Family Forum / Parenting / Mothers / October 2003

9 Year Old Arrested For
Waving Toy Gun
By Michael C. Fitzpatrick
Morning Journal Writer - Cleveland
10-29-3

LORAIN -- A 9-year-old boy was arrested at gunpoint and handcuffed Saturday
because he was waving a toy gun over his head while seated on a bench outside a
store, according to a Lorain police report.
 
His mother, Tamyka Saunders of Sheffield Lake, said her son, Thomas Clark Jr.,
told Lorain police when they approached him outside a Broadway business that the
gun was a toy. An officer aimed his weapon at the boy's head, ordered him to the
ground, handcuffed him and arrested him for juvenile delinquency by reason of
inducing panic, according to the police report.
 
Saunders, 28, was also charged with obstruction of justice and resisting arrest
when she pleaded with police not to arrest her son and to give him a warning,
according to a police report.
 
''He doesn't deserve this. He is not a bad kid at all. That's what I was trying
to explain to the officer. It's just not fair,'' Saunders said.
Saunders was getting her hair done at the Northern Institute of Cosmetology on
Broadway near Seventh Street when the incident began.
 
Saunders said she and her son were spending the day together . Saunders said her
son got his hair cut first, and then he went outside to play while waiting on
her.
 
A passer-by who saw the boy playing just before noon with a gun -- described by
police as a black plastic toy gun -- called police, who responded to the scene
and found the boy ''waving what appeared to be a black handgun above his head,''
according to a police report. The report said the gun was spray painted black
and resembled a genuine gun.
 
At that point, Officer Joe Novosielski confronted the boy at gunpoint, ordering
him to drop the gun and then lie on the ground, the report said.
 
Thomas, who his mother said has been diagnosed with attention deficit disorder,
said he was frightened by the incident.
Lorain police said Novosielski handled the situation properly.
 
''Obviously, someone got scared and called the police. Nobody driving down the
street could tell it was a toy gun, so that's where the panic comes in. We
charge that to anyone doing that,'' Lt. Robert Poli said.
 
''We're not going to tolerate anyone walking down the street, sitting on a bench
... if he's waving a gun around,'' Poli said. ''You don't know it's a toy gun.''
 
Saunders said police were not even going to come inside the cosmetology
institute to tell her they were arresting her son. She said she learned from
another woman her son was being arrested.
Saunders, wearing curlers in her hair, said she raced out to the police car to
attempt to intervene on her son's behalf.
 
''He (Novosielski) snatched me by the arm and cuffed me. People were just
walking down the street shaking their heads. I did not cuss at him, and I did
not yell at him, because I'm not that type of person. I feel I'm the one that
was disrespected,'' Saunders said of her arrest.
 
When informed her son was being arrested, Saunders attempted to pull her son
away from the officer but moved away when told to, according to the report.
 
Police said Saunders pleaded with them not to arrest her son and to ''just give
him a warning,'' according to the report. She also told police her son ''was
just playing'' and that he didn't point the gun at anyone before asking police,
''Don't you have anything better to do?''
 
Saunders was eventually arrested after refusing to move away from the cruiser
where her son had been placed, the report said. The officer told her to finish
her business at the beauty salon and then come to the station to pick up her
son, according to the report.
 
She is free on $750 bond and is scheduled to appear in Lorain Municipal Court
today. The report of Thomas' arrest was forwarded to the juvenile court system,
according to the police report.
 
Lorain County Prosecutor's Office spokesman Mark Hastings said the report had
not been received yet.
 
©The Morning Journal 2003

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