Even obvious toy “guns” like Nerf guns can put innocent children in the hands of the police state in today’s paranoid society.
Now, a family from Colorado is now sharing their experience in the hope that this madness will be exposed and children can, eventually, resume being children. The 10-year-old son of the Carson family was taken into custody, placed in handcuffs, and charged with Felony Menacing, a Class 5 felony, for using a Nerf bow and arrow.
Gavin Carpenter is portraying a character from the well-known online video game “Fortnite,” together with his friend, they were using a Nerf crossbow and a toy rifle while playing outside, both plaything weapons were covered in a bright orange design, and they were broken because they couldn’t fire Nerf projectiles.
Stock image (Photo Credit: Screenshot)
The boys used their imagination, though, and play-shot at five to ten passing cars on the street before “shooting” at a truck. Things started to change at that point when the driver slammed on the brakes, making the tires screech. Stefanie Carpenter, Gavin’s mom explained in a Facebook post, according to Stefanie, Gavin was arrested, along with his friend, who was also just 10 years old.
In a statement to FOX 21, Gavin said,“The toy bow was an orange Nerf bow. It didn’t work. Nothing could shoot out of it. Nothing would come out of it. The weapon, well toy I had, had an orange tip. It was also broken and couldn’t shoot anything out of it.”
The man was captured on a doorbell cam, yelling at the boys.
Gavin’s use of the Nerf toy couldn’t have been harmful to anyone or anything, even if it was a working toy. The two kids were playing with it, though, and a devoted subject of the crown felt compelled to involve the police state.
“He slammed his breaks and started reversing as fast as he could,”Gavin said.“He came up and started getting very heated and was very mad. I was at the time, very scared.”
The young kids fled into the friend’s grandparent’s house when the irate man started screaming at them because he scared them. The family’s doorbell camera captured the man verbally approaching Gavin’s parents after that.
The terrified person then dialed 911 to report two young children who were using a Nerf bow and arrow.
The El Paso County Sheriff’s deputies reportedly arrived and detained both Gavin and his friend. He was placed in handcuffs and brought to the Colorado Springs Police Division for mug shots and fingerprinting.
“They came back over, told me my rights, and told me what was going to happen. They put handcuffs on me, and I got into the car,” Gavin said,“I told them I had no intention to have scared them or have any threat to their life.”
Stefanie Carpenter snapped a photo as her son Gavin was taken to the Colorado Springs police headquarters in handcuffs.
This young child was imprisoned for several hours before being released at 10:30 p.m. Stefanie Carpenter and her husband Chris followed the police to the station; they claimed that the menacing charge, which is a class five felony, was being aggressively pursued by the 4th Judicial District Attorney’s office. Gavin’s family immediately hired an attorney to help get the charge dropped, but the DA refused and fought to permanently scar this little boy’s life forever because he pointed a Nerf bow and arrow at cars.
Gavin was required as part of the program to complete community service and submit an essay along with his grades for judicial review. His family had cause to rejoice when, more than seven months later, his felony record was finally sealed. Gavin’s record was cleared, and he had gained important knowledge.
“It was just a hard no, that the district attorney wasn’t going to throw this out,” Chris recalled.“That is when we moved into the diversion program.”
“He definitely admits that he pointed that weapon at cars, multiple cars, not just the one that stopped, and he understands that’s wrong,” Christopher added.
“I can’t live in a state where my kids can’t be kids and play outside without being scared of being arrested,” Stefanie Carpenter stated saying that her family was eagerly anticipating moving when her husband, a lieutenant colonel in the Army, is transferred to a new post.
