Christina and Christopher Gring insist that they were just trying to stop the bullying of their young son when they went onto the bus. They clearly made a mistake, particularly when they allegedly started screaming at terrified students and using profanities. However, they were then arrested for conduct that at one time would have resulted in a meeting with the principal and clear guidelines on staying away from the bus in the future.
They are charged with “unlawfully entering a school bus, threatening children and other misdemeanors.” Their son is a student at North Wales elementary school. They say that their son left the bus crying after being bullied. The children say that the two were cursing and threatening them.
However, the school released the following statements:
“In conducting a follow-up internal investigation of the incident, North Penn School District found no reports of bullying of the accused couple’s child. Under no circumstances does NPSD ever want a parent boarding a bus or taking matters into their own hands.”
I could not find the code on unlawful entry on a school bus. I would be interested on how it is defined.
We have previously discussed the criminalization of conduct in America. I am very disturbed by their conduct and, as a parent, I would be pretty ticked off. However, is an arrest necessary? Bus service for the family could be suspended or the parents could be asked to stay a certain number of feet from the bus if they want their child to continue on the service.
What do you think?
Should have been handled by the school not the police. I agree with Mr Turleys take.
We have become an idiotic Police State where common sense has been thrown out the window and everyone calls the police for the smallest things
Scary-looking rednecks, including one with a criminal record (on probation, no less), board a school-bus and scream and curse at black kids.
And the appropriateness of their being arrested is actually being debated?
Jeez
I’ve been to Deming several times. It’s close to the Mexican border. There are really 2 NM’s. Northern NM is far away from the border and you don’t have the narco trafficers constantly passing through. The north is quite liberal, and the south conservative. If this arrest occurred 150 or so miles, I doubt this happens.
Here is the link to the story on the American Bar Association’s Journal web page on the New Mexico “traffic stop” case. The storyhas a link to the actual filing. The plaintiff’s attorney has also written to the state medical board. Now THAT will be an interesting hearing.
http://www.abajournal.com/mobile/article/traffic_stop_brings_3_enemas_2_x-rays_and_1_colonoscopy_in_cops_fruitless_d
Just got off the phone with my son who is the medical director of an emergency department. He was almost at a loss for words. If those physicians worked at his hospital, they would be unemployed and out on the street as soon as he found out about it. There is no possible argument the hospital or its staff can produce that will past the smell test.
Juliet
just read that at a different site. that wasn’t a search it was a gangbang.
They’re just not sympathetic, to me. This guy? I could get righteous about him. Geez!
http://mobile.rawstory.com/therawstory/#!/entry/suit-claims-police-forced-new-mexico-man-to-undergo-repeated,5278eb65025312186c79cbd6
Hop off the bus gus.
Put em in jail, Gail.
Throw away the key, Lee.
The 10k bail is probably appropriate for Chistopher Gring, he has 6 prior criminal cases in Montgomery County, Pa. His wife has none, @ least under her married name. The type charges and dispositions would cost me $ and I just don’t care enough. The first charges were in 2002 when he was 19 and the most recent last year.
There are two issues here. The way the immature parents handeled it and the bullying. Its too bad there are no immediate policies for the bus driver. Maybe driving to the nearest police station and having the police scare the bully. Or driving back to the school and having security come out to the bus and scare the bully, and delaying the kids getting home. This would be a nonissue if it was the 60’s,70’s,80’s. Many of the young parents of today are just too immature and handel things without thinking them through.
no unauthorized person is allowed entry onto a publicly operated school bus.
school bus drivers are bullied by students making driving hazardous
students bully each other which makes driving them dangerous
public schools are ill-equiped to handle the volume and the nature of many disciplinary issues today.
drug and alcohol testing of bus drivers is not conducted at all or conducted to bypass federal and state regulations; some drivers drive our kids under the influence as a result.
Elaine,
“I’ve had to address the problem of kids who liked to tease/annoy/bully other kids–and who then came crying to me when the kids being taunted/intimidated by them fought back.” yep!
Explaining the “second punch” theory to young kids is difficult … but once they enter a sports program and see how refs catch the second foul but not the first, they get it.
Learning how to handle bullies/intimidaters/agitators is a parental teaching responsibility ’cause they never go away!
In a perfect world the parent’s would have been more prudent. However, I ask who would throw the first stone if your kid, grandkid, came off the bus crying, saying he was bullied. It’s the instinctive momma/daddy bear response. My thoughts are shaped by laws. If someone kills a person in a fit of rage it is a lesser offense than planning harm to someone. I’ve continued researching, there is no allegation of physicality. As mentioned previously, a girl interviewed[looked to be a 3/4 grader, said she was scared. It was quite credible. I doubt the schools “investigation” saying there was no bullying is dispositive. As we all know, a schools first instinct is CYA.
Blouise,
It’s not always easy getting to the bottom of the stories told to parents by young children. Still, it’s important for parents to listen to what they have to say–and then to do some investigating/problem solving of their own…in an appropriate manner…just as you did. No child should be bullied at school or on a school bus. What those two parents did was to set a poor example. They bullied ALL the children on that bus. Another thing to keep in mind: There are some children who are instigators/bullies. Some children fight back when they are bullied by others. I’ve had to address the problem of kids who liked to tease/annoy/bully other kids–and who then came crying to me when the kids being taunted/intimidated by them fought back.
Elaine,
Wise words. Suspected bullying and actual bullying can be two very different things. Parents need to do their best in removing emotion from the equation while remaining steadfast in advocating for their child.
My youngest daughter started complaining then crying about the “big-fat-boy-bully” on her bus who was stealing her gloves and throwing them out the window. My first thought was that the big-fat-boy-bully was an excuse for lost gloves but after 3 pair went out the window I figured we had a problem. She asked us if we would drive her to school so she wouldn’t have to see him. Tex, in his infinite father wisdom, told her to steal his gloves and throw them out the window and if that didn’t work, punch him. I countermanded his suggestions and told her I was going to call his mother. Good, she said, He’s mean.
We met for coffee. The big-fat-boy-bully was actually not at all big or fat and his mother was horrified that he was stealing her gloves and couldn’t understand it at all as he was always talking about her and drawing/coloring pictures he said he was going to give her at school. She would talk to him.
The following week he and his mother showed up at the house with a package for my daughter that contained 2 pairs of gloves and he stumbled through a quiet apology.
Fast forward to senior high school where they were assigned as partners in chemistry class. During a botched experiment he said, This reminds me of 3rd grade. She asked him how that applied. All I wanted was for you to pay attention to me and I blew that the same way we just blew this experiment.
Tex’s response? See, I told you you should have punched him.
Aaaagh!
I will say this, if I found out my kids were being bullied, it would be difficult for me to keep from stomping a mud hole in someone’s ass. (I really love this colorful colloquialism.)
Do I blame the patents…. Not really…. It’s a school matter and should be addressed by the school…. Not charging the parents….
Montco parents storm school bus: ‘Who made my son cry?’
Published: Monday, November 04, 2013
http://www.mainlinemedianews.com/articles/2013/11/04/region/doc52727509d274c783854901.txt
Excerpt;
At that point, according to a criminal complaint filed in district court, Gring and her husband, Christopher Gring, 30, ran onto the bus without permission, yelling, “Who made my son cry?”
Police said that while Christopher Gring stood on the steps of the bus, near the driver, Christina Gring went to the back of the bus and began questioning students and frightening them to the point where some of the children began crying and hiding under their seats.
Both Christina and Christopher Gring directed foul or obscene language toward the children and the bus driver during the incident, according to the complaint, and at one point Christina Gring threatened “to kick the children’s (expletive) if they continued to pick on her son,” police said.
As they were leaving the bus, court documents state, Christopher Gring yelled, “My kid can beat any of you guys.”
A dozen children on the bus were crying upon the couple leaving the bus, police said.
During the subsequent investigation of the incident, police said, Christina Gring provided a written statement to authorities admitting to entering the bus, while Christopher Gring admitted in a written statement that he used foul or obscene language.
While I can sympathize with parents who may have a child who is being bullied, forcibly entering a bus and yelling at the students and using profanity, scaring the children who may have been perfectly innocent of any bullying is overkill. These parents used horrible judgment. Arrest seems extreme, couldn’t they have been ticketed? Disturbing the peace or some such charge? Calling the parents of the bully and involving the principal, perhaps setting up a meeting at the school to hash it out may have been a better option.
http://abclocal.go.com/wpvi/story?section=news/local&id=9310138
“Gring and her husband Christopher were arrested Monday. She is back with her children after posting $10,000 cash bail.
Christopher remains behind bars because he was on probation for previous offenses.”