More Vigilante Madness?...this time in Texas

[HipChick]

It was just another Tuesday evening in a normally quiet neighborhood in Pearland, Texas, where kids are often found playing with one another and driving go-carts.A family had just returned from Galveston on a spring break excursion, when upon their return, all of a sudden the unthinkable happened.

“You don’t belong in this neighborhood!” These are the words that Jules Moor, a 13-year old black child, says that Deanna Johnson, a middle-aged white female, said to him after Johnson slammed her 2011 Jeep Wrangler into his go-cart on Tuesday, March 13, 2012. According to court documents obtained from Jules’ attorney, Sylvester Anderson, Jules went for a ride in his go-cart in his neighborhood with another 13-year old boy who had been spending spring break with the Moor family. A third minor boy, another friend of Jules’, rode a small bicycle behind the go-cart.

Jules saw two cars behind him while driving back home, so he decided to drive his go-cart completely off the road to his right onto the grassy edge of the neighborhood park to avoid being in the way of traffic.It is then that Jules states that Johnson swung her vehicle across the south-bound lane of the road, ran over the curb onto the grass and deliberately and intentionally rammed her vehicle head-on into the go-cart. According to Jules, Johnson got out of her vehicle and confronted the boys in a hostile and threatening manner yelling “Where do you live? Who are your parents?” while shaking her finger at the kids. Jules goes on to say, “With all due respect, Ma’am, I live down the street,” to which Johnson allegedly tells him that she didn’t care and that she was calling the police. Jules called his mother and told her that Johnson had hit his go-cart and didn’t know why. He thought he was going to die,” said Theresa Moor, mother of Jules. “All I could do was stop what I was doing, grab my keys and make my way to my child.”

As Theresa arrived, she saw that the go-cart had been damaged severely and learned from Jules that Johnson had accused the boys of not living in the neighborhood. As Theresa approached Johnson to find out what happened, Johnson put her palm up to her face in a dismissive manner, refused to talk, went back to her truck and rolled up the windows.
Frustrated at the way things were transpiring, Theresa contacted the police and several Brazoria County Sheriff’s deputies arrived. It is still unclear why Johnson decided to do what she did. Johnson never apologized for ramming her truck into the go-cart and jeopardizing the lives of the three children and according to witnesses, was seen laughing as she spoke with the Sheriff’s deputies. Johnson was not arrested or drug-tested upon the admission of her actions. The Sheriff’s department Captain that came on the scene decided not to arrest Johnson upon consulting with the District Attorney.

http://www.forwardtimesonline.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=789:vigilante-madness-in-pearlandnot-just-in-sanford-not-just-trayvon-martin&catid=69:local-and-state&Itemid=126

According to Theresa, she overheard Johnson claim that she was trying to “detain” the boys because they looked like some kids that they had seen earlier riding bicycles onto the driveways of houses in the neighborhood.

[Voice for Peace]

1. wow

k&r

[Turbineguy]

2. Meanwhile at Fox News....

"....it's working!....."

[freshwest]

16. +1,000

[NYC_SKP]

3. It's the new "Lynching"

It's sickening.

[HipChick]

4. Isnt this at least attempted manslaughter with ramming a kid with a car?

[BeHereNow]

7. You would think! Attempted manslaughter or aggravated assault with a deadly weapon?

What in the HELL did the officers at the scene find so gunny about the situation?????

I hope the mother of the boy had the presence of mind to get the names
of the officers at the scene.

BHN

[robinlynne]

30. hatver you call it, it is certainly criminal!

[Cali_Democrat]

5. Like I said before, America is not the same for everybody.

Not everybody is treated equally.

Notice how she was laughing with the Sheriffs deputies? No drug test, no arrest and no charges. Imagine if a black man rammed a 13-year old white girl while she was riding in a go cart. Would he be laughing and yucking it up with the police? No. Would he be drug tested and charged? Absolutely.

The color of your skin matters in America and it's something you have no control over.

[onethatcares]

25. drug tested and charged???? I think not.

he'd a been splattered all over the pavement with at least 4 tazer shots and a few 45 rounds.

Yeah, this is getting out of hand.

[BeHereNow]

6. That is FUCKED up!

I hope the mom presses charges.
Takes pictures of the go-cart and documents any statements by the children
or bystanders.

WHAT kind of person does such a thing?
She could have killed those kids!

BHN

[onehandle]

8. This is why we need more guns out there.

Guns are our Supreme Court guaranteed tool of resolution.

[Electric Monk]

33. For the kids in the go-cart? You are kidding, right?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Poe%27s_law

[Cirque du So-What]

9. If I were the type to construct conspiracy theories

I'd say this is part of an organized effort to push the envelope to the point that riots occur, giving ammunition to those who want to thwart our President's reelection. Sure are a lot of these instances lately.

[HipChick]

10. I don't think there are more...things like this have always occured...but with internet and social

media...getting harder to hide...for many it's an everyday reality

[Cirque du So-What]

11. Yes, but...

The World Wide Web has been in everyday use for more than a decade, and I don't recall such a rash of incidents like we're currently seeing during that whole period.

[alcibiades_mystery]

15. Here is a basic fact about news that every media study in the last 40 years demonstrates

If an incident makes the news in a big way, similar incidents will also make the news in the weeks that follow. The same incidents could happen all the time, but they suddenly become "newsworthy" when they can be linked to another big news story. I think the classic study on this had to do with mine accidents in Britain. It was shown definitively that the rate of these accidents never changed, nor had their severity. But after a single major mine accident made news, the next several weeks of newspaper coverage had stories on multiple minor accidents that would have been otherwise ignored. It was also shown that previous attempts to get coverage for mine accidents were also failures, and that the editorial decision-making was aware of the possibility of mine accident stories, but didn't accept these as legitimate news until after the major mine accident. Point being: what you're witnessing is a fairly predictable news effect: because of the Martin story, these other stories will be amplified, will come across your media radar. But this type of shit happens all the time, like the mine accidents. The increase is a media effect, not an objective increase. The rate of racist vigilanteism is likely constant over the past several years, if not decades.

[HipChick]

18. This is a a very valid point..

[Cirque du So-What]

19. That could explain a lot

Still, I wonder if the furor started over the slaying of Trayvon Martin has emboldened some racists to act out what they've wanted to do for a long time, and they're taking their cues from the fact that Zimmerman is still walking around free.

[NOLALady]

40. Very True.

These incidents have been going on for as long as I can remember. We hear of at least one of these types of incidents at every family gathering.

[MD20]

20. I'm impressed by the civility shown by the Black community.

In the wake of such blatant injustice(s), the whole world is judging. These episodes, relatively rare considering the vast population of 300 millions, are uncovering pockets of frustrated white folks who just don't like Blacks and are willing to act upon their prejudices in a violent manner. But what impressions are being formed in countries where people of color reign? What global consequences are we risking when policemen are ignoring pleas from minorities for the fundamental rights guaranteed by "equal protection under the law?"

I would hope that the majority of mainstream America does not endorse the actions of bigots bent on creating chaos and civil disruptions by murdering or injuring innocent people. I truly believe that the majority of us will join hands in combating such hatred by rooting out and prosecuting those who may be conspiring to inflame it. The states where CCW laws are promulgated with such alarming dissonance are suspect for harboring bastions of "conservative" killers driven by fear and hatred. Neither Democrats or Republicans are immune. George Zimmerman is a registered Democrat but his social world view concerning Blacks seems to be right down in the gutter with that of Sean Hannity or Rush Limbaugh!

[zeemike]

22. I happen to think you are right

It seems deliberate to me

[Cirque du So-What]

32. It's one thing for bigots to feel all emboldened and empowered

quite another for widely-scattered police departments to deliberately skip doing their fucking jobs - seemingly in unison.

[noiretextatique]

12. why wasn't this woman arrested?

please, all you concern trolls who are here defending zimmerman, what's the excuse for this racist lunatic? thanks.

[BeHereNow]

13. That is my question too!

Destruction of property, using a vehicle as a weapon, hell the list goes on!
Am I correct in understanding this woman just walked away from her action and
the situation???
How can that be possible?
BHN

[noiretextatique]

42. Texas

Florida, Arizona, and all the other places where lawlessness seems to be legal might explain this. SYG, open carry, etc...these laws do nothing but encourage this type of extreme vigilantism, of the kind that took Trayvon Martin's life.

[BeHereNow]

14. Looks like the perp is going to be charged with something-

The question remains though, why was she not arrested at the scene of
her crime against these children????

BHN

[freshwest]

17. Another Teabagger At Work.

[nadinbrzezinski]

21. I hate to say it

I expect these incidents to increase.

[Ecumenist]

23. So, I guess she was standing her ground, automotive edition right? Why the fuck wasn't

she arrested for attempted murder, assault and God knows what ever else she's done? And she wanted to detain them because the RESEMBLED some kinds that RODE BIKE IN THE DRIVEWAYS OF HOUSES IN THE NEIGHBORHOOD??!! WTF??!!

[provis99]

24. now,if Moon had shot her dead under Texas' Stand Your Ground law,

what would the cops have done then?

[socialist_n_TN]

27. Yeah, well it's inevitable that that's coming...........

We'll see about the legitimacy of the SYG laws then. Of course, even if they're being "fairly" administered, that just means that we've devolved into a shoot first, wild West mentality. None of these laws are good for society. PERIOD.

However I think that if a couple of black people get away with killing unarmed white people under the SYG law, those laws would QUICKLY be amended or repealed.

Or maybe they would just go ahead and write the law so that it just applies to white on black vigilantism. Why not just make the racist nature blatant. It doesn't seem to matter how blatant it is now in other areas. Why not the law too?

[LaurenG]

26. Riding bicycles onto driveways is a reason to try to kill kids?

There are some terrible and hateful human beings in the world. Too bad there is no such thing as equality.

[azurnoir]

28. she was detaining them??!?

what is so disturbing about these incidents is the casual, entitled manner in which these acts are committed

[marshall gaines]

31. it's lamentable

I can't say my immediate reaction to this detainer but I can say that she felt she has the right to try to kill and detain black children. It is called the perceived loss of entitlement because the President is of a different race than has ever been seen in this bastion of democracy. Some americans cannot get to that.

[Lone_Star_Dem]

29. The case goes before a grand jury next week.

Which does nothing to explain why she wasn't arrested at the time. The children were taken to a hospital and treated, not to mention traumatized due to this woman.

At least the mother is suing her. Maybe that will make her think twice next time she decides to ram two kids in a gocart.

Here's a link about her being sued and the grand jury.

http://www.click2houston.com/news/Parents-sue-neighbor-accusing-woman-of-ramming-into-teens-go-kart/-/1735978/9810630/-/ol1hkb/-/index.html

[BeHereNow]

34. My how times have changed since I was a kid-

"They say the neighbor was mad because earlier in the day she witnessed some young boys riding their bikes up and down people's driveways. They believe she mistook those boys for their son and his friend."

When I was a kid, we ran from yard to yard playing until our mom's called us home for dinner,
then we went out after dinner and resumed what ever game we were playing...
Nobody cared- nobody tried to run us down for riding our bikes or skating in their driveways...
What the hell is wrong with people???

Thanks for posting the link LSD.

BHN

[Lone_Star_Dem]

35. The level of anger and hate are astonishing.

It wasn't like this when I was a kid either. The only place we had to stay away from was Colonel Sucias. He was our local, "get off my law" personality. To be fair he did have one heck of an immaculate lawn.

Now days most people don't even know their neighbors, let alone the neighborhood kids. Many people view their neighborhoods as homogenous gated sanctuaries. A first layer of security to keep the undesirables at a safe distance. Problem with that is "homogenous" and "undesirable" have different meanings to different people. When these ideals clash you end up with disgusting situations like what this woman did.

[toto053]

36. As far as I can tell this did NOT happen

Did anyone think to look at the April fools day date on this post?

While I think if it did happen, it is appalling, I think it is even more appalling that someone would cast aspersions on people in Pearland for an incident which as far as I can find out never happened.

I have searched the BCSO records and find nothing about this at all.

Also, there is no neighborhood given, but I searched the names of the people supposedly involved and they do not live in the same neighborhood though they do live within a few miles of each other. I suspect that an accident happened with a go-cart and a car (which is very probable given the number of go-carts we see in our neighborhoods) and that someone made up a story about it based on the Trayvon Martin case.

Note that in our neighborhoods here, people of all races live in harmony and the kids play together quite peacefully. My grandchildren are half-Indian and half-Caucasian. They play with African American friends in the neighborhood as well as with other Asian and White kids.

[tammywammy]

37. It's a legit story

http://www.click2houston.com/news/Parents-sue-neighbor-accusing-woman-of-ramming-into-teens-go-kart/-/1735978/9810630/-/ol1hkb/-/index.html

[HipChick]

38. I'd never swear for all people..hateful racist live amongst us..

and come in all shapes and sizes...

an Indian co-worker once told me, that he never lets his kids play with black or Hispanic kids..when I pressed him on the issue, he turned and walked away...Zimmerman neighborhood was minority majority too...

[MrScorpio]

39. Welcome to America, My friend

Welcome to America

[toto053]

41. Apparently, the incident did happen

Unfortunately, I have found out a little more about this and the go-cart accident did happen. The mom of the 13 year old boy is suing the woman who rammed his go-cart with her jeep. There will be a grand jury convening, so the Brazoria County Police did there duty.

I am so horrified to be living in such a racist time and area.

We never experienced racism as asians in the Chicago area when we lived there, but my dil did experience some in Lousiana when we lived there. I knew Texas was bad, but as I said, we live in a very diverse subdivision and people get along with each other in this area. This incident was very close to home for me and I am saddened and angry.

My dh has seen kids riding go-carts on the streets near us, btw, and has wanted to stop them and ask if they needed a license because he was afraid the kids might get hurt given the recklessness of their driving.

I will be monitoring this closely and hoping that justice is done. There have been requests from the mom to pray for the family. I don't pray, but for those that do, please do so.

[Liberal_in_LA]

43. I hope they sue her out of her house.