Hmmm perhaps attempted murder charges? Assault with a deadly weapon? That would be great.
Actually, in many jurisdictions taser strikes are taken very seriously. In my area IIRC tasers over a certain voltage are illegal, and their use constitutes assault with a deadly weapon. Of course, several people had to die before anyone realized that…
We are too enlightened a society to give them the punishment they truly deserve. Lucky them.
Enlightened ?? Squeemish, spineless, or soft maybe . People who’d commit these acts should be punished severely, not merely put in prison for a short time. Thats like telling them to stand in the corner. Acts like taking a dump on a bum won’t stop until you see the dumpers tied to a post on the street corner with a half mile long line of people waiting to throw shit-balls at 'em. We can make it even more interesting … give out prizes . "Congratulations ! As the thrower of the 500th shit-ball , you’ve won a free tank of gas from Jim’s Texaco on Main St "
The capacity to make moral choices is what makes us human, I think. So unfortunately, these young men are human. Just extremely cruel humans.
Maybe they won’t go to prison for this, but I’ll bet the judge’ll see that they’re in jail long enough to have a really bad time. And I also hope that some of the boys from Dewey, Skruem, and Howe, Attorneys-at-Law, passed out business cards to the victims. Seems to me that civil litigation is the only real punishment these yahoos can expect. And even that would hit the parents more than the criminals. Unfortunately.
I’m sure they’ll get a slap on the ass and sent on their merry way.
More details can be found in The Cleveland Plain Dealer.
DaToad, I’m beginning to enjoy your posts more and more. Keep up the good work.
I think all of these budding criminals need to be tried as adults, if only to ensure this remains on their permanent criminal record. Such heartlessness needs to hung around their necks like an albatross.
Why all the comparisons to Jackass? Has nobody seen A Clockwork Orange?
This kind of stupid brutality really does rile me up and I’m afraid that they will, as World Eater predicts, only get a slap. I agree with Zenster, they should be tried as adults. I’ll keep following this story as it progresses and who knows, maybe I’ll be surprised by the justice system.
I have lived in two foreign countries where street crime is very rare, and I believe it’s because the punishment there is so harsh. It is a deterrent.
In reading the story, “the juveniles were released to their parents”, I’m guessing we will soon be reading about how the parents support them and what good kids they really are and how nobody understands what would make them do such a thing, and yada, yada, yada. Ha! Thinking back to my younger days, if I had done what they have, the last people that I would want to see would be my parents. I would be begging the cops to keep me in jail to protect me from my father. That man was a deterrent.
Good point Toad. I remember being overjoyed when they caned that little graffiti bastard in Singapore.
Especially when the “caner” was a black belt in some discipline that ensures if anyone can bust an ass it would be him.
Sorry to tell you this my amphibian friend, but if two kids who were weeks away from turning eighteen got juvenile remand and probation for setting house cats on fire with gasoline, don’t hope for too much with these little turds.
While I understand some reluctance on the part of judges to induct juveniles into the criminal penal system, at the same time this hesitation produces a sense of immunity when so many of these young thugs get off with a slap on the wrist. At some point the punishment needs to fit the crime.
The most sickening part of all was that they used a 200,000 volt Taser. I’m pretty sure this is above the nominal value for these sort of stun guns. I’m hoping someone might confirm this fact. Like I said, people who are out on the street usually have low grade infections or other persistent medical conditions that reduce their immune function. Couple this with partial malnutrition from infrequent meals and nearly ubiquitous alcohol or drug use and you have people who are already pretty far from robust health. That the stun voltages did not kill these poor people really does not matter. It’s quite possible all of the victims had their lifespan reduced by several percent.
Weakened hearts, proneness to seizures, nerve damage, impeded reflexes and all sorts of other harm may have been done. I’m hoping there is a stampede of ambulance chasing lawyers on their way to that neighborhood right now. Each one of these victims need to pursue civil litigation against the families of these little scum bags. If things work out just right, maybe the lawsuits will drain out any money being saved for these fuckwits’ college educations and they’ll end up sleeping on the street so they can be Tasered just for kicks too.
Like Lynn said, these fucks have a profound lack of humanity. This makes it hard not to wish some sort of ultimate evil upon them.
I try to be a good Christian and think charitably of all my fellow creatures, but situtations like this make it really, really hard. Anybody heard anything about the victims? If some kind soul in Cleveland has set up a fund for treatment, I’d gladly make a donation.
Matter of interest ( and carefully avoiding question of just how they could have “happened” to have such a strange “toy” with them), well - one of the articles says they started off this game when they found themselves “stranded” because the car had broken down.
???
Now - is THAT the sort of thing they are going to use in their “defence”? Hell, I hope there is no-one would fall for that as a sob story. "oops judge - we were “stranded, and SO bored, so you know, we just had to…”
No notion of walking home, phoning someone’s family/friends to get help, pooling cash and getting cab home?
Failing that - just sleep, however uncomfortably in the damn car till morning.
GRRRRRRRRRR
But, because most of them are “juveniles” - huh! - I have the horrible feeling they won’t really get to suffer much punishment. 
oops - I forgot - tis a silly hour of night here - I would also be interested to know jsut how sober that driver was. In terms of alcohol or any other drugs, that is.
I think they should give them 10000 hours of comunity service at homeless shelters
You want to know how jaded I am? Reading this story, all I could think was, “At least they weren’t using a real gun.”
My thoughts exactly. Though it’s fortunate they were imitating Jackass and not A Clockwork Orange, I don’t think anybody dies in Jackass.
Damn, looks like my attempts to kill Johnny with just my mind has failed again. Personally, I believe this worthless show does influence morons to do that sort of shit. I mean, it’s a cruel show completely devoid of humour, directly targeted at easily impressionable morons. Anyone remember that case where the 12-year-old set himself on fire?