13-Year-Old Faces Assault Charges for Stealing a Kiss on a Dare
A 13-year-old Maryland boy is facing an assault charge after he planted an unwanted kiss on a female classmate.
The criminal kiss happened at Pikesville Middle School between the eighth-grade boy and an eighth-grade girl.
The young Casanova told police he stole the kiss on a dare, the Baltimore Sun reports.
Now to be clear—this was not an innocent peck he planted on the girl’s cheek.
Police say the boy grabbed the young lady by the shirt and delivered an open-mouth slobber knocker of a smooch.
He was charged as a juvenile and released into the custody of his mother, CBS reports.
Depending on who you ask, the kid is either a sexual predator or a teenager who did something really stupid.
An observer on the Fox Baltimore website wondered if the charge was appropriate for such a young child.
“Again, we are talking about a 13-year-old whose judgment has not yet matured,” he wrote.
“So the boy is an aggressive sexual predator (as far as you know) and everyone is OK with it. … No wonder a rape culture has emerged,” wrote one arm chair commentator on the CBS Baltimore website.
But does an unwanted, schoolhouse kiss rise to the level of second-degree assault? And if so—what other kind of childhood shenanigans could land kids behind bars?
Is it possible that one day toddlers will be hauled off to jail for taking another child’s teddy bear?
If this was the child’s first offense, perhaps the school could’ve handled the situation internally—without involving authorities. How about detention and a good tongue-lashing?
Or better yet—why not turn him over to the young lady’s father for a few hours?
I suspect that would put the kid back on the straight and narrow and keep his tongue where the Good Lord intended.
Todd Starnes is host of “Fox News & Commentary,” heard on hundreds of radio stations. Sign up for his American Dispatch newsletter, be sure to join his Facebook page and follow him on Twitter. His latest book is God Less America.
