On a cool September evening of my 17 and 12 year old sons (their birthdays are 2 days apart in the first week of December) were skateboarding in Edmond. We lived in Enid. My 17 year old drove himself and his little brother in his car. The skatepark closed at 11pm and the boys noticed it started to sprinkle as they were prepared to leave for a friends home in OKC to spend the night. As they tried to leave the sprinkle turned to a downpour, making visibility near impossible. This made my 17 yr old nervous especially since his father passed away in an auto accident in February of that very year. The boys got only approximately 3 miles away, when they decided to err on the side of safety and go back to wait out the rain.
Needless to say, after a full day of skateboarding the boys nodded off in their cars (there were 2 other boys from Enid who had made the trip also). At approximately 12pm, the boys were awakened by loud knocking on their windows and bright lights shining in their eyes. Yes, it was Edmonds "finest". Had my son already been 18, he (having his younger brother with him) would have been free and clear.
To make a long story short, the policemen "did their job" investigating the cars for drugs, alcohol (understandably so) finding none, then after having the boys pick up trash at the park left by unknown visitors, they were instructed to "follow the policemen back to the station in Edmond" which they did respectively.
I am greatfull these "men in blue" did their job keeping the streets safe, however the City of Edmond treated the young men like criminals, forcing them to be "questioned" like common criminals by an overfed politician in an expensive suit. The judge, I have to say, was polite and understanding to his limits, however someone should have told the city attorney doing the questioning that these boys were not Viking Ax Murderers planning a night of Raping and Pilaging just because they enjoy riding skateboards. Granted some skateboarders are frightening with their behavior, language, and dress, but there are "skateboarders" who also worship the Lord in their local Churches. These boys just happened to enjoy riding skateboards and I must say they are good at it. Would the same be true to label all lawyers as the bloodsucking money hungry leeches that society has done? His demeanor was absolutely uncalled for as was his direct and blatant behaviour of trying to confuse and mislead the younsters into "confessing" they were going to single-handedly destroy Edmond and OKC along with it.
Now, I called a lawyer in OKC to represent my boys who kindly told me, "I understand how you feel, however I must tell you that it would be a waste of your money to fight it as that is all the City of Edmond is about." The Money! And you know what? He was right!
The only thing that kept me going was that my boys are alive! I am glad they waited out the rain instead of taking the chance. I even asked them why they didn't drive on the the police station and tell them what was going on, but as they said, they didn't feel SAFE going any further than they already had.
I have been informed that since our experience, (which was finally ended after 8 months, 6 round trips, and $1,200), another parent who happens to reside in Edmond had the same experience (his son was 2 minutes late leaving the park) and he is choosing to fight. I am not a rich person, but I would like to shake his hand for going the extra steps that I could not. Our Constitutional Right to be heard! Yeah, you're heard but not listened to. Thank You for your time!
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