Kids and cops, again.

[glatt]

Bangor News article

Here's an amusing one.

After watching a segment on Comedy Central's "The Man Show" three kids from Rockland Maine built stun guns from disposable camera bodies. They took them to school and tried them out on each other and on volunteers on the bus. In the stupidity that followed, they zapped 2 or 3 people who didn't volunteer.

Someone told the vice principle, and he called the cops. In investigating the incident, the cop tried the stun gun out on himself. The first stun hurt but wasn't so bad. So he tried it on himself again after letting the camera charge longer. The second time he tried it, his arm went numb and ached for two hours.

I don't know why, but I like this story. It has everything. Kids getting bad ideas from TV. Kids showing a little creativity by actually building something. Other stupid kids saying "Please zap me." Kids giving in to temptation, crossing the line, and zapping the unwilling. Stupid cop trying it on himself. And finally a cop who actually puts it all into perspective:

"These kids are not bad kids," Bickford (the cop) said of the three who were charged. "They're not kids who have been in trouble. They're not doing it maliciously. They're being stupid."