A headline in the Northwest Herald: "Man accused of cruising bus stop"
This is a new one for me. Since when is it illegal to drive by a school bus stop? Does every commuter now have to worry about driving by a school bus stop every day on his or her way to work?
A McHenry man was arrested after he apparently drove by a Wonder Lake-area school bus stop on three different days. A McHenry West High School female student reported to a school official that a man had driven by her bus stop that morning (and other mornings) and this was reported to the McHenry County Sheriff's Department. Now, maybe he slowed down and ogled the girl. Or maybe he did something else that unsettled the girl. Or maybe he was just driving by on the way to work.
Deputies stopped the man on Friday morning, presumably after spotting his expired registration (license plate), according to the news account. That would have given them probable cause to stop him, but certainly just driving by a school bus stop would not have. Or did they pull him over before they realized his registration was expired?
After stopping him, they discovered he was driving on a suspended driver's license and that he was subject to the Sex Offender Registry requirements for reporting a change of address. The man, 41 now, was convicted eight years ago in Lake County of a sex-related crime.
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11 comments:
What point are you trying to make with this post?
So far as I know, it is not unlawful to "cruise bus stops".
If this was my daughter and she reported something that "unsettled" her, I would praise her instincts! It sounds to me that the police were following up on this and took her seriously. It turns out he was guilty of something-just not what they originally were investigating. If they hadn't followed up, you would be complaining about that. I will take the side of the girl/police in this post.
I do not question the girl's reporting something suspicious. That was exactly the right thing to do, although she could have reported it directly to the MCSD. Probably better the way she did it - to inform the school, which would carry more weight than an individual's calling.
And I don't question the arrest for violations of the law.
What I do question is the headline. Is there a law against "cruising a bus stop"?
Kay's Kradle,
If the sheriff's department arrested him on those charges good for them. Now I have a question for you, since he can't drive by in his car because of the suspended license, can he ride by the bus on his bike or for that matter walk by? Let us assume for the moment that this guys a "sex offender" required to register, does that make him some sort of sex crazed monster ready to pounce on the next unsuspecting and innocent victim? Sorry but this law, while requiring these people to register also include something that is much less monstrous than that. Suppose that a young man (or for that matter young girl) is 18 or over and has sex with his/her girlfriend/boyfriend who is 17 years 364 days old they could be charged as a sex offender and required to register forever the same as the serial rapist would and would be subject to the same penalty for not registering. I know I will be in the minority when I say this but I will anyway, this registration law is just plain wrong. If someone is convicted of a crime and serves their punishment it should end there. I can think of many other criminals, I.E. drug dealers, who are more likely to effect kids than sex offenders but no registration is required of them. The media has made monsters out of everyone with the label sex offender (including my extremee example above) and law makers jumped on the bandwagon to score points with voters. What is next, registered DUI offenders?
Mike, you are right on the money with your comment. I agree with you.
If a person convicted of a sex crime has served his sentence, perhaps it should not be forgotten but it shouldn't be held over his head.
The registration rules are insanely harsh. In the example you gave, should one of them (the adult) have to register for TEN years? Or for LIFE? No!
At the same time, those who are subject to registration, know it and know they should comply. The cops don't give them any breathing room.
Ok, so I'll engage once more.
Mike, I have to assume you've addressed this post to me even though you wrote Kay's Kradle. In answer to your question:
1. "He" can walk by, ride by on a bike, skip-to-my-lou, hop on one leg or do somersaults past the bus stop. If while doing so it causes a citizen to feel "unsettled", then the citizen has the right to report this. Each person in the story has rights.
Then you launch into a hypothetical scenario regarding sex offenders. I never mentioned sex offenders in my answer to Gus. Nor did I imply the driver of the car was a sex offender.
wth?
No one said that you did mention the sex offender status. It was however iN gus's original post and I simply commented on that as well. Take a vallium and calm down.
I prefer Xanax. But thanks for your concern.
I almost said the same thing to you after your "sex offender" post.
Perhaps if you would separate your different subjects into distinct paragraphs, there wouldn't be the confusion that I experienced.
Wait.....the Xanax is kicking in.....peace.
p.s. Gus, this is too much fun. I gotta stop.
Well if you prefer Xanax by all means use it. You seem to need it.
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