Was there a "bad kid" in your neighborhood?

[Llama Llogophile]

Where I grew up there was one kid who was known as the bad boy. He was a little crazy, reckless, got into trouble. Things like setting small fires or going around with "weapons" like throwing stars and nunchucks.

He was a little scary and made me uneasy at times, but I also found him interesting and we were friends. I was always afraid of getting in trouble, but he was the only person who could invariably get me to go along with his risky behaviors. More than once I thought we were going to get in big trouble with our parents or even the police.

I always sensed something strange at his house. Although his parents did well and were active in the community (his mother was president of the PTA for years), there was this sort of Addams family vibe. Again, this added to the intrigue.

After high school I only ran into him twice - both times at bars and he was falling down drunk. Not long ago I found out he committed suicide in his early 20's.

So I'm wondering if other people had a person like this in their neighborhood growing up, and what happened to them later on.

[Nava]

The closest thing was Cuco, who had a "tough boy" reputation in school (he played defense in footie and was/is built like a truck), but not among his neighbors. His BFFs (one of whom was my youngest brother) used to kid him about "dude, if all those people who are scared of you ever find out you love to read and build puzzles..." "bastards, you won't!"

[Mr. Excellent]

Oh, yes. Corey - my neighbor, maybe a couple years older. I went.over to his house once with another boy to invite him for flashlight tag; dude ended up chasing me around his basement with a lighter. Scarey kid; it's been at least fifteen years, and I still hate him a bit for that.

[FairyChatMom]

Jimmy next door stabbed my brother in the head with a nutpick. He used to pee in the back yard and tear heads off baby dolls.

His family moved away, and 10 or 12 years later, they were back in the area for a visit. Jimmy had grown into an amazingly polite and good looking guy. So I guess he just had a "bad kid" phase.

[MegaBee]

Charlie Batch was kind of bad. He almost ran my mother over with his bike once. He's a quarterback for the Steelers now.

[Joey P]

There was one guy, he wasn't bad, he was just a little, well, off. There were a few families on the block that I grew up on that all had similar aged kids. About 5-12 in our 'hey day' so to speak. We spent all day running up and down the block, playing in each others back yards, riding our bikes, eating dinner together. All the parents were best friends (and still are to this day) etc. Then there was one older kid. He was probably about 18 or so that just sort of showed up from time to time. One of the brothers in this group strayed a bit older so those two usually stayed closer. If this guy wasn't hanging out with us, he was usually just hanging out on his front porch across the street from us. We never really thought anything of him. He was a bit strange, but he was quiet and seemed nice enough.

Fast forward to a few years ago. We've all since moved off the block (only a few blocks away) but he still lives there with his parents and my mom gets a call out of the blue from someone looking to move onto the block asking about the area. She can't speak highly enough about it and how happy she was to raise four kids on it. Even though the other kids are gone, a lot of the same people do still live there. "But what about the pedophile, were you okay raising kids around the pedophile?"
Turns out at some point after we left, he get arrested for having child porn on his computer. He had his computer confiscated and he's no longer allowed to leave his house...that includes hanging out on his front porch. IIRC, she did tell the person that (at least at the time we were there) he seemed nice enough and didn't seem to pose a threat.

Other then that, our neighborhood didn't really have a bad guy. My high school had a couple, no one I knew outside of school.

[overlyverbose]

Oh, yes. I can't remember his name, but he lived a couple of houses down the street. He made all of us nervous. One day my mom gave their family our pet parakeet. We all hated that damn bird and I have no idea why we got one (we probably begged her for it then conveniently forgot when we realized how annoying it was). Anyway, one day his mom called to tell mine that he had apparently stabbed it through the chest with a flag pole and killed it. He was the type of kid who tortured small animals. I hated him. He creeped me out to no end.

There was one other kid in second or third grade who showed up at the ditch where we used to collect snails with a small hunting knife because I wouldn't kiss him on the play ground. When I still refused to kiss him, he gave me a black eye. When we told my friend's brother, he went back to the ditch with a shotgun, but Antoine was gone. He was from the neighborhood, but wasn't a repeat offender like the other kid.

[chela]

oh yeah, won't name names, allen, donny, lester.
some kids had seriously shitty situations at home, a lot of badness was hidden but came out on the streets

[shiftless]

Eugene. He wasn't that bad. Not as bad as his two (or was it three) older brothers who went to prison but he was the one that was my age, so I hung around with him all the time. Trashy mouth, lips always chapped and snot constantly running down his lip, he was strangely compeled to do the opposite of what any adult told him to do. I learned a lot from Eugene, a lot of stuff my parents didn't like. I think he was a major reason we moved away when I was 15.

[Zeldar]

Absolutely! In each neighborhood I lived in as a kid and even in this one now (although the kid is an adult with some serious issues).

This latest one has had cops at his place at least half a dozen times this past week or so. They get out, go inside, scout out the yard, cruise the street for several hours. No telling what line the guy is feeding them.

Those neighborhood "bad seed" types from childhood were tame next to this guy.

ETA: BTW: the thread I started lately about "murdered friends, etc." included the worst of the lot from my choldhood. Got hisself kilt! :)

[Jophiel]

There was a kid and his brother down the block who was a few years older than me and their family was the sort who always had cars in various states of disrepair in the driveway, playing loud music, etc. Not that working on cars is bad, just that there was a definite dissonance between them and the rest of the neighborhood. They built plywood forts in the woods behind our houses and decorated them with Playboy pictures and flattened beer cans, spray painted "DISCO SUCKS" on things, etc. They also had the prerequisite collection of ninja stars and nunchucks.

I will say that I never remember them threatening me or making me uncomfortable aside from knowing people disapproved of them. I think they shifted back and forth between thinking it was cool to impress us with their weapons and nudie pics and thinking we weren't worth the time to talk to.

[PandaBear77]

We had 2 - they were brothers.

One turned into a human, particularly after losing his arm. He was high as a kite in a car with a friend, had his arm sticking out the window, a semi drove past and boom - no more arm.

The other one (who was the younger brother) is still a shit, in and out of jail a lot. Last I heard, anyway.

[Chefguy]

Greg lived across the alley from me with his parents and two brothers. The family was of Italian descent, with all the best genes of that ethnic group: classic handsomeness and naturally athletic physique. Unfortunately, the boys all had a propensity towards being hoodlums. The oldest rescued himself by joining the Coast Guard at a young age, and the next one went on to parts unknown after developing a high school reputation as a bad-ass and a ladies man.

Greg, being the youngest, emulated his brothers. Naturally big and muscular, and extremely handsome, he began having sex as early as the 6th grade, and began brawling not long after that. By high school, he had a well-earned and fearsome reputation as nobody to fuck with, and every physical encounter with him ended with the other guy being beaten to a pulp. I never had a run-in with him, since our parents were friends, but he always had a wild look about him, so I stayed clear.

Then, when he was sixteen, he and some others tried to crash a booze party being held for underage teens by a guy in his 20s. The guy refused to let Greg in and held a gun up to the window. This enraged Greg, who smashed the door open. He was shot dead on the spot. It was a shocking incident in our town, and a tragedy for his family.

[Zeldar]

I'm halfway tempted to start yet another spinoff thread about "young kids smoking" but since I have started a bunch of threads lately I'll just add it on here and hope somebody else will decide to start another thread on the subject.

A small-time grocery near where I used to live was operated (probably owned, too) by a family that were, to put it mildly, not overly concerned with their health. They not just allowed, but encouraged a young child, 4 or 5, to smoke regularly for the "amusement" of their customers.

Put me off my food!

Not so much a "bad kid" as some "bad parents" if you ask me.

[Jenaroph]

There was a kid in high school who was a real little shit. Obnoxious as heck in school, and outside of school he'd steal shit, and rip hood ornaments off of expensive cars; one time he brought in a bagful to show off. A few years after graduation I heard he and some buddies got arrested for felony-level burglary and larceny; apparently they were all trying to point fingers at each other, IIRC they all got busted. He may still be in prison. Not that I give him much day-to-day thought.

[ZipperJJ]

Holy shit I just realized that most of the kids from my neighborhood are delinquents. And I revere the neighborhood so much I bought a house here!

Oh well. For the most part they were harmless delinquents.

[Rachellelogram]

Yeah. There was a pyromanic animal torturer in my neighborhood growing up. He was a couple years younger than me. He got into worse and worse trouble the older he got, and ended up committing suicide at age 18 after joining the military. I think it was during Basic or immediately after. As far as I'm concerned, it was one of the best possible outcomes, at least for the people around him. I always figured he'd end up a violent thief and/or murderer before age 30.

It was pretty messed up because his brother (my age) was a really nice, cool guy. We played outside together as little kids and had some classes together in high school. We weren't best friends or anything, but we got along. His little brother seemed like a total genetic aberration.

[Kozmik]

Jimmy next door stabbed my brother in the head with a nutpick. He used to pee in the back yard and tear heads off baby dolls.Woah. A real-life Sid.

[tdn]

The first kid my mind went to is Kevin. I always hated him. He wasn't a Sid, but he was a bit of a bully and a brat. The rest of his family is great.

After all of these years I saw him just a few years ago. We share a couple of nieces, and one of them was getting married. I guess I'll see him again in October, as our other niece is getting married.

[Little Nemo]

My cousin Dave. He was the instigator in our crowd. If we were doing something stupid and vaguely criminal, it was Dave's idea. (I'm not excusing our behavior. We were willingly following Dave.)

The irony was that my aunt and uncle finally pulled Dave out of school and sent him to a private school because they wanted to separate their son from the bad crowd he was hanging out with. And once Dave was gone, we stopped being a bad crowd.

[gwendee]

Our neighborhood included a nice assortment of kids ranging from goody-two-shoeses to lowdown mean kids. And yes, I believe the worst of the worst suffered from bad parenting rather than inherent badness. That said, I just googled the name that popped into my mind as the embodiment of "bad kid" in my neighborhood (my age - other grades had their own baddies)

That got me to the New York State Department of Criminal Justice page - he's currently incarcerated. Six years into a 14 year sentence for aggravated sexual assault.

[Zeldar]

It just occurred to me to ask a side question: Did any of your high school yearbooks have a "Most Likely To Wind Up In Prison" couple?

Or did the "Class Prophecy" include names of ne'er-do-wells destined for such ignominy?

I do recall a notice for one of the reunions I didn't attend some years ago that had an addendum for all the folks in my class who were dead for whatever reason. In some cases the reason they were dead was left blank and it was up to you to assume what you would. I assumed most of them were victims of foul play.

[ecoaster]

The bully in my middle school had a reputation for tormenting other kids and doing sexually devious things....

I now live in his neighborhood. One day I saw a girl (turned out to be his sister) who was developmentally disabled being helped into a van outside of his house, and in that instance it all made sense to me............

[PoorYorick]

There was a kid who was a couple of years older than me who was the reason I quit riding the school bus. He'd often pick one kid at random on the bus and torment the shit out of him. Since he had the reputation of being just a little crazy, you never fought back. He blew his head off with a shotgun his senior year. I never did hear what the precipitating event was.

[ftg]

There was a family of them: 3 boys. (The girl wasn't much of a problem.)

Causing fights, fires, explosions, thefts, etc.

Their father was a school principal and for a long time couldn't believe his little angels could do any wrong. Made the minister's kids look like saints.

They all grew up to be total losers. No college educations, of course, barely employable.

There's a lesson in there somewhere.

[Typo Negative]

Me and all my friends.

[Trinopus]

There was a family of them: 3 boys. . . .

Causing fights, fires, explosions, thefts, etc. . . .

Jeepers; you posted my post! We had a family like that. Ugly little clan of thugs.

[chizzuk]

There was a kid in our neighborhood about my younger brother's age who was a bit "off." My brother refused to hang out with him because the kid creeped him out (and given the other types my brother has chosen to hang out with on occasion, that's really saying something). He just seemed to be constantly angry and slightly detached from reality. He got pulled out of the regular high school and sent to an alternative program. Despite that, he managed to get into the Marines right after high school graduation, at least for a little while.

6 months later, he murdered his father in a patch of woods near our house. Stabbed him 30+ times. First he claimed they were attacked by MS-13 gang members or something, then he claimed that subliminal voices on TV told him to do it. He was diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia and tried to cop an insanity plea, but the court found that he did know right from wrong when he committed the act, so the defense failed. He's doing a life sentence now, although he's currently locked up in a mental hospital.

My brother didn't seem at all surprised at the news.

[Gagundathar]

Wow! The 'bad kid' in my neighborhood wasn't anywhere near as over-the-top as some examples presented here. If he had been, I do believe my maternal-unit would have chained me up in my room. As it was, Brian was the kid who would get all the other kids to soap people's windows at Halloween. He would stay home and 'supervise'. I think he got the idea from his father who was, if I remember correctly, a general contractor. Pretty generic small-town hijinks. No firearms or knives were involved. Smuggled Playboys, check. Tree forts, check. Underaged sexual encounters, maybe but I wasn't privy to those details.

Dang. I sure was a square little Poindexter, wasn't I?

[ralph124c]

I do remember one such little angel. By high school, he was using and dealing drugs. He eventually joined the Hell's Angels, and began a career of petty crime.
He died at age 38-from the effects of too much booze and drugs.

[caveman]

Justin lived on the next street over, the "bad side" of our itty-bitty city. Freckled and always a bit funny smelling, he was several years older than the kids in my cohort (although not remotely as far ahead in school as that would seem to suggest), but was friendly with Lee, whose house bordered ours to the rear and fronted on Justin's street. Justin had the customary fascination with violence, weapons and gore, but backed it up with actual weapons, real fights and disturbingly detailed accounts of canine internal anatomy gleaned from patching up or disposing of the members of his family's pack of assorted mutts after their internal squabbles. Mom banned him from the house and discouraged my me and my siblings from playing with him (not that we relished having contact with the junior psychopath). He wasn't an issue for long, though, as he had to move away following his father's imprisonment for having a rather brazenly undisguised backyard marijuana patch.

[An Gadaí]

Yeah there was one in my neighbourhood. He was the local hard lad and bully. I don't ever recall him bullying me much but I was always a little afraid of him as were most of the younger kids around the estate. I ended up writing a song loosely based on him. In later years he seemed to mellow out a bit but then he'd often try to beg money off me. I gave him a few bucks one time. He died of a heroin overdose at age 32.

[InsomniaMama]

The bully in my middle school had a reputation for tormenting other kids and doing sexually devious things....

I now live in his neighborhood. One day I saw a girl (turned out to be his sister) who was developmentally disabled being helped into a van outside of his house, and in that instance it all made sense to me............

How so? Please clarify.

[applebetty]

The two boys next door we played with were a little strange, but they were about our ages. I remember Mom calling them "squirrely". Turns out a few years after we moved away they were 14 and 16, went hunting with their dad and came back without him. Apparently they shot him and left him in a shallow grave, a bear dug him up and someone else found him.

No, I didn't write them in prison.

[mbh]

There was a kid on my street. He liked to break thingsjust because they were there. He liked to disobey any authority figure that told him not to do something, and break any rule he could get away with.

He died before he was thirty, under mysterious circumstances. Police opined that his death was probably drug related.

He had two cousins, each of whom was the bad kid in their neighborhoods. Both of them died before thirty , of drug overdoses.

[AuntiePam]

One of my good friends from high school married a neighborhood bad boy. I wouldn't have known he was a bad boy, except that while reminiscing at a reunion, I mentioned an incident when my folks came home from work and found raw chicken innards stuffed in a chair (in the living room). He smiled and said "I know who did that." I asked him if he had a problem with my parents and he said no, he liked my parents just fine, but kids just do stupid shit sometimes. Joe's just fine now, couldn't ask for a nicer guy or a better friend.

Two of my boys were mischief-makers hellions -- sand in a car gas tank, window broken with a slingshot, glue in school door locks, dynamite on the 4th of July -- but AFAIK no issues with other kids or small animals. All of this before junior high, and none of it continued. They're fine now too. I totally believe it when I read that the part of our brain that controls judgment isn't fully formed until the early 20's.

[lost4life]

It would be easier to define the nice kids where I grew up. The thing is, because they were my friends, I didn't realize how bad they were until I got older. Some of it was comically bad.
Alas, most of them are currently dead.

[Toxylon]

The bad kid in our neighborhood was tall and strong for his age, blonde and handsome, yet somehow undeveloped socially. He would suddenly grab and overpower someone half his size out of the blue. I guess it was mostly stuff like that that made him scary and strange. He lived close to me and I visited his apartment on occasion, always intrigued and a bit frightened, the timid bookworm that I was. He was a lousy student yet very interested in RPG's (table versions back in the mid-80's), fantasy and movies. Basically a Dolph Lundgren-style hulking, menacing, dashing pre-teen nerd with learning disabilities and whatnot.

Growing up in a city, me and most of my friends didn't have any inkling about guns, hunting etc., although we watched Knight Rider, Streethawk and McGyver and played with toy guns all the time. Once, visiting Dolph Jr., I noticed a cool toy rifle hanging on the wall. Without thinking further, I grabbed it, pointed it at Dolph's face (he was sitting next to me) and said something like: "Say your prayers, punk". Just as I was literally squeezing the trigger, Dolph looked up, grabbed the barrel, frightened, and twisted it away.

Turned out the 'toy rifle' was a cocked and loaded airgun. Dolph and his bigger, badder brother would shoot seagulls out the city apartment bedroom window with it. I reckon a point blank shot to the face (eye, neck etc.) would've messed Dolph bad, possibly blinding or even killing him. I was a fraction of a second away from messing up my future, as well. As Dolph proceeded to bury the shot into a stack of comic books, I learned a lesson, utterly baffled that someone would have a real killing weapon at ready in his bedroom wall at age ten (he was two years older than me, yet at the same class level).

I have no idea what became of Dolph Jr. Now I'm a bit curious.

[UntouchedTakeaway]

Yes. Ronnie Heath - I grew up 3 blocks from him. Went to kindergarten, elementary, junior and part of senior high school with him.

http://www.dc.state.fl.us/ActiveInmates/detail.asp?Bookmark=1&From=list&SessionID=839796770

http://murderpedia.org/male.H/h/heath-ronald-palmer.htm

He's been on Death Row since 1990. Note that his first murder was in 1977 - our sophomore year in high school. He murdered a man in the sand dunes behind the Regency Square Mall in Jacksonville FL and then set the car on fire. He was paroled in 1988 and was out about a year when the DR murder occurred. This time, his brother was an accomplice.

He was nasty, mean and vicious when we were growing up. I don't know how to describe it - he was just "that kid" you always knew just to leave the hell alone.

UT