A Morton Middle School eighth-grader faces felony charges after putting crumbled peanut butter cookies in the lunch box of another student with a severe allergy to peanuts. The allergic student, another eighth-grader, did not eat the cookies and did not suffer a reaction. However, even trace amounts of peanut oil can cause severe reactions and even death. Symptoms can include hives, welts and swelling that can restrict airways. Earlier this month, it was reported that a 13-year-old boy died in Australia at a school camp due to an allergic reaction to peanuts. Letters went home Friday to parents of Morton students notifying them of the incident, according to a press release. The incident occurred Thursday out on the school’s running track, where students had gone to eat lunch and enjoy the warm weather, Fayette Schools spokeswoman Lisa Deffendall said. As the students neared the end of their lunch time, a student was seen putting the crumbled cookies in the allergic student’s lunch box, she said.
It was well known that the other student suffered from severe peanut allergies, Deffendall said. There was no known history of problems between the two teens, she added. Both students are 13. After an investigation, the student was arrested, was charged with felony wanton endangerment and has been removed from the school, Deffendall said.
Better keep an eye on this child.
Am I alone in my recollection that it wasn’t all that long ago that someone (an adult) had to do something reasonably serious to face a felony charge? It seems to me as though we’re currently not that far from the point where spitting on a sidewalk will be categorized as a felony.
Not that I’m trying to minimize the seriousness of what this young person tried to do, but c’mon… you can’t expect a 13 year old to be thinking every act (stupid or otherwise) through. Charging the kid with a felony isn’t going to do anything about his lack of foresight.
Reasonable would be teaching the *kid with allergy* to NOT to eat anything his Mommy or Daddy didn’t hand to him.
You can’t possibly expect *ALL* kids to remember and care about *ONE* kid’s allergy. Its not their ‘business’ to remember it.
Or even better – if the allergic child is to little to understand it – keep it away from other normal children if you really care about his survival.
But in this fucked-up politically correct society the hobos running this country will rather ban peanutbutter etc from all schools (next will be public places you bet) and deprive all other children from taste of it – in order to help survive the one with allergy.
Lets just pray that such carelessly raised allergic kid will never go for a trip to “less civilized” countries where they don’t give rats ass about it and assume it is his responsibility to know what he can and cannot eat… because he will be screwed there within days, you bet.
The kid obviously hopes some kind of harm will happen to the allergic kid. By 13, people should know better than that. Or are we assuming that he’s simply flavoring the other kid’s lunch because it’s tasty, out of the kindness of his heart?
Good job. That’ll keep other kids from doing stuff like that.
Why shouldn’t they take this seriously? The airlines took it seriously enough that they eliminated all peanuts and replaced them with pretzels.
#5
and you actually think it is the way to do it?
Airlines caved under the friggin’ lawyers’ *legal* scams (because you can’t say that suing an airline because adult idiot ate peanuts he was allergic of, and winning such lawsuit by the allergic idiot was anything but fair, can you?)
Many people are lactose intolerant, should we ban milk and dairy products too?
Gimme a break.
If you are allergic keep watch on what you eat, because it is *your* problem, its as simple as that.
888
I think you are missing the point. This was not a friend dropping a couple of cookies into his friends lunchbox because he wanted to share the wealth. These were intentionally crumbled into the lunchbox to create the greatest coverage of allergic substance to interior of said lunchbox. If they were just whole cookies dropped in, even without warning the victim could avoid them, have someone else remove them and wash the container. These were put in in such a way as to attempt to hide both what they were, and that they were there at all, and as such is no different than any other attempted form of poisoning. If the perp did not know that he was poisoning, he would not have done it that way. If you shoot at me and miss..it’s still attempted murder. My knowledge or lack of it as to whether or not you had a gun is irrelevant. You are positing accidental exposure..and in that case, you are right, it is up to the person with the allergy to protect himself as best he can. In this case..intent makes the difference. There is no ignorance shown on the part of the perp, he knew exactly what he was doing.
Shin
You’re right.
In *this* case it was actually attempted murder, he knew what he was doing, he did it with purpose (to poison the allergic kid for whatever reason he had) and best proof of it are the crumbles.
And IMHO at age of 13 “kids” already know the difference between right and wrong.
But I wasn’t defending the perp.
I researched the article and found out that peanut products are banned from many public places, which made laugh and slightly angered me, because it is not the way to protect the allergic people at all (if anything – it make them less careful) and it is somewhat limiting the right of normal, healthy children to consume one of the well-known healthy food choices.
If anything, they should have banned coke, pepsi etc garbage from schools, not the peanuts.
I have 6 kids. The oldest is nearly 13. They know right from wrong way earlier than 13. There are circumstances where they get confused because someone they trust is teaching them something backwards….
And people wonder more than one in 100 Americans are in jail. Ridiculous crap like this.
Just more pathetic attempts to get more people filling up the most profitable private enterprise – jails.
So he did wrong, that doesn’t mean you charge him with a felony.
There are plenty of ways to punish this kid that he’ll get without hitting him up with a felony arrest.
allergy = evolution, god obviosly didn’t want this kid to live
@888: Typical peanut allergy can’t be compared with lactose-intolerant problem, or most other allergies…
Many peanut allergic people can have deadly consequences just from the minimal contact – touch, inhalation,… They do not need to actually eat the product (although that would make it even more severe,…).
Alarm is that this is not an isolated case. Just couple days ago there was a case on TV of child intentionally smearing peanut butter on a ball he knew allergic child will touch, which he did and needed immediate medication…
More and more sociopaths appear among us (beatings for YouTube anyone?). I don’t think these kids are “wilder” than previous generations were, but the lack of compassion for others is evident.
Todays generation is exposed to the antisocial musings of the entire world from an early age with internet access. Of course what is considered normal in today’s world would have been off the reservation 25 years ago when I was growing up.
Is this sick and weird? You bet. But get used to it. As more children are exposed to this crap for their entire lives, it will become common place in a few years.
Mark my words, in a year or 2, you will see a story of a group of kids holding the allergic kid down and stuffing peanuts in their mouth. Todays cookie crumbs will seem mild compared to what’s coming down the pike.
The net, and media in general is an amazingly efficient way to broaden your horizons. But that may not be the best thing for all people. But the sick and weird stories get the most play, and children who grow up exposed to the sickest and weirdest stories on the planet on a daily basis can sure get their sense of “NORMAL” warped.
Don
Some of you need to know that even the smell of peanuts can cause a reaction. My soon to be wife is sent to the hospital if she is in a confined space (movie theatre, subway, bus, etc) for more than a minute when the smell of peanuts hits us.
I don’t care either way what happened in the article, but the idea that some people think that allergic persons should just not eat stuff they don’t make themselves, doesn’t mean that they can’t have a reaction if they are exposed to the food.
I was naive until I met her so you all can be forgiven. Just wanted you to know that SMELL can be a trigger as well.
What is it with peanut allergies. When I went to school EVERYONE ate BB&J sandwiches and no one was allergic. Is it some genetic defect that has crept into the pool?
#15, pat,
When I went to school EVERYONE ate BB&J sandwiches and no one was allergic.
Would those be Bread, Butter, and Jelly sandwiches ??? No wonder there were no allergic reactions.
(LOL, sorry, I know what you meant but just could resist the impulse.)
Its not the point of having peanut products in school allowed or not, that’s not even mentioned in the story. The kid laced the lunchbox with crumbs of peanut cookies… obviously not an issue of having peanuts banned from schools or not. Plus, at 13, kids are more than responsible enough to know what they’re doing. Anything after 6th grade you should know that what you’re doing is stupid. However… a felony is really too much. The kid should’ve gotten only a suspension or something.
#12 – I don’t think these kids are “wilder” than previous generations were, but the lack of compassion for others is evident.
A lack of compassion is not a trait that has developed in kids… It’s a trait kids learn from adults. And not just those few “bad” adults… Lacking compassion is the norm in our society.
I love peanut butter damn it! And I’m sick of all these weaklings telling me I can’t have peanuts on the airplane anymore.
If you will die if you eat peanuts then you should die; you’re destroying the human race with your weak genetics.