r/facepalm • u/gymleader_michael • 11d ago
Broken playground swing leads to criminal charges against 10- and 12-year-old Springdale sisters
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_yUEjrJgwAo•
u/Intrepid-Progress228 11d ago
Springdale Borough solicitor: "The Department would never issue an ultimatum of 'pay for the damage or your children will be charged.' We simply don't operate that way."
Also the Springdale Borough solicitor: "[...] an opportunity was provided to address the matter through restitution rather than unnecessarily continuing juvenile proceedings."
It's not an ultimatum, it's a do this or else. Totally different. /S
JFC.
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u/CaptainHolt43 11d ago
"I mean, what am I gonna do? Just all of a sudden jump up and grind my feet on someone's couch, like it's something to do? Come on, I got a little more sense than that.
Yeah, I remember grinding my feet into Eddie's couch."
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u/TheBigWarHero 11d ago
F yo couch
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u/mmmmmarty 11d ago
FYC!
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u/rbartlejr 10d ago
JD is that you?
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u/disturbedrailroader 10d ago
No, he said "fuck your couch," not "fucking the couch." There's a small but important distinction there.
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u/Go_Gators_4Ever 10d ago
Dang! It won't let me post the Chappelle Show GIF of Rick James on the couch!!!
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u/Daddysu 11d ago
This is the level of local "governance" that way too many people have yo deal with in this country. The federal government ain't the only thing that needs to get burnt down and rebuilt in this country.
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u/MarginalOmnivore 11d ago
This is also the easiest form of government to fix without burning it to the ground.
If you live in this town, YOU can run for this office. It's not difficult, it's not expensive. If you don't like how your town is being run, you can literally get out and fix it yourself.
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u/string-ornothing 10d ago
I am from this town. This is maybe the 3rd scandal that's gone viral enough to reach Reddit's front page this year in a town of 3,000 people. The local police chief has a super long misconduct sheet and violently arrested a man at a borough meeting in April when he spoke and said his wife was being harassed. The chief's name is Derek Dayoub, he's googleable. This council also signed an agreement to allow the building of a hyperscale datacenter that directly abuts a residential neighborhood, against the wishes of literally the whole town. This election cycle I doubt there will be a single person left in power who was in power before. The whole town is turning over. Police chief's comtract is up next month BTW! I wish these stories were covering that little aspect. He should not be rehired.
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u/fuglysack14 10d ago
Dang. I'm sorry yall are dealing with that.
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u/string-ornothing 10d ago edited 10d ago
It is crazy. A new story about the incompetence of our local government comes out every day, it seems like. We have a local paper's reporter (Stephanie Strasburg of Public Source if youre interested) who covers our town and her reporting has gone viral several times, we got global support because of the paper's reporting on our police department's collaboration with ICE and because of the data center agreement. Within Pittsburgh metro area, everyone's getting to know us and it is never good. Again we are a one square mile town of under 4000 people.
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u/MarginalOmnivore 10d ago
Honestly, it sounds less like incompetence and more like malicious corruption.
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u/string-ornothing 10d ago
There's rumors of gambling debts or prostitution rings, nothing we can prove. It wouldn't surprise me.
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u/iAmUnintelligible 10d ago
if there's a will, there's a way: strap on those hooker heels and get to work!
the city needs you to expose
yourthe underground!•
u/llamadogmama 7d ago
So the data center is obvious kickbacks. The town needs a forensic accountant. This is what the data centers do. Find a tiny very corrupt able little town and pay each member off to vote yes. I would look VERY closely at who is not running again or moving.
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u/pupberlik 11d ago edited 2d ago
My sister in law did it! Now she runs the town I grew up in, it's so weird lol
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u/Gurnenthar2 10d ago
The biggest changes in history, from Women’s Suffrage to Cannabis Legalization, started on a local level. Local is always the answer… Not that we should neglect the federal, of course, just showcasing how important your local elections are. If you think the vote for President is important, well it is, and your local elections are even more so…
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u/PM_me_punanis 10d ago
What a shit show. Is the suburb so boring that police have this much time and resources to harass a family? Taxpayers have to pay for this ridiculousness. Had the city just repaired the thing, it would have been so much cheaper. It's a playground, continuous maintenance is a thing.
Sue the 12 year old who steals a car and takes it for a joy ride, not the kid who plays in a playground. What utter stupidity.
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u/lightninhopkins 10d ago
It was a shakedown. They weren't going to use the money to fix the swing. Imagine the shakedowns you aren't hearing about.
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u/Overall_Midnight_ 10d ago
Right? Anytime I hear about something like this that has made the news I gotta wonder how many other times that type of behavior on the part of whatever entity, in this case the city, has been repeatedly perpetrated. I wonder if there is a new person in authority that thought this was a good idea or if there is a pattern of shakedowns.
The local news auto get a free freedom of information act filing in and check that out, I’m sure there is more. And if there isn’t more there is likely some strange explanation as to why they decided to do what they did, that’s just not how that type of situation should be handled by any stretch of the imagination.
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u/Dickballs835682 9d ago
The local news auto get a free freedom of information act filing in
Too bad most "local" "news" stations are actually just Sinclair
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u/grecaun 10d ago
You left out the fact that the second statement immediately follows the first. They say they don’t issue an ultimatum then immediately say they offered the opportunity to pay restitution rather than juvenile proceedings.
Did they even read their statement before releasing it, or are we just dealing with people below a kindergarten reading comprehension level?
Also, did they replace the entire swing for $300 or did they just hire the most expensive contractor to ‘fix’ it? How much time has the police department, solicitors office, etc, logged dealing with trying to squeeze money out of their taxpayers? I can’t imagine they’ve spent less than $300 on all this garbage even before the criminal proceedings. What a joke.
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u/dream-smasher 10d ago
Even worse, they say they divided the amount between the five children... So ... Does that mean the swing took $1,500 to fix?
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u/grecaun 10d ago
No, the posted link says each was asked to pay $59.
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u/dream-smasher 10d ago
Ooohhhh.. lol. My bad. Sorry, I watched the vid and didn't see any dollar amount, so when you said $300, I assumed that was per child.
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u/corporatewazzack 10d ago
On the plus side once the ACLU gets involved the family will have a nice settlement from these morons.
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u/Poofmander 9d ago
forgot what sub I was on until I had slapped my face right when the second quote was read.
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u/JackasaurusChance 10d ago
To be fair, we can't expect cops to understand the words they use... there isn't any legal precedent for cops needing to understand words.
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u/Zealousideal_Step709 11d ago
Every kid does that with a swing eventually. If anybody should be sued it's the city for not making sure that the swing is safe and up to code. That could have happened while a kid is swinging, leading to injury or worse.
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u/LoveLoud319 11d ago
Exactly. I say the parents sue the city over not maintaining a safe public space. Maybe when they have to spend money, they will stop going after children. Like WTF
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u/Positive-Pack-396 11d ago
You’ve got to be kidding me
Kid been doing this since swings were invented
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u/foobar_north 11d ago
Exactly! This is a well known and often used thing kids do with swings! I remember doing it. The chains on swings now-a-days are much thinner than they were 30 years ago. Sounds like negligence by the town to me
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u/Hey_its_thatoneguy 11d ago
I would love to see her turn around and sue the city for not properly maintaining the playground equipment, not inspecting the equipment, not having a sign posted with instructions for proper manufacturers recommended use, and the (sadly very real part) ptsd this poor women’s daughters now have from that fucking waste of life pig.
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u/Complete-Sense8097 11d ago
I’m guessing those chains were so worn pretty thin.
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u/Inuyasha-rules 11d ago
Probably not, those chains take a lot of abuse over the years and rarely fail. I'm guessing there was a low quality s hook where the single support chain attaches to the dual chains of the swing, and it bent and broke. Notice the chains still look old, but there's new clevis pins (I think that's the right term) where the chain sections are attached.
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u/Fuzzy_Inevitable9748 11d ago
The chains on the bottom looked very old and thin. Chain is also relatively cheap, like you could replace both swings chain for substantially less then they paid the cop to go to her house and try to shake her down. It is also easy to do and could have been done in less time than the cop took to go to her house and shake her down.
This really just shows how messed up our society is that we would piss away thousands of dollars over $20 worth of chain and deprive kids of a swing while the adults in charge were too busy being dickheads.
They really needs to be an investigation into how this could even happen.
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u/ColonelSlapper 10d ago
Here’s my perspective: In Texas and I believe most states, being an owner of a trampoline is stressful. Let’s say you have a trampoline in your completely fenced off backyard. If a child (or anyone) decided to trespass on your property to jump on that trampoline and hurts themselves, YOU (the owner of the property and trampoline) are now legally liable for everything.
How is this any different? If anything, it’s more the park owners fault than anyone else’s because they could have made improvements to prevent this from happening. They are also asking for people to come and use their equipment so if it fails it’s not the user’s fault.
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u/Adventurous-Brain-36 10d ago
Wait, wait, wait. So in Texas, you can very intentionally shoot someone for stepping foot on your property, but if someone climbs your fence, enters your yard without your knowledge, jumps on your trampoline without permission and gets hurt, you’re liable?
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u/ColonelSlapper 10d ago
Exactly! You couldn’t have worded it any better Lmao!
I was shocked one day when I came home early from work to see this random kid jumping on my trampoline. I ran out there to confront him and he ran off to his house. Maybe an hour later the police showed up at my door asking about the situation. According to the child’s mother I “threatened her child”. I explained the situation and one of the officers told me that if the child was injured in anyway that I would be held responsible. They even went as far as telling me that if I don’t want anyone jumping on my trampoline then I should disassemble it when it’s not being used.
Yes, you heard me right. They basically said ‘if you don’t want someone injuring themselves on your property and suing, get rid of the thing that would tempt them from trespassing in the first place’.
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u/FoolishConsistency17 10d ago
I would not take legal advice from a cop.
This is something a personal injury lawyer would know about. It is absolutely true that if you have a trampoline visible from the street and in an unfenced yard and a kid jumps on it and hurts themselves, you can be liable (that is the "attractive nuisance" thing.) But I do not believe that is the case if the trampoline is behind a secure fence. I am not sure about visibility.
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u/Crowd0Control 10d ago
If your right these kids could be being held responsible for at least a dollar and possibly dollars of damages! I could see why it's so important to reclaim these costs from someone who can't control their kids.
If they weren't old enough to read and follow the manufacturers recommendation on how to play, they should have been taken somewhere more age appropriate than a the play area of a park!
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u/Guac_in_my_rarri 11d ago
Any playground in the past 10 years has a far thinner chain. Above a certain size it gets coated in rubber.
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u/malfunkshunned 11d ago
It has to go down to cheap materials. When we plan for children's museum interactives- we basically have to design it to be unbreakable. I think more thought is put into 'How is a kid going to destroy this?' than ever is put into stealth military planning.
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u/Awkward-Put854 11d ago
It will cost maybe ten bucks, isn’t there a sane adult willing to fix it and tell everyone (especially the chief) to settle down!?
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u/CaptainFleshBeard 10d ago
I was doing this 45 years ago as a kid. Sounds like the city need to install signs at all equipment in all their parks outlining the correct use.
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u/HeyGayHay 10d ago
Does really noone see the reason here? The local government knows they just opened themselves up for a lawsuit of non-maintained and dangerous playground, so they fight fire with oil. Kinda like cancer treatment, kill yourself but hope the cancer dies first and you can then recover.
They bury the parents in a boatload of legal paperwork, giving them an out where they admit fault, so the parents can neither work on their own lawsuit nor actually have a chance in court due to having admitted fault beforehand already
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u/Responsible-Buyer215 8d ago
In the UK you could probably sue the council for installing equipment unsafe for play, America is messed up
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u/TentDilferGreatQB 11d ago
Sorry kids, that playground is for display purposes only.
If you touch the swing, Flock will know, and Flock will arrest. Obey Flock now, Obey Flock Forever.
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u/malfunkshunned 11d ago
I saw two kids at the park playing with a shopping cart, at this point- shouldn’t we just be glad they’re outside and not in front of a screen?
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u/steebo 11d ago
That's possession of stolen goods. Time for the shock gloves.
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u/Dense_Surround3071 11d ago
Probably not carrying their RealID.... Better call ICE just to be on the safe side. 😏
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u/sksauter 11d ago
Well one of the kids was non-white, so clearly trying to get the other kid initiated in a gang. Straight to jail.
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u/84thPrblm 11d ago
Jeez, is it that big a deal to have to go pick up your kids in Namibia?
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u/OpenTheBobs 8d ago
Each child’s skin color level is taken into consideration for whether shock gloves are necessary.
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u/calypso85 11d ago
Since when is twisting a swing breaking the law? Kids have been doing that since they were invented
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u/madchemist09 11d ago
Really sad. That swing was either shobby or already damaged to break like that. Glad the county is spending all that money to prosecute 2 kids instead of having the equipment in good order.
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u/Gurnenthar2 11d ago
Yeah, it would be all the children’s fault, not just those two, so the burden would go to all of the families. How would we get the money from them, I wonder? Could it be the TAXES THEY PAY?!
The countersue better be legendary.
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u/mentalcasket 11d ago
I wonder if a Flock camera was pointed at the playground and that's how they found the girls, or if some Karen reported them. This is truly insane. The parks should be covered by some sort of insurance to fix things like this, no?
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u/JessieColt 11d ago
It or another company.
The article on the web site says there is "cctv" of the incident, which is how they identified the 5 kids involved.
https://www.wtae.com/article/springdale-playground-swing-court-case/73547096
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u/Blackchaos93 10d ago
Holy shit so the cops weren’t even there when it happened or right after!?
Also, perhaps more importantly:
HOW WERE THEY ABLE TO IDENTIFY CHILDREN VIA CCTV POINTED AT A PARK-
But you’re telling me this police force spent hours investigating this and then needed something to show for it so when they saw it was a handful of kids and not delinquent older teens trying to break it, they decided they had to follow through regardless?
So after spending at least a business day on this, the cops then rolled up to their respective houses and issued this not-an-ultimatum ultimatum which the other 3 parents already paid?
City is damned lucky none of the kids got seriously hurt and the request for the objective evidence that it was inspected up-to-date was chef’s kiss. 👨🍳💋
Kudos to that momma!
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u/forsakeme4all 7d ago
Who would ever bother paying? I sure a shit wouldn't.
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u/Blackchaos93 7d ago
I mean I understand the logic behind the city request in that it is city property.
If this were, say, a hanging City sign that the kids were swinging from and broke it I could see this being the route for restitution.
But the whole equation changes when it was city property specifically for minor entertainment and physical activity. Kids are supposed to be using it. Unlike the sign metaphor where the kids are not supposed to/allowed to be playing with it in that way.
So now the onus is on the city to prove (in my mind, NAL) that the kids were using it in a manner that violated their usage rights - which good luck with that and if for some reason their argument holds in court it’ll unleash a brave new world where posted playground rules are enforceable laws.
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u/RedSix2447 11d ago
There was probably a cop already on scene watching the kids, purely I’m sure to ensure no mischief was going on.
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u/Genn8130 11d ago
'We'd never issue an ultimatum to pay for the damage or be charged, but we did give them an opportunity to pay for the damage rather than being charged.'
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u/V0RT3XXX 11d ago
They contradicted themselves in a single sentence. That's hard to do but somehow they managed it
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u/Few_Lingonberry_7028 11d ago
and then when the parents didn't pay for the damages they charged the kids
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u/Gemini-Moon522 11d ago
How many kids before them did the same thing that contributed to its breaking? It didn't break because these 2 kids played during one visit. This is the city's negligence.
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u/AdditionalConstant42 11d ago
A city swing broke while children were playing on it and the city thinks litigation is a good idea? If equipment broke at a public park while being played on I would worry about being sued, not the other way around.
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u/Ttthhasdf 11d ago
Exactly, the mother should sue the town for providing dangerous equipment
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u/serious_sarcasm 10d ago
Intent is also a key component of vandalism, so any competent judge should laugh the prosecutor out of court.
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u/Tripple_T 11d ago
Shit, it's time to counter sue. Your kids could have been hurt by that faulty swing.
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u/serious_sarcasm 10d ago
Vandalism charges also require proof of intent.
It’s very literally the difference between vandalism and accidents.
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u/Number1BestYogurtBoi 11d ago
Cops are all fucking morons. Why anyone ever supports the police is beyond me.
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u/Garbageday5 11d ago
lol you think this is just the cops?! That entire system is insane - watch the whole video - if any of that is okay with anyone you are a dipshit
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u/rustyleftnut 11d ago
Gee, I wonder why 1. Kids don't like playing outside anymore 2. So few people like cops
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u/Business_Door4860 11d ago
My daughter is 15 so it's been a while since I've been to a park, but I don't recall seeing a series of instructions for proper use of the different types of swings, nor did I teach my daughter about physics and the failure points of metal chains. I'd also like to point out that children using their imaginations and curiosity is one of the greatest things about being a child, so really they taught the engineers who designed this a lesson in their design failures.
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u/WowOwlO 9d ago
I would counter sue.
Twisting swings is a TIME HONORED TRADITION.
It began when the first swing was made, and it will continue as long as humanity survives.
What kind of weak, pathetic, cheap chains are they hanging that they could snap so easily?
Where are all the tax dollars being put that this is the pathetic crap going onto the playgrounds?
Those children could have been hurt!
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u/Fidelius90 11d ago
Caught an older gentlemen last month letting his dog attack the baby swing at the local. No other kids there, just him standing and watching his dog repeatedly bite/maul it. Had to explain to him that my kid likes to use that swing, and they don’t appreciate dog slobber, hairs and teeth marks. He wasn’t very happy, It was so odd!
I’d expect that to get a look from the cops, not kids using it!
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u/FoxyInTheSnow 11d ago
Kids have been twisting swings to do spinnies for as long as there have been swings. Fuck's wrong with these petty jobsworths?
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u/Historical-Remove401 10d ago
Twisting swings is not uncommon at all. I have done it many times while playing with children. The chain should not have broken this easily, without prior metal fatigue that caused it to break. Springdale should be held responsible for having faulty playground equipment.
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u/Slackeee_ 11d ago
The US is a joke country, where child rapists will get elected but children using a swing like generations of kids have done before get sued.
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u/curtmandu 11d ago
What an insane overreach by the city here. I used to fix playground equipment and we NEVER did any sort of investigation into how a piece might have been broken. We just went out and fixed it. Hope they can fight this
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u/earthdozer 10d ago
this timeline is a joke, kids arent allowed to be anywhere. when i was 10-14 we went to the mall, movie theatre, the park, etc. by ourselves. we would play tackle tag and throw rocks in the river, ride home made minibikes in the cul-de-sac. noone thought it was weird. now theyre not allowed to go anywhere or even play how kids are supposed to play. WhY aRe KiDs AlWaYs On ThEir IpaDs!?!?!?
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u/THE_TRUE_FUCKO 11d ago
Welcome to dystopian America, folks! Where we demand that your kids be held responsible when the adults cut corners and purchase CHEAPLY made playground materials from shoddy importers that malfunction during quite normal playtime activities.
Each parent needs to countersue the city for damages and injuries which I'm positive must have occurred when the swing malfunctioned and collapsed on top of the very frightened children. If there were no signs detailing the weight limits, it is unreasonable for anyone to expect a child to know that having 4 or 5 children on a swing meant for 2 or 3, is going to be enough to break it. Children see swings suspended with chains at playgrounds all over the US, swings that are meant to be twisted up and let go, so it spins and spins, giving the children a great thrill, many times riding a swing that their own parents twisted up and rode screaming. Those swings were meant to last. The cheaply made imported crap that towns are buying online, absolutely does not meet the standards for safety/durability that would be required for a swing to last through thousands of children's use. Take a look at the swing and especially the caliber of chain used. The screws were pressed into the plastic and the chains used were not commercial grade, but rather what you would buy for your own back yard swing, not meant to last through generations of play. The city should be held responsible for their playground equipment malfunctioning while the children were playing. The city is trying to scare the parents into taking responsibility so they will be relieved of the worry of a suit for negligence because their cheaply made playground equipment was faulty.
The parents seriously need to countersue. They need to know who the manufacturer is of the swing and chains used, to see their safety compliance certifications, any recalls and past compliance issues, and to have an independent safety expert inspect the swing and chains to ensure that they were free from MANUFACTURER DEFECTS, and that the materials used actually does meet the standards that we expect here in America.
That city spokesperson speaks out of both sides of their mouth with that BS about "that's not how we do things here," while doing exactly that. 🙄
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u/Stillwater-Scorp1381 11d ago
I recall doing this as a kid. Reading that children were criminally charged for having silly fun at a playground is ludicrous.
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u/blubaldnuglee 11d ago
I will choose to believe the quality of the chains were not up to standard. The city is lucky not to be countersued for the poor quality of their equipment.
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u/Riotgrl66 11d ago
They shouldn't be criminalizing these young kids for typical child behavior. I'm sure their juvenile probation department has more serious cases to worry about than this and it's a waste of court resources. Their residents pay taxes for departments like parks and rec to operate. Just fix the swing. There was no criminal intent here.
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u/durwood69 11d ago
It would have been cheaper for the city to just pay the $295 to replace the chains than to pursue these kids
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u/zippo138 11d ago
I love how the pig statement says they don’t operate that way and then immediately they explain how they did exactly that! We need to end qualified immunity and start handing out severe punishments to police officers and officials because the level of bullshit that is produced by the police of America is drowning us all and they will keep doing it as long as they know they will have zero consequences for their actions.
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u/GreenStoneRidge 11d ago
Playing twista twista on a public swing. Oh hell no not in my community. You take those shenanigans to your private swing set.
What's next, climbing up the slide? Lock them kids up for life.
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u/alex_dlc 10d ago
If the swing breaks by kids playing on it, it was not built or installed well enough
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u/Plethman60 10d ago
Just turn it around, sue them for defective swings that little kids can easily break. That is normal play for swings, I did that and every kid I knew that played on swings did that. How many thousands of dollars have been wasted for 300.00 on something that a kid playing with that they should never be able to break?
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u/serotonin_booster 10d ago
And apparently a big part of the city’s argument is “The mom of the two children charged originally told the armed officer at her home that she would pay. The parents of the other three children fell in line. Then the mom was sent an invoice that someone actually printed. On paper! And she still wouldn’t fall in line. We had no choice but to threaten to take away her children.”
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u/Nevyn_Cares 9d ago
So a swing at a playground broke whilst kids were playing on it, seems like the parents can sue the community for not maintaining the playground properly.
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u/Dominator295 8d ago
this is so stupid, every kid ever has twisted a swing, it is a thing to be expected. City's fault for not doing safety inspections on play equipment
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u/ryandetous 11d ago
This is so weird. As soon as an adult said something like "hey you, come here!", we'd already be cutting cross-lots at full tilt. Teach your kids to run, always run and never talk. Make the cops have to ID you by going through yearbooks, like god intended.
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u/Slackeee_ 11d ago
Teach your kids to run, always run and never talk
Don't do this if your kids aren't white. A trigger happy cop may fear for his life and shoot them in the back.
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u/BIGPLACE_ALPINEDRIVE 11d ago
If there's more to the story then lets here it. If not then fuck every single one of the people on the prosecution side.
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u/MasticatingElephant 11d ago
The thing that gets me about this is that the staff time the government is paying to chase this down is probably at least 1000 times the cost of the actual swing
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u/ultimatedelman 11d ago
this is one of the dumbest things i've ever seen. every adult in a position of authority that had anything to do with this incident should be relieved of their position immediately.
imagine charging a 10 and 12 year old girl with CRIMINAL CHARGES because they were playing on the playground and a piece of equipment broke. absolute fucking joke
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u/Inevitable_Owl3170 10d ago
Doesn’t the town have tax dollars it uses to maintain public parks and address broken equipment?
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u/donessendon 10d ago
damn thats how i thought you played on those swings. No othet instructions saying what "proper play is"... so GTFO with those charges!
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u/supertek 9d ago
Playing with a swing? That's a lawsuit. Riding your e-scooter through the playground underage and without a helmet? Totally fine.
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u/AdministrativeRub882 8d ago
As a Brit, I've never seen chains that lightweight on any public park over here, that looks designed to fail.
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u/Howhytzzerr 10d ago
So the judge found them not responsible, so what lawsuit can the county/city bring? Unless there was something posted that described the proper use of the swing, and established specific rules, the county/city doesn't have a leg to stand on.
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u/Tripple_T 10d ago
Civil trials have a lower standard of evidence than criminal.
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u/Howhytzzerr 10d ago
Agreed, but again, unless there is something posted that prescribes exactly how the device is intended to be used, and describes things not to be done, then even in a civil trial children aged 10 & 12 won't be found liable.
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u/MSCOTTGARAND 10d ago
i was in my 30s still twisting the chain and spinning with my kids on the playground. not a single chain snapped.
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u/RhythmTimeDivision 10d ago
Q: How did you determine there was intent to damage the swing?
Officer: By not using the swing as a swing and using it as a, quote, "merry-go-round"
No question where the people who eventually move to strict HOA's come from.
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u/ownleechild 10d ago
Are there clearly posted instructions on playground equipment use? Is an adult required to be present, especially since children may not read? The authorities stand no chance in court if they would be so foolish, but it’s terrible to put the family through this.
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u/rageofa1000suns 10d ago
If a swing can't withstand a bit of twisting then it was clearly going to fail regardless of how it was used. What a bunch of clowns...
I would imagine they would have had to show the courts that the swing was in good condition through regular inspections and that using the swing the wrong way was the thing which caused the damage.
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u/Popular_Prescription 9d ago
That swing is like 60-120 bucks…. I have one on my property. What petty pieces of shit.
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u/sksauter 11d ago
The fuck is wrong with people. I'd bet $100 whoever pressed those charges has never set foot on a playground in their life.
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u/Intrepid-Law-7728 11d ago
I haven't even watched the video and I'm mad.
The playground by me often had more swings on the ground than attached. Kids loved spinning in circles which wore the chains down horribly. Even when they added rubber padding to the chains, it didn't hold.
And boomers wonder why kids don't play outside anymore. Let kids be kids!!
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u/LittlehouseonTHELAND 11d ago
I’m not surprised this is coming from a small town like 20 minutes outside of Pittsburgh, PA. The cops and the little towns in that region are some of the most corrupt and just plain strange areas in the country, in my experience.
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u/SmellySweatsocks 11d ago
This is nuts. I remember doing the same thing on a park swing as a kid. It’s a bad design.
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u/StarDustLuna3D 10d ago
I mean, I don't think it's too much to ask kids to "pay" to repair things they break. That's just basic accountability. And by "pay" I mean doing some basic chore at the park or selling lemonade to make 5-10 bucks for it.
But criminal charges? Ffs it's a swing. Just fix it. I thought our taxes were supposed to paying for this stuff anyway.
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u/Low-Instruction-8132 10d ago
This is why small town cops should be made to serve in high crime areas for a period of time every year so they don't lose touch with how lucky they are to work in a town with NO crime
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u/PurpleSailor 10d ago
Never give up, never surrender! Don't settle, take this nonsense all the way through court. Those kids were doing something every other kid on the face of this planet has done with a swing, try to make their friend dizzy. It's an age old rite of passage that should not be messed with. Frankly I'd sue the town for improper maintenance of their playground equipment.
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u/Rolandscythe 10d ago
The dumbest part is I guarantee a dozen other kids did the exact same thing those girls did just that very day, they just happened to be the ones who were unlucky enough for the old and probably rusted chains to finally give out on.
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u/Go_Gators_4Ever 10d ago
Twisting the swing has always been one of the standard ways to play on the swings etc.
The manufacturer should test their products to ensure they can survive that act.
I'm 65 and remember being 10 and we all used to perform the twist and spin in the swings.
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u/gopherphart 10d ago
That was not the kids’ fault the swing broke. Those chains are made of chinesium.
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u/eazypeazy303 9d ago
What they REALLY need to be investigating is that cheap ass playground equipment! How are you gonna tell me those were quality materials that a 10 year old girl broke!?
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u/Epstiendidntkillself 10d ago
Counter sue them for maintaining an attractive nuisance. Ask for a million, your kids could have been injured.
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u/Boudicca- 10d ago
Are they Serious?!! Kids have been “Twisting the chain” since back in MY Day & I’m 61yrs old.
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u/sweetica 11d ago
Springdale seems like an evil place to live and play. I would move my self and children out of this place to a state that is not moronic. This whole trial seems heavy handed especially knowing men walk around free even though their names appear in the Epstein files repeatedly. Maybe the DOJ is just lining up some more minors for the pedophile in chief to molest.
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u/Ok-Boysenberry-2955 11d ago
$200. The swing and chains cost $200, tops.
You all should be way more outraged over this.
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u/Eagle_Fang135 11d ago
Sounds like the city covering up buying cheap equipment and spent the money on other things. Things like that should be rated well above normal use. Heck adults go and do this with the swings. And that is normal use (well IMO).
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u/WeirdSysAdmin 11d ago
Jfc fix the swing for $20 in chain or whatever it is out of maintenance budget and move on it’s not that deep even as presented by the town. If it broke from them twisting it, it was probably worn or fatigued already. This is a way kids have been playing with swings long before I was born.
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u/asanders9733 10d ago
I don’t think the kids should be charged but that was a baby swing. We have one at our park. I think that’s the reason they feel the kids were in the wrong.
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u/2EscapedCapybaras 10d ago
If it was that easy to break it now, it would be broken in the near future anyway.
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u/carbon_space 9d ago
Wow. What’s the standard police response time for an emergency in Springdale Borough? Just curious.
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u/romcomtom2 9d ago
Sounds like retaliation I bet the people pushing that lawsuit are using this as a revenge tour on the Mom for some reason.
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u/Tomburgerstand 11d ago
They should've just fucked children like REDACTED. They'd be enjoying DOJ protection instead of criminal charges. Stupid fucking kids, amirite?!
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u/ThingsTrebekSucks 10d ago
This is particularly relevant because the Borough's prominently posted "Play Smart Rules" expressly instruct park users: "Do not twist chains."
Fucking what? This is a hallmark of playground fun. We used to twist it til you virtually had to lay down or fold yourself over. Shit was fun. Only busted my head open once....except it had nothing to do with twisting a swing...
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u/pwhitt4654 10d ago
As a former child I contest the idea that the children were not using the swing properly.
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u/LadyDayinDC 11d ago
She's gonna spend more money on court fees and lawyers than the swing cost to fix.
→ More replies (1)
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u/Cananbaum 10d ago
And in the same breath I bet these assholes would ask, “Why don’t kids play outside anymore?!”
Maybe because we’re now suing children… for being children.
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u/lntenseLlama 10d ago
“criminal mischief” should not exist. It purley exists now for dipshit cops to throw at you when they have zero real basis with charging anything.
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u/Oddman80 10d ago
sounds like Springdale Parks & Rec skimped out on the playground equipment - using substandard chains and/or hardware. The swing should not break as a result of the torque applied by 3 elementary school children.
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u/cinderparty 10d ago
This is absolutely ridiculous. They charged a 10 year old for a swing breaking…
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u/Excellent-Attitude38 9d ago
😂 the kids at the end in the back were clearly trying to do a cat walk strut 💃🏼
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