Mike Tang spent a night in jail and faces a year of parenting classes and picking up trash for his choice of discipline.
Mike Tang was charged with child endangerment for leaving his 8-year-old son in a grocery store parking lot a mile from home. It was supposed to be a life lesson.
"I just wanted to reinforce that money is hard to earn and that, if he doesn't do a good job at school, he could end up sleeping...[with] the homeless," says Tang, who lives in the Southern California suburb of Corona.
The incident took place after Mike caught Isaac cutting corners on his homework. At about 7:45 p.m., he drove him to the parking lot and drove away. About 10 minutes later, Tang's father came to pick him up.
But Isaac had already been picked up: He was in police custody. A stranger had spotted the boy and called the cops, who arrested Tang, and he spent the night in county jail. A jury later convicted him of child endangerment, and the judge sentenced him to parenting classes and a 56-day work release program picking up trash and doing other menial work.
Mike is refusing to serve the sentence, and there's an outstanding arrest warrant for his failure to comply. He scrawled a response on top of the warrant and mailed it back.
"Fuck you all!" Mike's written response begins. "Walking on a public sidewalk at 7:45 p.m. is not child endangerment."
Is Mike right, or did he jeopardize Isaac's safety? And was it appropriate for the police to intervene?
"It rises to the level of unusual. It rises to the level of, perhaps, controversial. But it was not literally dangerous. That's not a crime," says journalist and Reason contributor Lenore Skenazy, founder of the Free Range Kids movement.
Watch the full video above and decide for yourself.
Approximately 5 minutes. Produced by Zach Weissmueller. Camera by Weissmueller and Alex Manning. Music by Blue Dot Sessions.
Its the city laws not the cops. Cops have to enforce the laws whether they like it or not.
Why do you insist on beating up cops for doing their job? Cops tend to ask the higher ups what they should do and sometimes even prosecutors get involved.
Gosh - and I thought conservatives were all in favor of disciplining their children and teaching them proper values?
Back when Amerika wasn't a police state, a kid would have at worst gotten a ride home from the cops, who would have sided with the dad on his teaching a lesson to his son.
Gosh - and I thought conservatives were all in favor of disciplining their children and teaching them proper values?
Gosh - I have learned from you that libertarians feel about the safety of their children when leaving them alone .the same way libertarians feel about the age of sexual consent for children.
And what I have learned is that you libertarians really dont care about either....anything goes, eh?
Here is tragic story of a 6-year-old boy left alone
A New York jury has convicted Pedro Hernandez for the high-profile kidnapping and murder of Etan Patz, a 6-year-old New York City boy who vanished in 1979, PEOPLE confirms.
Hernandez, a 56-year-old former store clerk being retried for the crime after his first trial in 2015 ended with a deadlocked jury, staked out Etan for several days before strangling the boy to death, prosecutors said.
Hernandez had pleaded not guilty. The jury deliberated for nine days.
The case has gripped the public ever since Etan went missing from his SoHo neighborhood after begging his mother to walk to school alone. Etan was the first missing child put on milk cartons, and the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children has said his case was a catalyst for its creation. Etans remains have never been found.
Murder charges were not filed in the case until 2012, when Hernandez, who was 18 when Etan disappeared, confessed to investigators that he lured the boy into the bodega where he worked by promising him a soda.
Hernandez told police he killed Etan in the stores basement by strangling him. He said he put his body in a garbage bag, which he put in a dumpster.
Authorities never interviewed Hernandez during their initial investigation into Etans disappearance. But they have said that for years, Hernandez told his relatives and ex- wife about how he had murdered a child in 1981.
It was Hernandezs brother-in-law, Jose Lopez, who initially tipped off police, leading to his arrest. Lopez called police in 2004 with information about Hernandez and then approached authorities again in 2012, just before Hernandezs confession.
Authorities have said that when Hernandez confessed, he provided investigators with incriminating details.
Hernandezs defense had long maintained his client had nothing to do with Etans disappearance and that his statements to police were not believable.
Soon after his arrest, doctors diagnosed Hernandez as having schizotypal personality disorder, a mental disorder characterized by severe social anxiety and paranoia. His lawyer claimed Hernandez has an IQ of 67, and that his medical records contain numerous references to schizophrenia. He has taken anti-psychotic medication for some years and allegedly experiences hallucinations.
During closing arguments in late January, Hernandez attorneys said he is an odd, limited and vulnerable man but not a killer.
Hernandezs attorneys have tried making a case for why Jose Ramos a convicted Pennsylvania child molester is the real killer. Ramos was dating a woman who was hired to walk Etan and other neighborhood children home from school during a bus strike.
Ramos never faced criminal charges and has consistently denied having anything to do with Etans death.
Harvey Fishbein, Hernandezs attorney, said he absolutely plans to appeal the verdict verdict.
There are some really significant legal issues, right from almost day one, that really created huge hurdles for us, Fishbein tells PEOPLE. So, yes there will be an appeal.
In a statement issued shortly after the verdict, Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance, Jr. said, The disappearance of Etan Patz haunted families in New York and across the country for nearly four decades . Today, a jury affirmed beyond all lasting doubt that Pedro Hernandez kidnapped and killed the missing child in SoHo on May 25, 1979.
Vances statement added, Etans legacy will endure through his familys long history of advocacy on behalf of missing children. However, it is my hope that todays verdict provides the Patz family with the closure they so desperately need.
A visibly emotional Stan Patz spoke to reporters at a brief news conference following the verdict.
We finally have found some measure of justice for our wonderful little boy, Etan, he said, and Im really grateful that this jury finally came back with what I have known for a long time: That this man, Pedro Hernandez, is guilty of doing something really terrible so many years ago.
You still dont give a shit do you .about the safety of a child left alone?
Gosh - and I thought conservatives were all in favor of disciplining their children and teaching them proper values?
Kinda hard to teach values to a child who has been abducted,raped,and murdered. Back when Amerika wasn't a police state, a kid would have at worst gotten a ride home from the cops, who would have sided with the dad on his teaching a lesson to his son.
That America no longer exists,and hasn't existed in 50+ years. 50+ years ago if someone abducted and raped/murdered a child,they knew they would be lucky if a mob didn't get them before the police,and that even if the police did arrest them that they would be found guilty and given the maximum sentences.
That was back before criminals had more rights that citizens,and there were no acceptable excuses for kidnapping,raping,and/or murdering a child.