Beware of the seniors

[uwe]

I stand flabbergasted!   That comes with the honorable Administrator job, you get to define what's political and what's not.

Stop Press: US jury exonerates angry senior golfer from manslaughter of youth steering electric toy car! "He wasn't even a member of our golf club and he had the wrong shoes too. Plus he threatened my handicap."

[Dave W]

There's nothing political about whether you think it's malicious mischief that deserved the response, or just a harmless prank that didn't. Judicial, maybe. Political, no.

[Aussie Mark]

Uwe, if the partners in your new Australian office take the same approach you've just recommended, then your firm won't do too well at all in this country.  We were founded by convicts, so we don't embrace the "if it moves, litigate it" approach downunder. 

[Chaser001]

That's a very convincing argument against the seniors.  If I were on a jury, and this were an actual legal argument, I would have been swayed.  No doubt about it.  Of course jury trials themselves are problematic, and I'm not even a big fan of the jury system, but that's not the point.  I am, of course, speaking of Uwe's argument, in case that is not clear. 

[fur85]

Uwe, from a financial standpoint, I would argue that the pranksters deprived the golfers of the privilege they had paid good money to enjoy: a relaxing round of golf. The value of the round of golf of which the golfers were deprived was greater than the value of the RC car.

Also, the swinging of the club was not in response to the car, it was in response to being charged and sworn at by the "pranksters". The confrontation was initiated by the kids, I would argue the poor, frail (though speedy) senior was merely defending himself. And no one was hit or hurt, to imagine what might have happened is pure speculation. And I'm sure you know that the "I've done worse" argument has no legal standing.

From a social/psychological viewpoint, I would agree that the old dudes over-reacted and it was bad form. But was it criminal? No way.

[Freuds_Cat]

Oh come on now, no one is advocating shooting them.

If the man had hit the punk with his club, he might have been charged with assault, depending on the venue and the prosecutor. But maybe not, since the punks ran out and confronted them. If he were charged, I can't imagine a jury anywhere in the US would convict him.

Reverse the roles and a conviction would be inevitable. Whats fair depends upon who has the best lawyer sadly.

[uwe]

Uwe, if the partners in your new Australian office take the same approach you've just recommended, then your firm won't do too well at all in this country.  We were founded by convicts, so we don't embrace the "if it moves, litigate it" approach downunder. 

Ah, Mark reads newspapers!    You talk anymore nonsense like that and I'll come down and visit you!

[nofi]

dumb kids pulled a clever prank and the old golfers got revenge. it's beautiful in it's simplicity if you you take away the 'what if's' and legal ramifacations. fifty years ago this would have been a non issue and a good story to tell. times do change but pranksters are forever.

[ack1961]

I play golf and I'm a bit of a hothead, and even I would have laughed at the car scooping up my golf ball.
You laugh, applaud the kids, they return the ball and everyone has a a funny story to tell the geezers at the 19th hole.

[Pilgrim]

Oh come on now, no one is advocating shooting them.

If the man had hit the punk with his club, he might have been charged with assault, depending on the venue and the prosecutor. But maybe not, since the punks ran out and confronted them. If he were charged, I can't imagine a jury anywhere in the US would convict him.

Nothing political about this.

IMO they got what they deserved...a broken car.  For all they know these golfers had a $100 bet on the hole and they screwed it up with a $20 electric car.

What SHOULD have happened is that they should have offered to set up the balls where they had been, the golfers should have laughed it off, and it should have been no big deal.  But why was the kid surprised with the golfer nailed the electric car with his club?  I sure wasn't!  That was pretty forseeable.  The kid could have grabbed the car and left, or just walked away.  It wasn't worth getting into this for a cheap battery-op car.

I for one think that the guy with the club grossly overreacted (even if he did have a bet on the hole), and if I were on a jury I would be all for supporting a charge of attempted assault.  The guy with the club was way out of line.  I have no sympathy for people who think physical assault is the way to deal with this kind of incident.

Of course, I also have the radical idea that drunks are responsible for their actions, because they chose to get drunk.

[lowend1]

IMO they got what they deserved...a broken car.  For all they know these golfers had a $100 bet on the hole and they screwed it up with a $20 electric car.

The RC car was no $20 toy from "The Shack".  You can tell by how quickly it moved out onto the green. In all likelihood it cost at least as much as a decent golf club. It seems to me, though that the geezers stood to lose a lot more than the kids in a legal battle. The pranksters could be charged with trespassing and some kind of "mischief", but they didn't destroy any property or cause bodily harm. I would think that any legal action would have to be taken by the golf course's management. OTOH, "Statler & Waldorf" could be held responsible for destruction of personal property and would have to pay for the car - at the very least. In a worst case scenario, the second guy could be charged with assault - possibly with a deadly weapon - since he swung his golf club at the kid and gave chase to boot. If he had actually connected, he'd be in some REAL deep doo-doo. Hitting a (maybe) minor with a golf club over a silly prank - the personal injury lawyers would be a-salivating.
And it's all on tape.

[gweimer]

Possibly a little relevant - when I was in my road band days, we were in a Sambo's in Battle Creek, being WAY too obnoxious.  Let's say that we were bad enough that the strippers who came to sit down near us on lunch break got up and left quickly.  It ended up with us leaving the parking lot, with the munchies, and getting pulled over a couple blocks away.  As I'm in the squad car, I hear the officer on the radio come in - "Well, they didn't actually break any laws.  They were just being a royal PIA."

[Dave W]

Attempted assault? If there's such a statute on the books in any state, it shouldn't be. Swinging and missing is not a crime.

Odds of an American jury convicting the club swinger of anything are about the same as winning the Powerball jackpot 5 times in a row. Odds are even less that he would ever be charged with anything just for chasing the punk. If he had managed to hit him, maybe, but again, you won't find 12 jurors who would convict him of assault. There's a better likelihood that they'd give him a medal.

As for damage to their RC car, the best they could hope for is to sue and hope the guy's insurer pays them to go away. They'd never find a sympathetic civil jury.

I don't like pranks and pranksters. You prank somebody, you have only yourself to blame for what happens.

[Pilgrim]

I don't like pranks and pranksters. You prank somebody, you have only yourself to blame for what happens.

Agreed.  OTOH, sometimes the payback is worth it.

[Freuds_Cat]

I don't like pranks and pranksters. You prank somebody, you have only yourself to blame for what happens.

I dont like hot heads. Given the choice between having to deal with a Hot head or a prankster give me the prankster everytime.