Jordan Wiser, a student at Ashtabula County Technical School in Jefferson, Ohio is rightfully confused after being being arrested for bringing a weapon into school. The “weapon” was a pocket knife that he had in his EMT medical vest . . . that was locked into the truck of his car. That’s right, in the latest example of the insane application of zero tolerance rules, the school officials called police after searching the trunk of a locked car to find a pocket knife used by a senior in his work as a EMT. He was then fed into a legal system that refused to show discretion in his prosecution. Notably, prosecutor Harold Specht ran for office based on a pledge that he would maintain a “hardline, zero tolerance policy” as a prosecutor. It was the perfect storm for Wiser: zero tolerance administrators handing a student over to a zero tolerance prosecutor. But it gets worse . . .
Wiser may now be barred from fulfilling his dream of joining the Army. School officials say that he consented to the search but Wiser insists that he declined to give consent and asked to speak to this parents or a lawyer. School officials searched the car and found the small folding knife and an airsoft gun. (The airsoft gun was legal and used in a school club). They say that they had probable cause after monitoring comments Wiser made on an online forum. They specifically referred to videos that Wiser posted on YouTube discussing home defense techniques and self-defense.
The police was called and the school moved to expel him.
He was then charged with an illegal conveyance of a weapon for the knife.
He then spent 13 days in the county jail. That’s right, 13 days.
He now must enroll in a special online program to complete his education.
We have previously followed the suspensions and discipline of students under zero tolerance policies that are used by teachers to justify zero judgment or responsibility. I have long criticized zero tolerance policies that have led to suspensions and arrests of children (here, here and here and here and here). Here is a prior column on the subject (and here).Children have been suspended or expelled for drawing stick figures or wearing military hats or bringing Legos shaped like guns or even having Danish in the shape of a gun. Despite the public outcry over the completely irrational and abusive application of zero tolerance rules, administrators and teachers continue to apply them blindly. If you do not have to exercise judgment, you can never been blamed for any failure. Conversely, even when the public outcry results in a reversals, teachers and administrators never seem punished with the same vigor for showing no judgment or logic in punishing a child.
The stripping away of fourth amendment rights of students parallels the same erosion of first amendment rights, as discussed in this recent column. We are increasingly raising the next generation in an environment of authoritarian learning.
To make matters even worse, the conditions of Wiser’s bond prohibit him from having contact with his grandfather at his home because of the presence of guns in the home. His grandfather is dying from cancer. The first judge ordered Wiser to be held on a half million-dollar bond and a psychological evaluation. He passed the exam but he was then hit with a $50,000 bond and an ankle monitor on Christmas Eve. It is important to remember that he is not charged with a conspiracy or threat against the school. The charge remains a four-inch folding knife in a vest in a trunk in a locked car in a parking lot outside of the school.
Once again, a student with a bright future has been victimized by school administrators who refuse to show an ounce of sense or humanity in the handling of children. What should have been a simple matter of a note to his parents was quickly elevated to an arrest and an expulsion. The police and prosecutor are no less at fault. Harold Specht, the chief assistant prosecutor at the Ashtabula County prosecutor’s office insisted in an interview that “We charge [people] with everything that we feel they are guilty of, and in this case, he is guilty of a felony.” Specht (right) shows the same robotic, uncaring approach of the administrators. What is lost is the welfare of this student and any element of logic. The incarceration of this boy for 13 days only magnifies the abuse. Yet, Specht insists that a trial will vindicate him and added “I know that there’s a load of people out here that just think we’re the devil because we’re allegedly ruining this young kid’s life . . . If this goes to trial, it will certainly come out in the wash.”
What is really scary is that Specht now wants to be a judge and is campaigning on his zero tolerance approach. He seems intent on convicting this young man to prove himself in the right. The kids has already been expelled, removed from this Army enrollment program, and forced into an online school. Yet, that is not enough for Specht. He wants to give him a felony record for a four-inch knife locked in the trunk of his car.
There should be discipline in this case, but it is not Wiser but the school officials, police, and prosecutors who produced this perfect nightmare.
Here are a couple of articles I have used in court for transfer hearings. They seem applicable here.
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0149763400000142
http://www.admrec.sonoma.edu/users/p/pollack/edu420/adolescentbraindvpt.pdf
bldfarm,
We get it. You don’t like him. I have his videos pulled up in another window, so please tell me which ones terrify you?
Also, would you please explain to me why a four inch pocketknife in a utility jacket pocket in the trunk of a car is reason for two weeks in jail, an obscenely high bond, and a felony charge? What exactly makes him dangerous? How do you evaluate “dangerousness?” Are you a forensic psychologist?
A little back story on this joker.
He’s been kicked out of every junior fire fighter program in the county.
(Mine first. I’m one of the adult advisors)
He repeatedly attempts to pass himself off as an EMT, which he’s nit
He’s trying to sell this story as “poor me, my constitutional rights were violated”
He’s a loose canon with serious behavioral issues who can be trusted with the responsibility that goes with public safety.
Do not be fooled.
His YouTube videos are terrifying
He’s been an embarrassment to every department he’s ever been affiliated with(and subsequently kicked off of)
He’s dangerous
First they came for the pocket knives and I was not a pocket knife and I did not speak up. Then they came for the dogs and I was not a dog and I did not speak up. Then they came for the kids who spoke out in class in favor of the First Amendment and I was not a First Amendment and I did not speak up. Then they came for the teachers and that was ok because no one liked the teachers. But they would never come for the Principal.
DonnyBoy,
You could have done your own homework. The young man is a member of the school sanctioned Airsoft team, and posted some tactical videos. Not unusual for a young man planning on entering the Army…that’s where his interests lie. His other interest is saving lives, and wanted to be an EMT. Wow! That is really threatening.
I am starting to think he managed to piss off somebody with connections.
Ummm….do you have any words of criticism for anyone but Jordan and the lebenty-dozen reporters who have covered this story?
And back to the homework part. It took me about fifteen seconds to find his YouTube account with all 74 of his videos.
https://www.youtube.com/user/ArmyRescue2/videos
To follow up.
If the kid posted that he has a knife and plans to use it….. Well that puts this story in a different light. We don’t know what the kid said… so we don’t know how appropriate or inappropriate the actions of the authorities were.
The strangest part of this story is not what has been done to this boy but the author of this piece not investigating the most basic and obvious question, what did this boy post online that lead the school to investigate the kid in the first place?
How in the world can this author or anyone else for that matter make any kind of judgment without knowing the whole story? Perhaps the kid’s comments did not warrant such action.. but perhaps they did. We don’t know! I’m really surprised at the knee jerk reactions from people who apparently can’t think for themselves and get all worked up based on an article that gives you half the story.
I’m not assuming this kid is guilty of anything and I’m not suggesting the authorities are innocent. I’m asking the obvious question. how in the world can we arrive at any conclusions when we don’t even know what initiated this whole thing? This should be commonsense.
Here is the message for this particular conditioning:
tolerance = weakness
pain is weakness leaving your body
Hey, we all agree that we do not want pain.
Focus.
And my belief in the human race dies a bit more.
And Idaho just passed a law allowing students to carry concealed weapons on our college campuses… Just as insane.
@Jeremy annieofwi is gentle and polite. I’ll be different and direct. As you state, we readers might be laughing but are certainly cracking a small smile at the irony.
Wow Jeremy, did you read your own comment? Chuckle.
the author of this has really bad grammar and terrible writing skills, if your going to try and keep the world informed and spread up to date important information- try doing it in a way that makes you credible and proffesional- if i tried to use this article as a reference id be laughed at. good story though
Its storeis like this that wish I had taken up being a criminal defense attorney instead of an engineer. If I understand the school correctly this was not a public high school and since when does a school have probable cause rights to search an individuals vehicle. Pathetic.
Perhaps if people were able to accurately understand the social psychology notion of “the fundamental attribution error” along with accurately understanding the nature of dispositional attribution in relation with situational attribution, along with an accurate grasp of the nature of personal loci of control, we might, as a species,begin to develop a realm of law which people could actually obey as a matter of actual informed consent.
Robert Merton’s and Frieda Adler’s works on anomie and synomie might be worth intense study and contemplation.
In my work, anomie and synomie are not polar opposites; rather they usefully modeled mathematically as being orthogonal to one another in a complex variable hyperspace.
Simple mathematical models of complex phenomena are, I surmise, always wrong because of oversimplification.
This is a time for someone like Ralph Nadar. Multimillion dollar lawsuits will impose a level of common sense on municipalities and cities who allow idiots into positions of power.
These people are genuinely insane. How the hell did they ever get into positions of authority? Why are they still there?
If I were this kid, I’d be demanding a jury every chance I got. They know how to handle 4 inch pocket knife “assault weapons.”
War is coming and is needed in this country to clean out the POLICE STATE PROBLEM that we have. Instead of making excuses for the obvious STUPID actions by a bunch of parasite incompetents in Guber-mint you should ALL be demanding the firing of all of the Beuro-RATS involved. PERIOD. This whole event is an INSULT to our nation, our heritage and our way of life. This is the kind of crap you would see in POLICE STATE operations like Isreal or other Soviet Socialist scams. Disgusting pigs. Vote with your wallet and buy more ammo. Share this story EVERYWHERE you can ASAP. Liberty 1775
His grandfather is dying from cancer because there are guns in his house.
I did not know guns could do that!