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[Michael] Tang, a chemist who was feeling frustrated with his 8-year-old son for cheating on homework, decided to teach him an important life lesson – that money is hard to earn and slacking off at school could mean not having a home someday. Tang dropped Isaac off in a parking lot one mile from home and told him to walk the rest of the way. It was 7:45 p.m. in Corona, a city near Los Angeles, and the sun had barely set. Isaac knew the route home and was familiar with using pedestrian crossings.
When Tang sent his father to get Isaac after 15 minutes, the child already been picked up by police, alerted by someone who thought he was in danger because he was alone. Tang was arrested and spent the night in jail; but the punishment did not end there. Reason reports:
"A jury later convicted him of child endangerment, and the judge sentenced him to parenting classes and a 56-day work release program picking up trash and doing other menial work."
(Score: 4, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Friday April 21 2017, @07:21PM (3 children)
A pedestrian on the street is probable cause on two legs. The only people who walk today are neglected children or criminals whose driving licenses have been revoked. Either way, somebody's getting arrested. If you're out for an evening stroll, that's suspicious. When police pick you up for kinda sorta looking like some kind of hippy who might be planning to protest a war someday, when they shove you in a squad car and take you in for booking, and when they unceremoniously dump you out the back door of the police station, you'll find yourself on the other side of town. Have fun walking home, but don't worry, when police forcibly relocate your person against your will, it's all perfectly legal.
(Score: 5, Insightful) by AndyTheAbsurd on Friday April 21 2017, @07:31PM
Whatever the police do is legal. Haven't you heard? They're the Good Guys, that makes everything they do A-OK. If they planted drugs on you, it's because you are a bad person. If they executed a no-knock warrant on the wrong house and killed somebody, well, they were just trying to make the world a better place - what's wrong with that? And the fact that they recovered your $10,000 and only gave $7,000 back, well, that's just a finder's fee and you should be glad to pay it!
Please note my username before responding. You may have been trolled.
(Score: 3, Funny) by driverless on Monday April 24 2017, @10:34AM (1 child)
For a father to have his child enter out into that silence that was the city at 7:35 of a misty evening in April, to have it put its feet upon that buckling concrete walk, to step over grassy seams and make its way, hands in pockets, through the silences, that was what Mr. Michael Tang should never have done. His punishment will be a visit to the Psychiatric Centre for Research on Regressive Tendencies, leaving the empty streets with the empty side-walks, and no sound and no motion all the rest of the chill April night
(Score: 1) by AssCork on Tuesday May 02 2017, @12:32PM
Morgan Freeman, is that you?
Just popped-out of a tight spot. Came out mostly clean, too.
(Score: 2) by SomeGuy on Friday April 21 2017, @07:22PM
Please have your children locked in a padded cell because you can't be too safe!
Please have yourself spayed or neutered because you can't be too safe!
You can't be too safe because you can't be too safe!
(Score: 2, Touché) by Anonymous Coward on Friday April 21 2017, @07:24PM
Hard work never pays. Honesty is the worst policy. Cheaters always win.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday April 21 2017, @07:27PM (1 child)
Can't afford to pay city workers to pick up trash?
(Score: 1) by Ethanol-fueled on Friday April 21 2017, @11:43PM
Well, Corona is a dump, and it's no surprise that miserable inhabitants would strive to make other inhabitants miserable. Corona is basically a glorified truck-stop for narcotrafficantes and whoremongering long-haul truckers. There's nothing out there but misery and the one awesome music venue had to turn their volume down due to one bitchy tenant in the trailer-park nearby, even after the bar offered to pay her rent as a concession.
(Score: 4, Interesting) by DeathMonkey on Friday April 21 2017, @07:29PM (3 children)
Any evidence this is true?
So the Treehugger article references the Reason article. The Reason article doesn't provide any evidence this is actually true other than Mr. Tang's word. No other google hits.
The warrant appears to be for an unpaid fine.
Maybe there's something in the video? I can't watch it now...
(Score: 1, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Friday April 21 2017, @07:41PM
Simpsons did it. "Orange Is The New Yellow." Marge goes to jail for sending Bart to the park unsupervised.
So yeah it could be a hoax by some guy who watches TV.
(Score: 2, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Friday April 21 2017, @07:45PM
It must be a hoax because it has never happened before [washingtonpost.com].
(Score: 5, Informative) by takyon on Friday April 21 2017, @08:10PM
Reason made a video on it which has a primary document in it about 2 minutes in. Court transcripts later. Should be possible to look up the case docs.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=49rMWLMA5CU [youtube.com]
[SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 2) by bob_super on Friday April 21 2017, @07:29PM (2 children)
> thought he was in danger because he was alone
Land of the scared...
While the dad should have discreetly stayed nearby if it was really dark, the cops should understand the value of punishing a cheating kid, and only give a strongly worded warning.
What did the kid learn from that? Definitely not the right thing.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday April 21 2017, @07:34PM
Kid learned all men belong in prison. Kid learned he has only 10 more years of freedom before he lands in prison himself.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday April 22 2017, @06:03PM
do-gooder socialist rat. people should be told who ratted them out. i don't care if some rats die. fuck them and the beret they rode in on.
(Score: 5, Insightful) by bradley13 on Friday April 21 2017, @07:33PM (19 children)
Ok, I walked to school barefoot, in snow, uphill both ways.
Seriously, our kids walked to school every day it was possible - nearly a mile. After elementary school they had had to take public transport. Kids are capable of this. More, it's important for there developing independence.
Everyone is somebody else's weirdo.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday April 21 2017, @07:37PM
No shirt, no shoes, no education.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday April 21 2017, @07:43PM (7 children)
We did too. Grade school and Middle school. High school was too far as it took too long to walk.
This was tame compared to the things my parents did. And the parents of every other person I grew up with. It's shocking how much the world has changed in such a short period of time.
(Score: 4, Touché) by Grishnakh on Friday April 21 2017, @07:58PM (4 children)
The world? As far as I can tell, this helicopter parenting craziness is confined to the US.
(Score: 2) by dry on Saturday April 22 2017, @05:00AM (3 children)
It's happening in Canada too, recently a court ruled that someone was endangering her 8 yr old by leaving him alone for a couple of hours after school until she got home from work. As my wife pointed out, she was baby sitting at 8 years old, and when I think of what I (and most of the other kids) did at 5 yrs old...
(Score: 2, Informative) by J_Darnley on Saturday April 22 2017, @11:41AM (2 children)
The UK too. It is probably an Anglosphere phenomenon. I would like to say that it is driven by US cultural exports but I have no evidence of that.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday April 22 2017, @06:13PM (1 child)
it's what is happening to all western governments with variations. some are strictly socialist(scandanavia,western europe, canada, australia) and some are some ungodly mixture of socialism and fascism(America, the one true America, others?). these weasels have infiltrated all government. where else would they go? they can't work for a living. It's only natural that once they get their position of authority that they would use it to make everything "better". they are a cancer on the world. they need to be cut out and burned. the populations are nearly completely brainwashed ala 1984. It's crazy and it's ruining the west. Blood will be spilt and these dumb fuckers won't even understand why. will only blame patriots/freedom fighters as terrorists while they systematically destroy their own countries and their children's futures.
(Score: 2) by Grishnakh on Monday April 24 2017, @02:34PM
Citation needed, especially the part about it happening to all western governments. I've seen no evidence that non-Anglosphere countries have gotten like this (and so far, I've only heard, and only right here in this very thread, that it's spread to Canada and UK, nothing about Aus/NZ).
It hasn't happened in Japan: there, kids that age are almost literally *forced* out of the house at that age, and to be able to get around in public by themselves.
(Score: 5, Insightful) by fyngyrz on Friday April 21 2017, @11:12PM (1 child)
I don't know about the world, but US culture has decayed so far that I mostly just stay home. Yeah, I'm old. And yeah, I wandered all over the place when I was a kid, and had a great childhood / teen years. Parenting today is a series of authoritarian landmines just waiting to be stepped on. I can't even imagine being a kid in the current environment -- it isn't collinear with my concept of "childhood" or "growing up" for any significant stretch.
In the rush to "save the children", I honestly think they've been hugely harmed. Parents too.
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Friday April 21 2017, @11:41PM
Although more middle aged.
I'm just working on how I am going to get out of here, because what America has become is something that I would feel appalled to bring up children in. I can't promise my kids are going to be safe (who can?), but I can promise they will have better preparation than I could give them living in the US with all the absurd laws, inept education, and general societal decline, both in responsibility and maturity that has been going on for the past 20-30 years. America was never the 'Great' country we like to tout ourselves as, but there was a time where it seemed like things were at least on a general trend towards living up to the fundamental documents we like to claim as making us superior to others. Nowadays though, not enough people even know what the words in those documents are, or what they could mean. And that is truly a travesty for this time.
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Friday April 21 2017, @07:43PM (3 children)
Too dangerous nowadays in many parts of the USA. Kids might get kidnapped or shot by cops.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday April 22 2017, @02:48AM
Is it that common for people to abduct or shoot random 8 year old kids walking on the street? Is that part of Corona a gang war zone? I don't think drug dealers or gangsters would do such stuff.
If it's not then it should be safe for kids to walk about otherwise the cops aren't doing their jobs properly.
In other countries it's fine for kids go about without their parents. When I was a kid I was cycling around outdoors for hours without my parents around and this was before I was even a teen. There were other kids too, so it was the norm.
But not the USA today: https://www.theguardian.com/society/2015/apr/13/free-range-children-taken-into-custody-again-maryland [theguardian.com]
(Score: 2) by dry on Saturday April 22 2017, @05:02AM
We were scared of the cops fifty years back, though it was beat by the cops rather then shot.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday April 22 2017, @06:16PM
exactly. just like when you're driving down the road. the only threat to safety is the pigs. especially once people get sick of being treated like slaves and the bullets start flying.
(Score: 5, Insightful) by Grishnakh on Friday April 21 2017, @07:57PM
More, it's important for there developing independence.
That's exactly why it's important that they be discouraged from walking alone without their parents at all costs. The last thing you want in an authoritarian society is independent thinking.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday April 21 2017, @08:45PM (2 children)
I walked 2 miles to school every day for 4 years, including crossing a major street during rush hour traffic both ways, and with the seasons sometimes in the dark. My parents were never thrown in jail for it. People are too paranoid.
(Score: 2) by Runaway1956 on Saturday April 22 2017, @01:19AM (1 child)
Pretty much the same here. I started out, in first grade, walking 1/2 mile to the bus stop, rain, sun, or snow. That was age five, I walked with all the other 5 and 6 year olds, as well as the "big kids". Think of it as a subdivision, I guess, although the term wasn't in use back then. Two parallel roads, just over 1/2 mile long, with a bus stop between them where they met the "highway". Not much of a highway though. Anyway, the bus picked up like 7 other kids on the way to our stop, we loaded up, we made two more stops, and we arrived at the elementary school. The "big kids" changed buses there, while us little kids went into the school house, or out to the playground in good weather.
Over the years, as I changed schools, I walked as much as 2 or 2 1/4 miles. It's great exercise, after all. Walking is healthy.
Today, we wonder why America grows more and more obese.
(Score: 1) by purple_cobra on Saturday April 22 2017, @02:03PM
Today, we wonder why America grows more and more obese.
Yeah, I can agree with that. It isn't just the US; it's been pretty noticeable here in the UK too. The tabloid press constantly ranting about evil foreigners and paedophiles (or evil foreign paedophiles) on every street corner, plus there seem to be more cars on the road than ever, means it's both more convenient and "safer" to take little Jimmy and Jane to school by car rather than walking. Walking isn't always the right choice, but if it's possible then it's generally a good idea to do so. During my schooldays the comprehensive (for ages 11-16/18) was ~3 miles from me and most of that was up a 30+ degree gradient, so it was bus or car for getting there and a walk back. It was a fairly rural area with a school at the top of the valley and a number of little villages dotted around the place, mine being among the further away. Bloody nice scenery from the top though!
(Score: 2) by dyingtolive on Saturday April 22 2017, @08:45AM
Yeah, I think I walked about a mile in the 90s from time to time. Eight years old is, what, third grade or so? I was homeschooled at that point but I'm reasonably sure that I had a friend who's house I walked to that was about a mile away. I'll have to check it out on google maps.
...yeah, middle of Monument Ave to 7th Street across from Enos park in Springfield, IL. I walked about a mile by myself about that age. I mean, slightly less, but what's a tenth of a mile at that point? Cue a year from then when we moved out into Even-Smaller-Town, USA and I walked almost exactly a mile to school ever single day. With a valley in the middle, so parts of it actually WERE technically uphill both ways. Ermehgherd, child abuse, right?
My only means of rationalizing the article is to remind myself that it's California, and that it's not subject to logic as humans would recognize it.
Don't blame me, I voted for moose wang!
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday April 22 2017, @04:09PM
One year I rode a 6' Unicycle to school; yes in the snow, rain and/or cold. Two miles. It was the unicycle or walk. Next year I rode my bicycle six miles every day. One day I was hit by a women in a car; so I carried my bike the last two miles and only missed 1/2 home room. Bruised and sore; didn't tell anyone, didn't cry, moan, or bitch. Carried my bike the six miles home after school. Got home and rebuilt my bike (bent frame, re-spoked the rear wheel, new derailer/chain) for the ride to school the next day.
(Score: 1) by its_gonna_be_yuge! on Friday April 21 2017, @07:51PM (1 child)
What we need to know is if the experience smartened the little tad into doing his homework. 'Cuz if it worked, then my kid is next.
(Score: 2) by maxwell demon on Friday April 21 2017, @11:27PM
Well, probably the kid learned: "If I don't do my homework, then I'll be temporarily freed from the permanent presence of my parents. I should do that more often. However, next time I better watch out for the police."
The Tao of math: The numbers you can count are not the real numbers.
(Score: 0, Flamebait) by wisnoskij on Friday April 21 2017, @07:56PM (1 child)
50% are Hispanic and Black, 30% born outside America. Corona isn't Maine, an adult is endangered walking the streets after dark; It has a famously active street gang scene.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday April 22 2017, @06:20PM
some brainwashed slave marked your post flamebait! lmao. cry a little. lmao. the truth is marked flamebait only because there wasn't a "racist" tag.
(Score: 4, Insightful) by lgsoynews on Friday April 21 2017, @08:11PM (5 children)
I haven't been able to find a court source, but it seems there are some existing documents. There is a picture of a warrant (or the like) but it's so badly written over that it's unreadable.
The following page details the case with many quotes and looks pretty convincing if you ask me:
http://www.freerangekids.com/dad-gets-56-days-hard-labor-for-making-son-8-walk-home-at-night/ [freerangekids.com]
That "freerange" debate garbage kills me. I mean the fact that there is even a word for what is -was- one of the most basic right for children and parents has made me jump to my ceiling many times in the past. As well as the fact that some freaking meddlers who have to call the police because there is a child outside, it so WEIRD. This is mental illness at this point, nothing less. Let the freaking kids freely roam around, FFS.
But that case is really incredible. When you read the reasoning of the judge of police, man, in what world do these people live in? And more important, in what world do they want to force US to live?! Are we to remain in our homes, like prisoners?
Read that, it boggles the mind!:
WHAAAAT? Being walking outside at 8pm is dangerous, and LATE? Even for an ADULT? WTF? What is wrong with those people?? I regularly go back home very late (midnight to 2AM), so I guess I'll have to surrender myself to the police...
And reading about the case, it seems that the dad is also quite an arrogant asshole, which probably did not help in front of the court & jury. But it does NOT excuse their behaviour!
(Score: 2) by lgsoynews on Friday April 21 2017, @08:14PM
I forgot to mention.
Incredibly, quite a few people in the forums agree with the decision of the court! They really believe that the child was in danger...
I'm speechless.
(Score: 3, Informative) by takyon on Friday April 21 2017, @08:20PM
In certain neighborhoods, adults will get the cops called on them for walking around. Salty AC above was right about that.
Take photographs of a building out in public (1st Amendment audit) and you will have the cops called on you. Busiebodies are everywhere.
[SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 3, Insightful) by cmdrklarg on Friday April 21 2017, @09:33PM (1 child)
Yep, the ongoing pussification of America.
The world is full of kings and queens who blind your eyes and steal your dreams.
(Score: 5, Funny) by NewNic on Friday April 21 2017, @10:23PM
And then Donald Trump comes along and grabs it ....
lib·er·tar·i·an·ism ˌlibərˈterēənizəm/ noun: Magical thinking that useful idiots mistake for serious political theory
(Score: 2) by AthanasiusKircher on Saturday April 22 2017, @03:23AM
I hate to link to "that other site," but I don't feel like copying and remaking all the links, etc. to a long post [slashdot.org] I wrote a while back on how crazy this is getting in the US. TFA is indicative of things that happen very frequently. Parents arrested when an 11-year-old is seen playing outside alone IN HIS OWN YARD. That sort of thing (see my link). The U.S. has lost its mind about child safety, especially when stats show that rates of stranger abductions (which were never common) have been going down for decades, long before the Amber Alert paranoia even started.
(Score: 2) by MichaelDavidCrawford on Friday April 21 2017, @10:24PM (1 child)
When I was eight years old I'd walk farther than that just to buy a candy bar.
If this is how we raise our children, they will have no sense of adventure when they grow up. They will lose wars. They will decide not to found a startup. They won't run for public office.
Yes I Have No Bananas. [gofundme.com]
(Score: 1) by AssCork on Tuesday May 02 2017, @12:45PM
...They won't run for public office
That last one isn't what I'd call a bad thing. Most 'public officials' could be replaced with a voting app and a few different regulations.
I suspect there's actually a need for maybe six politicians per town, and that's if you count one Advocatus Diaboli [wikipedia.org] (which should be required in all things, IMHO).
Just popped-out of a tight spot. Came out mostly clean, too.
(Score: 4, Insightful) by jmorris on Friday April 21 2017, @10:39PM (3 children)
On the one hand, the cops are probably correct that anyone alone after dark in most of the LA area is in danger. On the other, criminalizing parenting is more dangerous. Pick your reason, the meddling police or the crime and GET OUT OF CA. It can't be saved, it has to burn at this point so why would any sane person hang around for the madness to culminate in rivers of blood?
(Score: 1) by ncc74656 on Friday April 21 2017, @11:34PM
It's at least the better part of an hour between Corona and LA; it's not exactly a suburb. I've been to both and would expect that Corona's not nearly as dangerous as some parts of LA. That said, it's all still in the People's Republic of Califormia, so it's not too surprising that some busybody snitch would engage the nanny state.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday April 22 2017, @01:55AM
Indeed, there's a high risk you will be kidnapped by cops.
The kid and his father should count themselves lucky. Neither of them was shot by cops.
(Score: 1, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday April 22 2017, @07:11AM
[Begin super-encrypted communication] SJW Special Task Force, jmorris division, interim report: subject seems to be in a depressive cycle. Dark thoughts of the coming liberal victory must be causing extreme cognitive dissonance. Subject said:
why would any sane person hang around for the madness to culminate in rivers of blood?
This outburst may have been triggered by an earlier SoylentNews Fine Article on menstrual cycles, but we can, at this point, only speculate. Perhaps our special task force will be able to use this information in the future, much as it was used by perverts and the Bush Administration at Guantuanamo. Of course, this was preceded by:
GET OUT OF CA
We have our best researchers attempting the determine the significance of "CA". Cyano-acrylic, as in "Super-glue", does not seem to be the intended referent. Research continues. On a logistical note, we could use some fresh assignments for the jmorris Division, research squad. Two of our people have already been driven to take sick leave from merely trying to understand the subject. One is most likely on permanent disability. But this is a crucial mission for the SJW movement! We must crack jmorris! We need to be able to understand the madness, without being driven mad by it. Zanax would also be appreciated. [end super-encrypted communication]
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday April 21 2017, @11:49PM (2 children)
Arbitrary and dangerous punishment is the way to go, Dad should be arrested, shit like this is why so many people are so fucking broken don't help just violate
(Score: 1) by khallow on Saturday April 22 2017, @12:39AM (1 child)
I need to put this wood up your ass for the good of the world.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday April 22 2017, @02:52AM
I guess but that is just hate you stuff which many be appropriate for children but not for parents, the kid was 8 I went to school on my own at that age on the subway but not as a punishment in a very safe city but to leave your kid as a punishment for bad grades on the street in what from the comments here is a dangerous part of the city, no sorry he should do time(not like years but several days seems appropriate)
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday April 22 2017, @04:37AM
Any kids I have will be homeschooled.
Not for their own good (although I'm sure I can do much, much better than the shitty curriculum the USA chooses to dole out) so much as for mine.
And yes, before the whimpering simps whinge about how no parent can be an educator because teachers' union partyline - I am a professional educator. Like, right now. Like, that's my goddamn job.
So yes, I could do better because I know how. And now I have the motivation to do it.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday April 22 2017, @06:44AM (2 children)
with what was done here, this was intentional punishment for not doing well enough at school, not walking both ways uphill to school, this was an act of violence and intentional endangerment, I mean maybe you can make an argument that the 8 year old child should learn to deal with the mean streets of LA as soon as possible but that argument would make you an asshole
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday April 22 2017, @06:41PM
no we're not, you are. while i don't agree in the punishment, your speculation about the amount of (government caused) crime is irrelevant. making your kids walk home shouldn't be allowed to be called a crime. It doesn't matter if it was punishment or if that is something you think is wise. other people's kids are not your business. "society"(boot licking whores and slaves) has no rights to interfere.
(Score: 2) by sjames on Sunday April 23 2017, @04:59PM
Corona (where this happened) isn't even in the same county as LA. There was no danger, there was no violence on the part of the father. No idea how forcefully the cops told the kid to get in the back, there might have been some mild violence there.
(Score: 2, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday April 22 2017, @03:44PM
Ray Bradbury predicted this in his short story "The Pedestrian" back in 1951. A man goes for a walk and is arrested and sent to Psychiatric care because nobody walks anywhere anymore.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Pedestrian [wikipedia.org]