In the view of school officials, the boy "inhaled heavily," according to Mr. Ortiz, who said his son sniffed the cleanser "because it smelled good."
Yes folks, this young boy took a whiff of the alcohol. In typical fashion, somebody over-reacted and got the police involved. Somewhere along the line, nobody had the presence of mind to step back and say that maybe this was just a kid fooling around.
Nope, the Lewisville Police wrongly applied a good law meant to protect children from inhaling paint and other substances to get high, and charged the youth with delinquency. The child had to serve an in-school suspension, and was fingerprinted and photographed.
The Dallas Morning News ran this quote from Lewisville Assistant Police Chief Joni Eddy:
Joni Eddy, assistant police chief in Lewisville, said Friday that hand sanitizer has become a popular inhalant. "That is the latest thing to huff," she said.
She said officers felt they were acting properly when they pursued the case against Mr. Ortiz's son under a complex state statute governing volatile chemicals that could be abused.
"The charge said he was using the product other than its intended use," she said. "Huffing hand sanitizer is certainly using it for something other than its intended use."
This was not backed up by the National Institute on Drug Abuse:
Shirley Simson, a spokeswoman for the National Institute on Drug Abuse in Washington, said in an e-mail that the agency had no data about hand sanitizers being abused as inhalants. She noted, however, that there have been news reports of some people drinking hand sanitizers for their alcohol content.
Inhaling ethyl alcohol (drinking alcohol) on purpose, would be in my opinion a stupid and possibly intoxicating thing. I think I've actually heard about college kids abusing drinking alcohol by vaporizing it. I've never seen it.
The good news is that the charges were dropped by the DA's office here in Denton County. The bad news is that we seem to have some pretty screwed up priorities in our school system and with our police department. Not to say that either of them are doing a bad job, but this particular case doesn't cast them in a good light. They were willing to ruin this young man's future over something simple and probably thoughtless. It shows an extreme and callous lack of discretion.
Now, am I saying that school and police officials shouldn't take notice and say something about alcohol, drugs, and inhalants? No, I'm not saying that. I've witnessed people ruin their lives with these things. But I've also witnessed lives ruined by having a criminal record over some stupid things. The "zero-tolerance" culture that has come into play in the last 20 years is the direct result of people being afraid to use discretion. Afraid to be judged as unfair for giving someone an occasional second chance, while denying it to someone less deserving, they tie their own hands.
I don't know exactly what went on in that classroom. I don't know what role the school played and what role the officers played, or to what extent they felt their hands were tied. I don't leave out the possibility that I've missed some facts here. It's 12:45 am as I write this, and I can't exactly call people at this hour. So, I don't want to give the impression that I necessarily blame LPD or LISD. Rather, I think this is indicative of a larger problem with our society.
I certainly hope that the teachers and staff at this young man's school have taken the opportunity to use this incident as an opportunity to explain to these children just how dangerous it can be to purposefully huff chemicals to get high.
Kids, I know it's hard to understand why the "safe" methods for getting high are legal only to adults, and you're stuck with brain-cell-killing paint. I don't really have an answer for you, but I'll see if I can't get some smarter folks than me to comment.
Update: I've contacted Asst. Chief Joni Eddy for comment and clarification, but have yet to hear back.
Joni Eddy, assistant police chief in Lewisville, said Friday during a television interview with WFAA-TV, Channel 8 in Dallas, that this is "exactly the same as if the kid was in front of the class drinking alcohol or exactly the same as if the kid was in front of the class smoking a joint." Price notes that both of these acts are specifically against the law in Texas, whereas using or sniffing a hand-sanitizer is not. There are no known cases of anyone becoming intoxicated from the inhaling of alcohol fumes from a hand sanitizer. The only effects from doing this in large quantities are irritated eyes and/or a headache.
...
"The troubling aspect of this case is that this matter was reviewed by a supervisor at the Lewisville Police Department, and later reviewed by the Denton County District Attorney's office. It was then assigned for prosecution, a 'Petition of Delinquent Conduct" suit was drafted and personally served against the juvenile and his father on January 22, 2008". Price further stated, "It was only after the threat of this matter becoming public that it was ultimately dismissed. I contacted Ms. Jamie Beck of the Denton County District Attorney's Office and told her I didn't think a law had been violated," Mr. Price said. "She made the appropriate decision without a lot of delay."
Chief Eddy has yet to respond to WhosPlayin's inquiry into what seems like a career-limiting move.
One has to wonder how often other teens in Lewisville and throughout Denton County have been railroaded with frivolous charges like this.
Parents in Denton County, you may want to put Mr. Price's phone number in your speed dial: 877-651-1121
Update #3: I talked to an LISD elementary school principal this week who was not aware of the incident at Killian. She told me the school district had a policy in place that students were not to be allowed unsupervised access to hand sanitizer. Apparently, she says, there have been some students caught licking the substance from their hands (in elementary school). She wasn't aware of any "huffing" attempts with it, and didn't know if this was something the children did to try to get high. I suppose it could be like eating paste...
While I agree that this is a ridiculous circumstance, I think that the press is overreacting just as much as the police and school. The school imposed an in-school suspension which, for those of you that don't know, is more like a couple days' break from class without effecting your grade. It's true the police should never have been involved, but that's why the charges were dropped. People get arrested or pulled over for things they didn't do everyday, I can't understand why this one particular oversight comes as such a surprise. A police officer made some rash comment about the degree of severity at hand. Cops are not celebrities and are likely not trained to speak to the press. It's likely most anyone will say what they can to protect the integrity of what they do for a living; if there wasn't any press coverage the comment would probably have never been made. The charges would have been dropped for the same lack of criminal activity, and the in-school suspension would have been served just the same for something like "insubordination". If this incident was relatively bad enough to warrant exposure nationwide, it must have been a great day for the rest of the country. The truth is that this incident wasn't nearly the circus act it's been turned into and it has few, if any, repercussions on the rest of us.
I work as a substance abuse counselor and furthermore work with adolescents. This whole thing is blown out of proportion. Even if the kid was trying to get high, he failed at it miserably by sniffing hand cleaner. The school should have handled this without police involvement. No one's safety was being threatened, including the student.
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Anonymous
Posted: 2009/1/30 9:28 Updated: 2009/1/30 12:13
Re: Update #3: Lewisville Police Charge Teen With "H...
Yes, this incident was as crazy as it appears. I am the attorney who represented this juvenile. I have since had other similar incidents with other school districts attempting to prosecute kids for equally bizarre "crimes". The zero-tolerance of some Texas police departments and local school districts never ceases to surprise or amaze me. Please contact me if you ever have any issues like this in the future.
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