Georgia Cop Reportedly Pulls Gun on Children Building Tree Fort After Neighbor Calls 911


Police in Henry County, Ga., reportedly harassed a group of pre-teen boys who were building a tree fort in the woods behind their house after a neighbor called 911 on them (!). According to Omari Grant, the 11-year-old who came forward,
two officers, one with his gun drawn, rolled up on him and a few of his friends as they built a fort in the trees behind his home.
"I was thinking that I don't want to be shot today, so I just listened to what they said," Omari said.
Omari said the officer holding his gun also used foul language and made him and his friends lay down on the ground.
"I learned that they're supposed to help you not make you feel scared to even come outside," Omari said.
Omari's mother filed an internal affairs complaint with the police department, and police say they're now investigating the incident to see if it was "justified" or not.
The husband of the neighbor who called 911 said police pulling a gun on a child was "shocking," but that his wife called because of "falling hazards, tripping hazards, all types of hazards." His wife's primary concern, he said, "was concern for the children and concern for the environment." So instead of calling her neighbors, or going to warn the children about "hazards," she called police on a group of kids.
After the incident, which the child called terrifying, Omari says now he knows it was a bad idea to cut down branches for a tree fort. It's never too early for police to compel compliance in you.
The police department refuses to identify the cops involved, but says they remain on the job.
h/t sloopyinca
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I'm not sure who I hate more in this story: The cops or the lady who called 911 on a bunch of kids building a tree fort.
The nosy neighbor. The cops were just doing their job.
Swearing at children while holding a gun is "doing their job"?
Yes, yes, yes.......those brave men will live to collected bloated pensions from those boys parents.
See...it all works out!
Their job is the instill fear and hatred in the public, all while making sure that they get home safely at the end of their shift. So yes, he was doing his job.
Swearing at children while holding a gun is "doing their job"?
Isn't it? Judging by actions, that and paramilitary nonsense is exactly the job they have been hired to do. Otherwise, wouldn't they be fired?
That's crazy talk. Everyone knows that you can't fire a cop. You just put him on paid leave for a few days and everything goes back to the way it was.
Cops get fired for "not being a team player". (Translation: They won't join in cover-ups.)
This is one cultural change that really bugs me. In the old days, she'd have gone over to the kids, yelled at them, and taken them back to their parents for disposition.
Now, everyone is scared to confront the kids, because so many parents will back their kids' behavior, no matter what.
Exactly.
The these things seem to have grown together: people unwilling to be considerate of neighbors and keep their own households in check; people uncomfortable confronting nuisance neighbors; and police over-reaching and over-reacting.
I guess pretending there's no problem (assuming there really was/is one) is the best approach. Sad though, as this reduces social responsibility and any sense of community.
Community, security, freedom: pick two.
The kids were in their own yard building a tree fort. That is not disrespecting the rude ass woman who called the cops on the kids.
Furthermore, The police, pulling a gun on three or 4 kids who are clearly not a threat and swearing at them? Where the hell do they get off doing that?
Seems like these parents should have backed their kids' behavior and told the neighbor to fuck off and mind her own business.
People call the cops for some stupid shit. I used to always read the police log in the local paper (small town
What happened there?
In the old days a group of kids building a tree fort would not have even been noticed. The neighbor who called was 'concerned for the environment', the kids were lopping off branches. I think she is arguably worse than the cops. But, I can see it either way.
If they were doing their job they would have arrested the neighbor for misuse of 911. The fact that it is possible for a person to fall out of a tree does not constitute an emergency.
Fucking unbelievable.
She's a dipshit, what's so unbelievable about someone with limited cognitive capacity?
Tripping, falling, and getting cuts and bruises is what being a kid doing fun stuff is all about.
It is how kids learn not to be stupid.
I dread the moment when one of the kids from Generation Bubble Wrap gets to be POTUS.
Wait, one isn't already?
Obama is Generation Hipster.
Malia and Sasha are Generation Bubble Wrap.
Young hooligans on their own property building tree forts in the middle of the afternoon. The hazards!!
Assuming facts not in evidence. Nothing in the story says the trees were on their own property. They were in a wooded area between subdivisions.
The lady apparently hasn't heard of the newest hazard of calling the police.
Hazards! pff, call OSHA, ya dumb bitch
And now you know better.
He seems to have known better:
"I was thinking that I don't want to be shot today, so I just listened to what they said," Omari said.
Sad that he even thought of that, but probably a good thing.
He probably meant "I was taught that they're supposed to help you".
As a free-range parent, I feel it's best kids learn on their own. The above scenario could not have played out any better.
Kids having fun building stuff.
Neighbor's a nosy busybody.
Cops are dangerous assholes that are only good when something needs killing.
Kid lived to share his experience with friends.
I don't disagree in a way, except the kid has learned to hide from everyone most of all I think.
Creating libertarians.
Seriously? You're going to fuck with a bunch of 11-year old boys?
I hope they TP and flaming dog shit that neighbor until they finally move.
The NAP has been violated. I hope those kids burn the fucking house down .
maybe it was you and not RC. Can't remember but I am now a firm believer that pushing the buttons 9-1-1 on any telecommunications device in the USA is a legitimate violation of the NAP.
If your house is on fire?
There should really be a separate number for non-crime related emergencies so that adrenaline fueled pigs with guns drawn don't show up to every fender bender and small fire.
We have numbers for the FD and Ambulances...They are on the fridge. The are not 3 digits long but they are there. Just like when I was growing up and 911 had not been invented yet.
Don't get me wrong, I am a telco guy and think 911 is awesome but the fact that every time it is used a cop is required to go is now the problem.
Ask any anarchist on this board if I am one. I am not but I am 100% skeptical of the police force to the point of intentional avoidance. As a matter of fact the only conceivable time I would contact them is after I have mitigated whatever threat (hopefully) was present.
I rarely call 911. Non emergency number of the people I want.
I've never called 911. I've never called the police at all except to get my pistol permit.
The only circumstances I can think of where I would call 911 are if my house was on fire or if someone seeed likely to die if I don't get an ambulance really fast.
I agree completely.
don't go crazy there Anarchy Andy.
At first I was like, "Burn their house down?"
And then I was like, "Burn their house down."
Funny how our resident statists never show up to defend regulations in threads like these.
"Rules is rules!"
They're too busy jerking off to it to comment on it.
Thing is, I don't even see that any rules were being broken here. The kids were doing it on their own property if I'm reading correctly. The hysteric just decided the trees needed defending and the boys were being too boyish for her tastes.
They didn't have a building permit, and the work probably wasn't up to code.
(please note, I'm being sarcastic)
Sadly, it's probably true. I would not be surprised at all if what they were doing was illegal.
"Being a little boy" is pretty much illegal in most places.
for the sake of accuracy, the story doesn't say it was their property. It just says it was some woods. Could be part of a park/nature preserve, or just a tree line no one really cares about even if it's on someone's property (like at the end of a farm or something)
I'm not so sure it was on their property. It says it was in a wooded area behind their house.
Working at drug treatment centers is very time consuming.
To be fair, favoring some regulations doesn't mean you have to favor all regulations.
The husband of the neighbor who called 911 said police pulling a gun on a child was "shocking," but that his wife called because of "falling hazards, tripping hazards, all types of hazards." His wife's primary concern, he said, "was concern for the children and concern for the environment."
The treatment of those boys may have "seemed" excessive, but ultimately it was for their own protection. Move along.
I'm concerned about the jurisdictional issues involved.....doesn't the Department of Education have a SWAT team?
Wouldn't they have been better suited to dealing with these young hooligans?!
For codes enforcement? no, that's a local matter.
"I was thinking that I don't want to be shot today, so I just listened to what they said," Omari said.
The smartest person in the whole sad story.
Georgia cops are particularly loathsome.
Want to trade police forces?
Because they sound like your hero Bush?
Note the location. Note the concern for "the environment." This has the Buttplug's fingerprints all over it. He's a she, and now we know who she is.
He was just following his Messiah's philosophy:
"If it saves just one life, don't we have to try?"
Callng 911, WTF?
What the hell did ll the dispatcher that made it necessary to send police? Mthinks she lied her ass off to the dispatcher about what was going on and police came over expectig criminal activity. lad none of the kids got shot, tazed, maced, etc.
That does sound more plausible. Why would the dispatcher waste their time on a call regarding kids climbing trees and being mean to the environment?
I think that police have to respond to any 911 call by law in most places. What they should have done was arrest the dumb bitch who called once they figured out that there was no emergency.
"I think that police have to respond to any 911 call by law in most places."
No, this is absolutely wrong. It is, in fact, one of the duties of the dispatchers to determine this.
You honestly thought they sent a cop every single time any drunk called 911? Come on.
Far too many people believe the Protect and Serve nonsense.
Never call the cops unless you want to roll the dice that someone will die as a result.
My standard is that only if you are certain that not calling the cops would be worse than calling the cops should you do so.
The problem is that if you call 911 because you need an ambulance, the fucking cops will show up anyway.
The neighbor lady is an idiot as well as a busybody. Even the most optimistic perception of cops doesn't contain the assumption that they have nothing better to do than policing "the environment" or telling kids not to climb trees.
"Abner! Abner! Come see what the neighbors are up to! Abner!"
Kids building tree forts IS NOT WHAT 911 IS FOR.
The lady who called is a complete dipshit and hopefully has learned her lesson.
When cops get a 911 call is it natural to assume that a life-threatening situation is in progress. Yeah, the cop should have put his gun away one he realized it was just a bunch of kids with a tree fort, but calling 911 would prime the cops to assume that they were up there torturing another child or something.
This is especially stupid, even for you.
Uh... no, it's not.
That may have been true at one time, but now it is just used by everybody that is too lazy to look up the non-emergency number.
It is almost like the boy who cried wolf, except the townspeople haven't learned that 9 times out of 10 there is no wolf.
Diamant ran what Omari told him past Edgar Dillard, whose wife, according to 911 records, called in from the next subdivision to complain the boys were "chopping off tree limbs."
I'm gonna, um, go out on a limb here and suggest that Mrs. *Dillard in the next subdivision* was afraid to confront *Omari* and his friends.
RACIST!
What, no paid vacation?
And fuck the busybody neighbor who called the cops. If she was really concerned for their safety, calling the cops is the last thing she should've done.
Also, charge that cunt with mis-using the 911 system, please. 911 is for EMERGENCIES. A bunch of kids building a tree fort does not qualify.
She wasn't concerned about their safety.
She was concerned about her safety, and the safety of Gaia.
She is, like many totalitarians, explaining why the pain she wants inflicted on her victims is for the victims own good.
I don't think safety had anything to do with it. If you watch the video, the tree they were playing in was part of a tree line. She probably called because she thought cutting down branches was ruining the aesthetics or something, and the "safety" thing was just after-the-fact so that she wouldn't look like a period stain. I don't think she learned a lesson; I think she got exactly what she wanted and is probably pretty happy, save for the publicity.
Omari says now he knows it was a bad idea to cut down branches for a tree fort.
Unless he was sitting on the branch he was cutting down, it wasn't a bad idea. Although if he wants a better idea, Kickstarter - lumber and hardware supplies for Omari, spraypaint for the cock 'n balls on the side facing the neighbors.
I'll throw Omari a hunge if he does the twigs n' berries in gold glitter.
Fortunately, the kids apparently did not have a dog.
Dude, if this was Our Gang, think of the tragedy that would've ensued.
"I learned that they're supposed to help you not make you feel scared to even come outside," Omari said.
I couldn't figure this sentence out at all. But then I realized that a single comma made all the difference:
"I learned (he no doubt means previously, from parents, etc.) that they're supposed to help you, not make you feel scared to even come outside," Omari said.
But the incompetents at the local TV station screwed up the punctuation and made the kid sound like an idiot. I'm amazed at how often "communications experts" are completely incompetent at communicating.
The husband of the neighbor who called 911
Ed, you misspelled cunt.
It also occurs to me that there's some serious mixed messages being sent to these kids. They've probably been yelled at multiple times to "go outside and play" and "turn off those damn video games and get some exercise." "Let's move" and all that crap. When they do, some cunterific neighbor slag calls the fucking cops on them.
"I'd love to go outside and play mom, but it's too dangerous. Someone might call the cops."
Exactly. Oh, the laments I hear about the good old days when kids would play baseball in the streets. Also, what are those hooligans doing running around in the streets? You shouldn't have to join boy scouts just to be a boy.
Damn niggas are running out of options. Cant drive and be black..Cant walk and be black...Cant even climb trees and be black sheesh
To be disappeared in 5... 4... 3...
Chicago is spending $1 Million per week on cop-related lawsuits.
http://www.suntimes.com/266178.....ce-04.html
So that's why they're raising property taxes.
The woman made her husband call the cops on some kids building a tree house because of "hazards" and the "environment." I think it is a despicable practice, but in those two losers case, they would make excellent candidates for what is known as "swatting." Then, they could have the police make them get down on the floor and have automatic weapons pointed at them. That would be justice....
Rules? Regulations? Building permit? For a TREE HOUSE? Please people, it's a fracking tree house.
Calling 911? How is this an emergency? Tripping hazard, falling hazard, all types of hazard. Anyone who knows gravity works has those hazards right in their very own homes. Did anyone call the police on them for getting something on the top shelf down? Or climbing on a step stool?
These were 11 year old boys outside having fun, doing kid fun things. I remember climbing trees when I was young and would have built a tree house if we'd had a tree big enough. Now if they had been out there target practicing with arrows or guns. Maybe the police with a safety warning. But guns, swearing, making them get on the ground. Calling 911 that was an over reaction by the neighbor. And a really over the top over reaction by the police.
What ever happened to talking to the neighborhood kids? That's what would have happened when I was little. In fact any neighbor coming out to tell us kids to be aware it was dangerous and to be careful. Or yelling at us for doing something dangerous and life threatening, like climbing an electric pole, would not have been an issue. All this accomplished was instilling the fear of being shot by the police in these boys.
The fact that it is possible for a person to fall out of a tree does not constitute an emergency.
I have been in Georgia often enough to know that their cops are usually rednecks with guns and an ounce of power and they will do whatever they want and call it 'in the line of duty' and nothing they do is excessive.
The fact that these poor kids had to learn such a harsh life lesson before they are even old enough to SHAVE is disgusting. I am equally disgusted at the B**** who called the cops on the kids. If you are that concerned you talk to their mothers. You don't call Johnny Law on them and scare them half to death.
Way to breed trust lady. All she did was teach those kids to be afraid of authority figures and to never trust them because they are in fact, NOT there to protect and serve, but rather to terrorize and possibly kill. The first words out of that little boy's mouth were "I didn't want to get shot..." HE IS ELEVEN YEARS OLD!!! Anyone else see what is wrong with this picture???
I've heard of Driving While Black but never Tree Fort Building While Black. Damn.