Dad Arrested for picking up kids from school by foot | Hacker News Reader

Dad Arrested for picking up kids from school by foot

theurbancountry.com

39 pointsobiefernandez12 comments

I double-checked the URL to see if it was from the Onion and wasn't sure if I should be surprised or worried that it wasn't. I get the feeling that there's more to the story - probably the dad created a fuss, probably he was being a nuisance and had to be removed by security. Or something like that.

When the headlines in the mainstream media start to appear like they could be from the Onion, I know it is time to pack my bags and wait for reality to collapse on to itself.

Nuisance is in the eye of the beholder. He knew what his rights are and he was asking for them to be respected. The SRO didn't care what the law said, he thought that the school rules superseded it. They do not.

Hmm, apologies. I somehow forgot to scroll down and did not realize that there was (a lot) more below the scroll.

The dad seems calm and collected. The officer seems to be pissed at the fact that his authority is being questioned (superseded even?) by the dad. The entire six-ish minute exchange seems surreal and bizarre, to be honest.

Help me understand here, why would there be a rule prohibiting parents from walking their kids to/from school? No pavements? Very busy roads? Precedent of some sort?

Damned if I know. It sounds to me like the non-crime (but definitely "criminal" act) of Pissing Off The Police. It doesn't matter if you're not actually doing anything wrong. If you piss a cop off he can arrest you and figure out SOMETHING to charge you with and at that point you have to fight the charges. It's unfortunate but it happens. This seems like a case of that to me.

Is there a rational explanation for why the rules would be the way they are? I have no idea really. It doesn't make any sense to me either.

He just throws out the word "disorderly" out of nowhere like it's a magic word that lets him arrest whomever he wants.

In normal countries schools are built somewhere central, and the students walk or cycle to school. But in America it's the opposite, they are built on highways on the edge of town, and the students are required to take the bus or have their parents pick them up (by car of course).

It's not only that there is no city planning in the US, it's also that the people don't mind, and then you get outcomes like this.

Extremely shameful. This is tyranny by the standards of any country in the world.

Embarrassing story. What is the background of that policy?

The background is the availability heuristic. Parents demand schools adopt security measures to thwart "stereotypical kidnapping" (~120 cases in the U.S. annually) when the gravest dangers children face are riding home in cars (~200k injuries annually) and obesity (20% of all U.S. children).

America!

This is what happens when you give a bunch of leftist/statists that dominate school systems security power. These statist so-called educators see themselves as quasi-government officials.

It's sickening, but this is what people vote for.

Is this parody?

I genuinely don't know. Often I feel like I'm reading The Onion, only it's true.

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