Libertate]

We're mere mindless automatons to the government, so when we malfunction, we must be discarded. Do you ask about the intent of the ant when it bites you?

[some guy]

"Because fuck you, that's why" doesn't give a shit about mens rea.

[cavalier973]

Ignorantia juris non excusat

Or, something like that.

[BakedPenguin]

'That's some good Latining there, Lou.'

[Tamfang]

Her crime, apparently, was ignorantia chemiae.

[NeonCat]

Fuck the government school system and its jackass zero tolerance policies.

[some guy]

Zero tolerance policies are just a way of saying "We think the individuals in our staff are utter fucking morons and can't be trusted to make even moderately important decisions."

[Loki]

^THIS^ It's just a cover so that they don't have to use any kind of judgement. That and it's a law suit shield. "Someone could have gotten hurt, but even though no one did, and there was no intent to harm anyone, policy says we have to treat you like one of the Tsarnaev brothers."

[Zeb]

I'm much more upset about whoever decided to charge her with a crime.

[fish]

I love the smell of smoke coming from brain dead educrats in the morning!

Smells like victory

PS: CHRISTFAG

[cavalier973]

The authorities in this town are clearly racist. Had it been a white male, then his privilege would have protected him from any more punishment than cleaning up the lab for a week.

[C. S. P. Schofield]

What the %%$#@ makes you think so? I read a lot of these stupid Zero Tolerance policy stories, and a fair number of the victims are caucasian and male.

[cavalier973]

They're probably Hispanic. Or, they could actually be people from Caucasus, and thus not really "white".

[Jordan]

I'm pretty sure it was a joke...

[EDG reppin' LBC]

Mr. Schofield, I believe your sarcasmometer is malfunctioning. I can help fix it, but I'll need 30 weight motor oil, ball bearings, and some gauze. And vodka.

[sloopyinca]

"It's all ball bearings nowadays. Now you prepare that Fetzer valve with some 3-in-1 oil and some gauze pads, and I'm gonna need 'bout ten quarts of anti-freeze, preferably Prestone. No, no make that Quaker State."

[tarran]

Whaaaa?!?

[sloopyinca]

Your lack of knowledge disgusts me.

[tarran]

And your lack of knowledge disgusts *me*.

Watch the scene again.

[Loki]

Aren't ball bearing illegal for "the public" (IOW proles) to own now?

[LTC(ret) John]

Pressure cookers are next on the list.

[Heroic Mulatto]

Some mouthing-breathing moron wrote a letter to the editor in my local rag, complaining that the paper had the audacity to run an advertisement from a local department store that had pressure cookers on sale.

God forbid people interested in canning their own produce don't put on hair shirts and flog themselves in public in repentance!

[Mainer2]

Would that be the Union-Leader ?

[John]

This is one time I hope she plays the race card. I don't think they are racist. I think they are just insane and evil. But they deserve to be called racists, if that is what it takes to bring these people the scorn they deserve.

[Heroic Mulatto]

Seriously. A Black female interested in STEM? I'd think they would be organizing a parade in her honor.

[Tamfang]

Nah. If she wanted to go into progressive politics, you go girl, but STEM leads to critical thinking leads to Not Knowing Her Place.

[some guy]

"She's learning right at us!"

::bang bang bang::

[JW]

SHE'S GOT AN EGG!!! IN THE MICROWAVE!!!

[invisible furry hand]

She should redo the experiment near Polk County Schools officials. What the hell, she hasn't got anything to lose

[some guy]

I hope the whole town shows up at their next meeting with pitchforks and torches. In a sane world this would happen.

[Invisible Finger]

Or the Klan would show up.

[Loki]

That would be pretty ironic, the Klan showing up to protest the expulsion of a black girl...

Ooh, wait a minute, I just got a brainwave:

Everyone hates the Klan right? So have a bunch of people pretending to be the Klan show up at the next school board meeting to support the school's decision to expel the black girl for "tryin' to lurn" as well as the county court house for the trial of the little black "terrist." That ought to sway public opinion against these assholes real quick.

[carol]

We're talking about Bartow. That scenario could backfire.

[ant1sthenes]

Well, it would probably get national attention to publik skool idiocy.

[SKR]

'explosion' sounds like a bit of a stretch. An exothermic reaction that simply pops the top off a water bottle and billows smoke doesn't really qualify in the 'high velocity expanding gas' department.

[cavalier973]

Don't try to alleviate our unreasonable fear by using actual science, Bub.

[C. S. P. Schofield]

On the other hand, expelling her for this doesn't exactly qualify in the "thought" department, so there's symmetry.

[Fist of Etiquette]

Facts have no place in law enforcement or school administration.

[some guy]

I want to know what she put in the bottle. If you manage to overpressure a sealed plastic bottle to the point of failure it will create an impressive "explosion". I wouldn't call it dangerous if you're wearing eye protection, though.

Back in college we used to go out on the loading dock and put LN2 in plastic bottles. No chemical reaction, no odor, no smoke, no evidence. Just an entertaining POP!

[Mensan]

That's not the case with the new smaller caps on the "eco-friendly" lower plastic content water bottles. A firm squeeze will pop the top off one of those.

[some guy]

Yet another way the environmentalist are robbing our children of the pursuit of happiness...

[dinkster]

Dry ice also works.

[some guy]

Yeah. With a little warm water to speed up the sublimation.

[UnCivilServant]

You don't need anything that specialized, regular carbonated beverage in a eco-friendly water bottle will pop the top off with the same energy.

[some guy]

Far less impressive, though. I want something that could take out the eyeballs of every kid in the room!

[Loki]

Fun fact: 2 Liter soda bottles will explode at ~110 psi. Give or take a couple of psi.

[some guy]

The best part is when you only get one up to ~100 psi and have to decide who gets to go "defuse" it.

[dinkster]

wrap it in fiber glass and it will pop at much higher 😮

[croaker]

There are people building actual water rockets with 2-liter bottles. You can find them on YouTube. I guess that's in countries where possession of and Estes rocket engine gets you a jail sentence.

[DontShootMe]

Oh no. I'm a terrorist. I was a catastrophe in middle school chemistry. The beakers I destroyed, and shit that I set on fire....

To think, in today's world I'd be expelled and probably expected to live under a bridge in a cardboard box....

[Swarley]

I had a first year chemistry teacher in high school that tried to show off. So the first thing he did was mix some stuff together. The mixture turned yellow or something and started smoking. Then the fire alarm went off. So the second thing he did was swear us to secrecy.

[Zeb]

My chemistry teacher in high school knew how to show off properly. He used to make nitrogen triiodide and leave it around on pieces of paper on the floor that would explode when you walked by. He also had a great demonstration of how much more exciting lighting a bag full of a 2:1 mix of O2 and H2 was than just pure H2. He only did that one once per year and the whole school could hear it. I wonder if they ever made him stop doing that.

[Brandybuck]

My chem professor used to the nitrogen triodide thing too. Would never tell us the catalyst needed. But my brother discovered it, and tried making some for himself. It blew up in his face, and he had purple iodine stains on his face for a week. (Fortunately he was wearing glasses).

[Pro Libertate]

What a contrast between this and, say, Homer Hickam's youth, where he built and launched fairly dangerous rockets with his friends. Which behavior do we want to encourage? Not that I want kids to take silly risks, but the reaction to this should be based on teaching and ensuring reasonable safety, not in freaking out far beyond any rational response.

My brother and I started launching pretty sizable model rockets about ten years ago. Lots of fun, and the kids loved it. We stopped more because it was hard to find somewhere nearby to launch them than for any other reason, but it did occur to us after 9/11 that there's a nonzero risk that someone would think we were terrorists or some other threat, launching rockets like that. Ditto my brother's 8" Dobsonian telescope, which looks like a cannon.

[fish]

Which behavior do we want to encourage?

The behavior that results in the greatest amount of tax revenue.....duh.

[Pro Libertate]

Well, then, we need more scientists and engineers, so little girls blowing up stuff without injuring anyone or damaging anything should be given a pass.

[dinkster]

The greatest amount of tax revenue before plutocrat x leaves office, duh.

[Invisible Finger]

[Invisible Finger]

Squirrels ate my comment. Although at this point speechlessness is probably the most fitting comment.

[UnCivilServant]

I was going to agree with that, quite poetically stated.

[Invisible Finger]

The behavior that results in the greatest amount of government spending.

[John]

I am starting to think this is not by accident. They don't want smart risk taking people. They want drones who will shut up and take the shit the party feeds to them. I would like to believe otherwise. But this shit is just way to common to be a coincidence or the result of stupidity. The communists took over the education schools in the 1960s. I am starting to believe they set out specifically to change the education system to get results like this one.

[Some call me Tim?]

K-12 education hasn't been about creatIng independent critical thinkers since the 20's. It's been about creating obedient factory workers.

[Loki]

In college we used to launch high powered rocket out in the middle of nowhere all the time. We had FAA waivers and all that shit.

But there was one time when I guess an Army unit was doing drills in the area and must have seen us from their Blackhawk launching rockets. They did a couple of low passes. We waved, they waved back, then went on their way. Nowadays we probably would have had a Hellfire missile up our asses and the newspaper would have a nice sensational story about a local terror cell being blown up by our valiant heroes and protectors.

[Old Man With Candy]

I would have been expelled many times over. Wait a minute, I *was* expelled. Still managed to get a chemistry PhD...

Seriously, I love stuff like this. Libertarians are not born, they're made, and this is how they're made.

[Old Man With Candy]

Just took a quick survey of my staff, all successful, talented, degreed chemists. "Did you ever mix chemicals together in high school that resulted in an explosion or a major gas/smoke release?"

9 "yes"
0 "no"
1 "What's the statute of limitations?"

This young lady will be a prime recruiting target for me once she's finished her "expulsion program."

[robc]

In addition to what I said below, I also fit in the Yes.

I forgot about the time we had to evacuate our room and went into the courtyard.

Two classes in the same wing joined us. Our teacher got into a bit of trouble for that one, as it wasnt us in that case, but one of his experiments for us gone awry.

It was a fun class.

[carol]

My granddaughter is in the third grade STEM program at a magnet school in Tampa. Blowing up things is what she enjoys most about science.

[LTC(ret) John]

Maybe....Define "major".

[Old Man With Candy]

Enough to be noticeable coming out of a PET coke bottle that hasn't been rigged up as a bong.

[dinkster]

The vast majority of chemist PhD's I've met (and I know a lot, ironically), became chemists so they can synthesize drugs. Pot is so faux pas.

[juris imprudent]

I suggest to you that the proper headline for that article is "School Terrified Students Might Actually Learn".

[np]

Miami New Times reports that Wilmot will be tried as an adult.

Fuckin' A. They're actually going through with it?
Zero-tolerance, now bringing the gift of 3 felonies-a-day to high schoolers!

varopetop

This is just another example of the depths of incompetence, modern day reporting has stooped to. Is there any mention of which chemicals she mixed? It does say he teacher knew nothing of the experiment, which draws into question if it was really an innocent accident. But it makes the police look like the forces of evil so we will all just shut off our brains and accept what it says.

Remind ya of anyone? Isn't today the day?

[Pro Libertate]

Tried as an adult? Why?

[Invisible Finger]

Gotta love it. Minors have no freedom as it is, and then a mild mistake gives them the added burden of having all the responsibilities of an adult, too.

[croaker]

She's 16 and black. We'll see her in a few years dancing for dollars in her g-string.

[JW]

so we will all just shut off our brains and accept what it says.

Looks like varopeTulpa got to that spot early.

[JW]

When I am king, these events will serve as a test for the worthiness of school administrators. Any failing the test as spectacularly as these have will be dealt with accordingly.

I promise that the beheadings will be swift and merciful and only organically grown, sustainable, locally harvested pikes will be used to display the heads.

[croaker]

I approve of your message and would like to subscribe to your newsletter.

[Anonymous Coward]

The girl is obviously a terrorist. Send her down to Gitmo, deny her due process, and waterboard her until she gives us intel.

USA! USA! USA!

[John]

At this point, how can anyone in good conscience send their kid to public schools? These people have gone beyond stupid and incompetent. They are just sadistic. They really seem to take pride in destroying kids' lives.

[Sailfree]

OK, it's definite. Yet another school district has gone completely crazy. Any chance of putting together a fund to allow this kid to get a good education at a private or an online school run by (even relatively) sane and intelligent people? There must be a way to get her out of the clutches of these bozos. As noted by the chemist above, she could have a good future as a scientist...

[Michael S. Langston]

I would donate - though I think in this case her fund needs to first cover her defense costs, the rest should go to a decent private school in her area and of her and her parent's choosing.

It's not as though teachers, principals, etc, etc, are going to pay.

Therefore, maybe a large quick growing fund for this inquisitive little girl would at least show some, with actions, that many think they're solution is idiotic.

Of course giving her money to attend another school would likely just reinforce in these statist's minds they did the right thing... after all - she's gone, they still get the tax monies, and someone else made sure her costs due to this stupidity wasn't as large as it may have otherwise been.

I'd still donate though.

[Invisible Finger]

She has to be tried as an adult. Who else but an adult would come up with such an ingenious way to get out of public school forever?

[Francisco d Anconia]

Okay. I'm calling it:

PEAK RETARD!

[UnCivilServant]

But stupidity is our only infinite resource.

[LTC(ret) John]

I would dearly love to argue against this, but today I cannot.

[HazelMeade]

Your work isn't done for the day until you've ruined a someone's life.

[Lord Humungus]

what's the point of going to chemistry class if you don't blow some shit up?

[$park?]

"We urge our parents to join us in conveying the message that there are consequences to actions. We will not compromise the safety and security of our students and staff."

FUCK! YOU! No matter how fucking stupid or how fucking petty you get, I'm not giving up the fight against you assholes.

[Robert]

What was she doing in school at 7 AM?

[Loki]

16 year old black girl, at school, at 7 AM? She's about to start to start some shit... /sarc

[Dr. Frankenstein]

Then I saw little Tiffany. I'm thinking, y'know, eight-year-old white girl, middle of the ghetto, bunch of monsters, this time of night with quantum physics books? She about to start some shit, Zed. She's about eight years old, those books are WAY too advanced for her. If you ask me, I'd say she's up to something. And to be honest, I'd appreciate it if you eased up off my back about it.

[Jason1234]

She sneaked into school early to plant weapons of mass destruction to further the Jihadists terror plans. According to authorities, she is a suspected lone-wolf terrorist and will be held in the Guantanamo facility until they stumble upon some facts that prove her innocence.

Or maybe some extracurricular science club.

But terrorists are scary, so it's probably that.

[Loki]

WHAT THE FUCK!!!!!!!

She wanted to see what would happen [when the chemicals mixed]

So she was curious and wanted to lean. Can't have that kind of thing, especially in a school.

Miami New Times reports that Wilmot will be tried as an adult.

RAGE. TAKING. OVER.

Fuck every last one of these motherfuckers. I really sincerely wish I could make people's heads explode, Scanners style.

[John]

It makes you want to join a mob and just burn the damn school down with the staff in it doesn't?

[Loki]

Let's just say it's a good thing there's no such thing as the force because shit like this would make me go full sith lord in no time.

[tarran]

My kids really, really wished that they could have the force for one reason only: "Force Wedgies"

[John]

You have disappointed me Principal dipshit, I trust you won't do it again.

[PatriotInTheOriginalSense]

there's no such thing as the force

I find your lack of faith disturbing.

[croaker]

No, it makes me want to join a mob that will drag the staff out into the parking lot in front of the students, who will then get a live-action history lesson involving the phrase "tarred, feathered, and run out of town on a rail."

[$park?]

Sometimes I worry that I can't hate people like this as much as they need to be hated.

[Zeb]

I want to know what she mixed. It could have been baking soda and vinegar for fuck's sake. And if it is something cooler than that, I want to try it.

[John]

Anyone else pull the old sodium in the toilet trick in high school? If I were in high school today, I would literally end up in prison.

[some guy]

Most of us would. Just like most of our parents would have ended up in prison if they had gone to school in our time.

My parents' generation: You can bring a gun to school, but leave it in your car.
My generation: Stupid little stuff is ok, just don't bring a gun to school.
Current generation: Everything not mandatory is forbidden.

If this trend continues the next generation will be automatically expelled for mere attendance.

[Jason1234]

So would I, and most of my classmates and teachers. If we had today's stupid rules and mindless authorities when I was in high school, I don't doubt that I would be in prison for life. I'm glad curiosity and the desire to learn weren't punished back then.

It's too bad this young girl's life was ruined by her desire to learn. Let this be a lesson to kids everywhere, just memorize what you're told and don't question it!

[Brendan]

If I read other articles right, it was aluminum foil and drain cleaner.

It's pretty dangerous.

I don't support arrest, but suspension for sure.

Don't just mix stuff up without knowing what will happen, and especially don't do it at property that isn't yours around unsuspecting strangers.

Blindness would really suck as would chemical burns had this gone of more than she suspected.

[robc]

BTW, we did this in my Chem2 class my senior year of HS. Once when the teacher wasnt there and we had a substitute.

We got in trouble for that one, as we werent supposed to be in the lab with a sub there.

That was it, a strict talking to by the teacher.

He was pretty cool: "I dont know what that smoke is, but its probably toxic, you may want to put it under the hood."

[John]

It is called "no harm no foul" "don't do it again". But doing that requires common sense and a sense of morality and actually caring about your students. Those are traits that the education schools ruthlessly eliminate from future educators.

[robc]

A big part was that he was a retired chemist who got his teaching cert because he thought it would be fun to teach HS chemistry.

We got away with a lot more being the smart kids taking the advanced Chem 2 class than the random freshman taking Chem 1 or whatever else he taught.

[John]

But when the future criminal drop out goes in and vandalizes the chem lab his parents will hire a lawyer and say he is being unfairly singled out because you guys did damage to the chem lab and were not punished.

This is really how this shit plays out. And this is one of the reasons schools went to zero tolerance. Any variation in discipline no matter how justified can later be used to show that you are singling out minority kids or whatever other special group whose member is being expelled.

[some guy]

We had a kid try to smuggle some sodium hydroxide out of chem class... in his pocket. Not the brightest pencil in the box.

The teacher figured the chemical burns on his thigh and the embarrassment of having to disrobe in front of the whole class was punishment enough.

[derpules]

Wilmot was arrested Monday morning and charged with possession/discharge of a weapon on school property and discharging a destructive device.

This terrorist should be charged with possession of a weapon of mass destruction and sent to Gitmo to starve for her pedagogical sins!

[Not a Libertarian]

Are there any good private schools in the area that a group of concerned citizens or a wealthy patron could provide funds for this young lady to pursue her academic career?

http://www.privateschoolreview.....unty/12105

[Frozentech]

Gosh I hope that there is a statute of limitations on stuff like that ! In my freshman year of HS, my chem lab partner goofed and dropped a smoldering wooden splint into a test tube of molten KClO3 (an experiment that is probably banned in HS these days anyway ). It belched fire like a flamethrower, luckily I was holding the tube in a clamp aimed toward the sink. No one was hurt, she even passed the lab, and I was left with a lifelong interest in the chemistry of energetic materials, and learned not choose lab partners by their looks.

I guess these days she would have been arrested.

[derpules]

90% of the fun I had as a kid is an arrest-able offense

[kenny d]

me to except when I jumped out the second story window with the plastic bag as a parachute but I digress

[JSebastian]

I am going to lead off with my typical response; the agents of the State who are aggressing against this private individual should be deterred with the necessary force, up to and including lethal force if they persist in their aggression. Plain English version: shoot those fucking bastards in the head when they come to kidnap people!

[Heroic Mulatto]

How much does the DHS pay you to be an agent provocateur? Do you get paid by the post or is it a salaried position?

[tarran]

Neither.

My understanding is that they only get paid when they have actually roped someone in.

[Heroic Mulatto]

Perhaps JSebastian has to do this a punishment for fucking up the Tsarnev sting operation.

[Heroic Mulatto]

Someone needs to contact Dr. Mae Jemison and get her to come down there and kick some ass.

[lap83]

Was this on school property? Were the chemicals property of the school? If so, do they really just let students mix whatever the fuck they want without any training, supervision, or safety precautions? And now they're surprised that something bad happened?

[West Texas]

Once in chemistry lab in high school, about 25 years ago, I carelessly dumped a beaker of pure ammonia into an unvented sink and the room had to be evacuated due to the fumes. The teachers all got a good laugh out of it and after about 10 minutes of running the emergency vents we all went back inside and continued the lab.

No doubt today the fire department would have been called and I would have at least been questioned by the police, if not arrested on some flimflam terrorist charge.

[Zeb]

And the whole school woudl have been evacuated for the rest of the day, if not longer.

[croaker]

These days a HazMat team gets called when someone finds an old bottle of mercury in the storage closet.

[anarch]

The teen was expelled and will now complete her education in an expulsion program."

I see what... Oh, forget it.

[Mary123]

Take your kids out of public schools people.

[[e-mail]]

Ridiculous. I'm no chemist, although I did take AP Chemistry way back in high school....

We blew stuff up nearly every lab day..

We had one guy do a science fair project that was "Resistance of various metals to fire and heat"

His demonstration? Magnesium + bunsen burner. Use your imagination. He took 2nd place in state.

[dv727]

Better Police for a Better Police State

[Michael Nappi]

I lived and worked in Polk county for over seven years. Admittedly I was proud of Sherriff Grady Judge for supporting his deputies when they captured and shot the man who murdered a deputy and his police dog. I was proud when Grady had his men pose as a fan of an out of state sleaze bag who wrote a how-to book on child molestation.

But then I started to hear stories of people I knew who were arrested and prosecuted beyond a reasonable amount. I doubted these stories until one night, on the way home from work in a borrowed car I was pulled over for rolling through a stop sign.

I was un aware that because my vehicle was in storage and let the insurance lapse my drivers license had been suspended. I had never been notified until I was pulled over.

I was not given a citation and appearance ticket like any other county would do. Instead I was taken to jail and booked. I was a store manager for a national company with a spotless record. I found myself in a jail cell with drug dealers, thieves and murderers.

I had to obtain a lawyer because I was facing jail time that would have cost me my job and ruined the life of an honest, tax paying member of society.

Sherriff Grady Judge is out of control. His policies do not look at individual cases. Anyone accused in his county is considered guilty until proven innocent. He has no remorse for his actions although he exempts himself from the law.

They have a saying he is proud of "Visit Polk County on vacation, leave on probation"

[PatriotInTheOriginalSense]

I found myself in a jail cell with drug dealers, thieves and murderers.

The cops went into the cell with you?

[kenny d]

you people are the best posters ever I think im in love

[PatriotInTheOriginalSense]

Right? I've been reading H&R for a couple of years and just today signed up for an account so I can comment. I'd been reticent because I figured it'd end up with me wasting all day at work reading the threads and commenting. (I was right.)

There are some fantasic regulars on here. sarcasmic comes to mind, as do anon, uncivil servant, and many more. You know anytime Tony or OTRTM posts something, hilarity is about to ensue.

[kenny d]

The crime here was not mixing the chemicals or disobeying school rules, the real danger, that they had to stop was her thinking outside the box was her asking what if. This used to be encouraged but now just shows individuality, which must be stopped at all cost if it isn't memorization then it isn't learning. They don't want a bunch of lose cannon running around thinking for themselves

[emhammer89]

The Children's Defense Fund just posted a petition condemning zero tolerance school discipline policies and urging Kiera Wilmot's school and the school district to welcome her back. Sign the petition and spread to your networks: http://bit.ly/17y3Va4

[CharlesWT]

Petitioning Joe Hall, The Bartow Police and Bartow High School: Drop charges against Kiera Wilmot

[Erik Jay]

The LAST POST (at the time I am reading) is the one I read all the way through for ... I am going there NOW and am also sending it to my entire 2000+ list. Like a few others here, I was fit to be tied and actually screamed more than usual at Hit & Run, enough to get my wife interested. UN.FREAKIN.BELIEVABLE. Goddamn effing police state. The country is insane and the majority has voted us all into servitude along with 'em. Notice how using the word "liberty" gets you marginalized immediately as a fringe wacko? It's not just "bad" here. It's over, I'm afraid. If Rand Paul doesn't win in 2016 -- if ANY of the Usual Dem Suspects ends up in the White House (Hillary, Biden, Jesse Jackson, whoever) it's absolutely beyond repair. But at least I will try to help young people like this until I can no longer do so... for whatever reason. Every person mentioning Boston to me these days gets my standard rejoinder: You are far more likely to be killed by cops than by a terrorist.

[kenny d]

90 people killed in Florida alone due to incidents with tazers in the last few years

[Joe M]

She will be tried as an adult for 1st degree thoughtcrime.

[Sebastian]

I tried to email these bastards but a message came up saying they had exceeded the amount of intake emails for the day, I hope it's because others did what I tried to.

message:
"I hope you feel good about ruining a teenage girls future when she hurt no one and had no intentions of doing so. Have you no honor or dignity?"

[CharlesWT]

Bartow High School Principal Ronald Pritchard / Address: 1270 S Broadway Ave Bartow, FL 33830 / EMAIL: [e-mail] PHONE:(863)- 534-7400 Fax: [phone]

Polk County Superintendent: Dr. John Stewart /Address: 1915 South Floral Avenue, Bartow, FL 33831 Phone: [phone] Fax: [phone] Email: Dr. John Stewart

Polk Regional Juvenile Detention Ctr

ADDRESS: 2155 Bob Phillips Road, Bartow, FL 33830

TEL: [phone]
FAX: [phone]
EMAIL:
[e-mail]

[[e-mail]]

I agree with you all the way. This is outrageous and I am praying for her. Unless they find some evidence that she meant to do harm of some sort, They are going way overboard with this. I just can't get over how ridiculous this is. This poor girl is going to have this record for the rest of her life now. I am praying that the judge has some kind of sense and just gives her a slap on the wrist.

[Spookidy K]

This is horrible. It's not the girls fault.
If anyone should be spoken to, it should be the teacher.
For not supervising the experiment.
This little girls life will be forever ruined, she will not be able to get a job, She will never be able to vote, and if she make one tiny mistake during the rest of her life, it will be automatic jail time.
This judicial system is fucked up. This is not the American Way..

[[e-mail]]

Amurica really sucks now! Idoiots and Ignorant people are all over the fakking place

[JJK]

And more over reaction from the blob:

http://radio.foxnews.com/todds.....harge.html

[meta]

Ok quick question, posted this in a different section but got no response. Just curious what the meaning of the song Beast by Nico Vega is? I get that its anti-government, but is it also referring to those whom benefit from government handouts? heres the link

http://youtu.be/k7OYLVznNvQ

[justaguy]

Seems like a good lawyer could not only get her off but allow her to sue for false arrest. Explosion? Weapons? Slow expansion of gas in a plastic bottle without any combustion = explosoin and weapon discharge? Why not arrest everyone who pops a ballon or has a catosrophic flat tire?
I agree with the commenters that the best result of this is that a student gets out of the clutches of the brain-dead educrats.

[ashdex]

This sort of thing is happening more than most of you realize. The most ridiculous stories make the media but they are only the tip of the iceberg. They generally play out like this...

She has already been "booked" and put in the juvenile criminal system - fingerprinted, mugshot, etc. just like the big-boy/big-girl criminals. She'll have to get a lawyer ($$$ - don't assume there is some noble attorney who will represent her pro bono). If the attorney manages to convince the prosecutor to drop the felony charges (I say, if) she will most likely still be charged with something, because the laws are written ambiguously enough that it would be splitting hairs, at best, to try to prove she didn't break a law. The fact that it was an accident, she's a good kid, etc. is largely, if not entirely, irrelevant. Don't assume that the prosecutor will do the right thing - that might show "weakness" and that is verboten in the backward lawyer universe.

If the parents want to fight this on principle and have the audacity to seek justice and fairness, their attorney will advise against it and insist they take the deal (in that conversation, he will express his need to quit the case if they don't take his advice). Sadly, he will be right. A trial will be a very risky ordeal. They don't work like they do on tv/movies. Suddenly, detention (jail), along with many other undesirable consequences, will be back on the table.

[[e-mail]]

"Under any conditions, anywhere, whatever you are doing, there is some ordinance under which you can be booked."
- Robert D. Sprecht,RAND CORP. -

That statement was made more than 20 years ago. It's certainly gotten much worse.

[ashdex]

Alas, it will be a prudent move to attend a brief hearing, plead guilty or nolo contendere, and accept probation, counseling (on the parents' dime), some degree of monitoring by the juvenile probation office, and maybe fines/court costs. Plus the lawyer fees, of course.

But wait, there's more!

Don't forget, she has already been expelled. Not suspended. Not after-school detention. Expelled. Even if she is given access to the state education program for expelled students and detained juveniles (a whole other topic - don't get me started on that) she has nonetheless received the academic kiss of death. And she doesn't seem like the slacker-type (not that that should matter). This hurts - at least as much as the criminal charges. The consequences of the expulsion are actually pretty far-reaching but this post is already too long to elaborate on that, other than to say that, no, the court (the prosecutor, really) will NOT take into account the expulsion as part of the punishment. That's an entirely separate and irrelevant matter as far as the court is concerned.

[ashdex]

(I will say this, even many private schools will not accept her with an expulsion from her prior public school. Even many military schools, which traditionally accepted troubled youths, no longer accept expelled students or students on criminally-related probation.)

Of course, the school will apologetically tell the parents that they know she's a good kid and didn't mean any harm, but they had no choice but to expel the kid because of the zero tolerance policy and they had to report it to law enforcement because of compulsory reporting laws. They'll make a point to say that they have no control over what law enforcement/prosecutor will do - it's out of their hands they'll say.

It's truly a sad state of affairs. These policies aren't catching the (mythical) drug dealers or school shooters or gang bangers who threaten little Johnny and Suzy. They're overwhelmingly targeting little Johnny and Suzy with "crimes" for innocuous, not to mention normal, behavior. It will only get worse.

If you're outraged by this article, please know that this is happening to thousands of kids every year, in every state, in every community. These news stories are, sadly, not really that extraordinary.

[po8crg]

When I was 17, in *ahem* 1990, a friend of mine made nitroglycerin. And blew up a wall (not a building wall, one around a garden) at school.

He didn't even get a detention - though he did have to pay for the wall to be repaired.

[croaker]

Another budding scientist beat down by the system to be turned into a stripper.

[[e-mail]]

Superintendent:
[e-mail]

Board members:
[e-mail]
[e-mail]
[e-mail]
[e-mail]
[e-mail]
[e-mail]
[e-mail]

SIC 'EM!

[Brendan]

She sounds stupid.
http://blogs.miaminewtimes.com.....to_cri.php

Bartow police have sent the incident report from Wilmot's arrest that makes it clear she was mixing toilet cleaner and aluminum foil for her experiment. According to an officer, an assistant principal heard an explosion near a gazebo on the school grounds and found Wilmot near a plastic bottle.

Wilmot told him a friend had told her to mix the two substances, but that she "thought it would just cause some smoke." She told the school official she wasn't trying to hurt anyone or disrupt school, but was simply "conducting a science fair experiment."

The assistant principal called police after talking to Wilmot's science teacher and determining he didn't know about the experiment.

[Azzy]

The obvious fact is that they threw the book at her for making them hunt down her friend, which according to the police report, it still at large. Her flimsy excuse of a science project was shot down by the science teacher. It is an obvious lie she didn't know what would happen. If she was just curious, she should have done it at home. Most of the people here defending this idiot would side against the police for almost anything.

[Pro Libertate]

I meant a pass. . .to Disney World!