Brickbat: Make School Buses Great Again

Lorna Roberts / Dreamstime.com

The Martin County, Florida, sheriff's office is investigating whether a school bus aide committed a crime when she yanked a "Make American Great Again" hat off a student's head. The boy's mother filed a report with the sheriff's office after school officials told her they would not let her see security video of the incident until the school system had completed an investigation. That video shows the aide confront the boy seconds after he boards the bus and demand he take the hat off. When he refused, she pulled the hat off.

Comments

[Adans smith]

I wouldn't call it a crime. If she worked for me I'd I fire the bitch.

[Deconstructed Potato]

Eh. I don't think I'd even go that far for a first offence. Perhaps just a frank discussion reminding her of her responsibilities etc, and let her know she's on a warning etc.

[Radioactive]

or just a simple beating with a broom stick?

[gaoxiaen]

or a shovel?

[sharmota4zeb]

When I was in high school, the NYPD got creative with a police baton. It was a bit of a scandal.

[m4019597]

A good rule of thumb is to reverse the roles and see if the behavior would be acceptable.

If a student were to tell an aide to remove her hat and then confiscated it, that child would be punished harshly, maybe even arrested.

The same should happen to the aide, for assaulting a student without cause or due process.

[Deconstructed Potato]

I'm not so sure that works when adults are in loco parentis, and therefore must act with some authority. The problem is that she acted irresponsibly and abused that authority.

[Fist of Etiquette]

The real crime was the hair removing that hat revealed. Get a haircut, son. You look like a girl.

[John C. Randolph]

Huh.. Nobody else got around to saying "fuck you" yet?

FUCK YOU.

-jcr

[Fist of Etiquette]

People tend to drop the ball before coffee.

[loveconstitution1789]

Maybe this lady was trying to scare this kid into his balls dropping.

[sharmota4zeb]

The G is strong in this one.

[loveconstitution1789]

If there is nothing wrong with the bus driver's actions, then why is the school district trying to cover it up?

Its unwanted touching of another person. Battery in some states. Simple Assault in others.

[Rossami]

She works for the school district. The school district is an arm of the local government which makes it a part of the state government. The Supreme Court has ruled that the First Amendment applies to state governments. The First Amendment says that the government may not infringe on the right to freedom of speech. Wearing apparel with political speech is at the very essence of freedom of speech.

While there are some limited exceptions to the free speech rights in the context of schools, none of the exceptions about disruption, etc, apply. To the extent that there was any disruption, the evidence suggests that it was caused by the employee's reaction, not the student's speech.

Title 18, U.S.C., Section 242 makes it a crime for any person acting under color of law to willfully deprive from any person those rights, privileges, or immunities secured or protected by the Constitution and laws of the U.S. "Under color of law" includes both official acts by a government employee and unlawful acts done while the government employee is purporting or pretending to act in the performance of his/her official duties. Since this was done while she was acting in her capacity as a bus aide, it would appear to apply.

Not a crime of the same order as mass murder, perhaps. But still technically a crime.

[Fist of Etiquette]

Look, she wanted to take her personal biases and aggression out on the civilians, she should have put in the extra effort to do five pushups and become a cop.

[Don't look at me!]

Why is there an aide on a school bus? Serving drinks or what?

[Longtobefree]

To enforce the socialist training that the school now provides in place of an education.

[Rockabilly]

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[Jerry B.]

I prefer TDS, since those subject to it do actually act deranged.

[This Machine Chips Fascists]

If the hat read "BONG HITS FOR JESUS" this would be a different story because The Nine(5-4) say so. Any reasonable person can see the MAGA had caused a disruption of a school function or it wouldn't be a brickbat. Next!

[Inigo Montoya]

When I was a wee lad, my elders taught me that a gentleman should remove his hat indoors as a sign of good manners.

Perhaps this bus lady is not afflicted by TDS but is merely enforcing old fashioned standards of etiquette.

[loveconstitution1789]

Ladies and Gentlemen would request that you remove your hat. Physical contact is not very ladylike.

[Rossami]

But by those same old-fashioned standards of etiquitte, buses, trolleys and cars are not "indoors". Hats remain on in those situations.

[PaulTheBeav]

It's pretty minor as crimes go, but it is a crime. Make the aide wear a MAGA hat every day until Jan/2021 and we'll call it good.

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[crufus]

She should have yelled "Stop Resisting!" and tasered the disrespectful little punk.

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[HELENLINgz]

I Know Where You Live

[Gindjurra]

Well OF COURSE the aide committed a crime when she did that! As an employee of a government agency (public schools are municipal corporations) school employees are restricted in the same ways that any government agent is with regards to the Constitution.

Title 18, Section 242 of the US Code makes it very clear that violations of rights by a state actor are illegal. Further, what she did meets all of the legal criteria for strong arm/unarmed robbery, which is a felony independent of the rights violation -- the value of the object taken is irrelevant, the important issue to such a charge is the violent seizure of property.