Local Electric Car Owner Arrested For Stealing 5 Cents Worth of Electricity in Chamblee
Decatur Metro | December 4, 2013 | 3:07 pmFrom 11Alive’s Doug Richards…
Here’s an additional 11Alive interview with Mr. Kamooneh.
From 11Alive’s Doug Richards…
Here’s an additional 11Alive interview with Mr. Kamooneh.
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Under Georgia law, it’s a defense to a theft charge if he had a “reasonable belief” that the owner would have consented to the taking if they had been asked.
I don’t know the Chamblee Middle Principal, but I’d bet that if someone asked him/her if they could plug in their car for 20 minutes (and especially if they explained that it would cost about 5 cents), the answer would be “sure, no problem.” Too bad he/she wasn’t there on Saturday.
I would think putting an external outlet near a public parking space could be taken as an implicit granting of permission. There are many such spaces around town where Leaf owners are encouraged to charge up for free.
Interesting. There may be a new use for those childproof outlet covers. The convention could be that outlets covers with a red circle-backslash prohibition symbol on them mean no charging allowed. All other outlets are fair game.
these outlaws must be stopped. let ’em steal .05, and what’s next—.06, .07?
nip. it. in. the. bud.
nip. it.
seriously. next he’ll steal gasoline from a gas station so he can drive a real car into decatur and post cute graffiti on a lamppost using usps stickers. this guy is a menace to all that is decent.
Yet another group of policemen who are utterly incapable of exercising reasoned judgment.
I feel dirty now for all of the times I have plugged in my various mobile devices/laptop in establishments (ok often bars but not always. sometimes it has been random outlets at Hartsfield) other than my own home.
I’m feeling dirty, too. Wanna meet?
Not only did I plug my iPhone in at the Macy’s men’s department last week, I unplugged the price scanner to do it!
This just makes me tired. Does law enforcement no longer have the option to exercise some common sense??
The car owner in question is a Decatur resident. There’s got to be a way Decatur can take advantage of this in the coming Dekalb city rivalries that result from the annexation wars of the next 1-2 years …
(insert slogan here)
Probably just thought the government owed him that electricity. I have no idea where he would get an idea like that.
Maybe from the taxes the government forces him to pay to maintain and operate the school whose outlet he plugged into???
+1
yeah, that’s most likely why he plugged his car in.
although now that i think about it, maybe it was part of his war on christmas, given the time of year.
or maybe he’s part of a vast islamic conspiracy to overload the power grid.
or maybe, just maybe, it has nothing to do with anything political and all dude ever wanted was his rug back.
BENGHAZI!!!11!!!!
(and that rug really tied the room together.)
Probably just thought the government owed him that electricity. I have no idea where he would get an idea like that.
Maybe from the same place where most drivers get the idea that they are owed asphalt?
Pretty silly but that’s just my 5 cents.
If we try for a second to consider both sides, perhaps the police are trying to get way out in front of something that has a great chance of becoming a bigger problem in the not too distant future. Is this different than me parking on a side street in Oakhurst and plugging into a home outlet? Slightly different, but not much. How about plugging into a business outlet?
Regarding B. Young’s comment above about owner’s consent, how does a principal all of a sudden become an “owner” of a public school?
Sure, it’s a fun story for the news to play with, but the issue is still real and only going to grow.
No one is saying it was A OK to plug his car into an outlet he didn’t own. The issue is one of proportion. He was handcuffed at his home, put into a squad car, and then spent 15 hours in jail for this petty crime — a crime which he could have made full financial restitution from the change under his couch cushions.
The police chief did not try to defend this by predicting a sudden crime wave perpetrated by electricity thieving Nissan Leaf owners. His stated rationale is simply that a “theft is a theft,” as if the law can’t distinguish between plugging into an outlet and stealing a car.
+1
Everything police do should always be by the book. Sometimes mistakes are made. The book probably says, when making an arrest everyone gets cuffed for the safety of all concerned. Sounds like the mistake this time was in not arresting him at the scene.
Now, since I started by saying let’s “try for a second to consider both sides” I will admit that I believe police do have the right to use discretion. I don’t think discretion was evident here since they could have issued a warning and been done with it. On the other hand, perhaps some discretion was indeed used by deciding not to arrest a guy at his son’s event and instead choosing to do it at a later time at a private residence.
As for nobody saying it was A OK to plug his car in, the offender does indeed seem to say that and tries to justify his taking by making points about people drinking from spigots without consent and plugging in laptops, etc. Obviously this guy is a terrible repeat offender and won’t learn from his lessons. Next time they might have to taser him, and if they do they should charge him for the electricity it took to charge the stun gun.
It’s a reasonable point (though I agree with Dem that the police likely acted out of a grudge), but I believe we are perhaps closer than you think to batteries that will not need to be plugged in at all. Technology is going to skip over widespread “plugging in.”
After reading the statement issued by the Police Chief, I think they did the right thing. This wasn’t just about $0.05 of electricity.
From the statement:
“Given the uncooperative attitude and accusations of damage to his vehicle, the officer chose to document the incident on an incident report. The report was listed as misdemeanor theft by taking. The officer had no way of knowing how much power had been consumed, how much it cost nor how long it had been charging.”
Translation, they arrested him for the unpardonable sin of Contempt of Cop.
I think your translation skills need help. This makes me think the cop exercised a good bit of restraint. Cops I know who call a guy’s attitude uncooperative usually mean he was being a total d*ck. Then the cop suffered accusations of doing damage, and what does he do? He documents the incident, let’s the guy go, and takes the time to think things through until a later time. How dare he? We must stop these out of control, power hungry thug cops.
The responding officer does indded appear to have some sense and to have exercised restraint. The sgt is the one who, 11 days later, decided to authorize an arrest for this non-event.
Moreover, when asked to justify his decision in a media interview, the sgt merely said a “theft is a theft.” Nothing about the perp being a “total d*ck,” which by the way isn’t a crime. It took the department spokesperson to come up with the “he was uncooperative” angle as a post-hoc justification for this. The whole thing is a complete waste of time.
I would guess the person who first called the cops does not think it is a waste of time.
Just like their spokesman Lance Armstrong, all leaf owners are shady
Very Interesting (the last time I began a post with this it was removed). A Decatur resident. Electric car. A father just taking his son to tennis practice. Someone who appears to be a well educated immigrant. Senseless police behavior. My goodness, are there any other details that could could make this more relevant to Decatur Metro readers?
OK, a mea culpa to lower the rising blood pressure for some readers Years ago, late 1970s, I was a football coach at DHS. Although it wasn’t a common practice, some coaches would use the washer/dryer facilities in the old Central gym to clean and dry clothing, not football uniforms mind you but whatever personal stuff that failed to get cleaned at the local wash-a-teria. So one Saturday, I washed my personal belongings, used the clothes dryer and set it on one hour to stop. Anyone who was a coach at this time should have known that this dryer was nortoriously known for not shutting down. And so it happened. Monday morning, I was called into Dr. Vee Simmons office (also located in the old central gym believe it or not), and there in a large box at the foot of her desk were my clothes. “Mr. Billingsley, do you know anything about these clothes left in the dryer?” Busted, I pleaded for mercy, promising never to do it again. She then reminded me of two important things. One, that the appliance was running all day Sunday and if the old machine had shorted out, a fire could have burned down the central gym. Second, and more important that the first was that I was a public employee. I could not use school resources for my my personal benefit and that she could not make exceptions for individual employees. That made a lasting impression on me.
There are reasons that stories like this appear in the media. Whether it it a tragic accident on a busy street, a couple denied a license to marry, or in this case, a seemingly insignificant theft, all try to blur the line between what the law is and what seems to be ever changing morality. May I suggest that you seek wisdom on this and other matters in a church, synagogue, or at the very least, a courtroom and not local media.
Final thoughts: 1. May God continue to bless our local police officers because no one has a tougher job than they do. 2. If you travel to Chamblee for a tennis lesson, make sure your car is juiced up. And finally, 3. if you haven’t asked for permission, be prepared to beg for forgiveness. It usually works.
My cat’s breath smells like cat food.
Good comment Chris! I’ll bet Dr. Simmons put the fear of God in you.
Looks like cop revenge to me. You get persnickety with a cop, the odds against you winning go way up.
I am now feeling really, really, really guilty that sometimes I charge my phone on the side of the aisle during church on Sunday. Does faithfully putting into the offering basket an amount slightly over my annual stewardship pledge offset the crime? I only do it when my phone is dead and I’m afraid that the non-church attenders in the family may need to reach me.
Also, why would the child of a Decatur resident be attending Chamblee Middle School? Does the Dad teach there? Or were they using the tennis courts only? Sure hope that wasn’t stealing either. An hour on the tennis courts is definitely worth more than $.05 of electricity.
According to the statement released by the Police Chief, the guy was taking tennis lessons, not attending an event for his kid.
I know the officer that responded. The guy initially pretended it wasn’t his car then gave the officer a hard time. Do you have permission to plug your car in here? DOES YOUR PATROL CAR HAVE PERMISSION TO POLLUTE THE AIR? Can I see your driver’s license? WHY, CAN I SEE YOUR ID? Then he falsely accused the officer of damaging his door, so a report now had to be made.
The detective then followed up the incident and found not only did he not have permission to charge there, he had been told not to come back to the property. All of these details were known by the reporter, Doug Richards, but purposely left out of his news story. Do you think you got the whole story? Also Ga law does not provide for a ticket in this situation, it is arrest warrant or nothing.
Well, Chris, I was going to stay out of this but I cant let your incorrect statements of both fact and law go unchallenged. I don’t care who you know, and it’s irrelevant anyway. Whatever happened in the he said/he said initial encounter, the responding officer had TOTAL DISCRETION to arrest, ticket or warn. Georgia law does NOT require “arrest warrant or nothing”. Sorry, but that is just plain wrong.
If it was me, and a police officer started asking me for ID and touching my vehicle, I would have probably escalated the incident way beyond the beyond the point where “a report now had to be made.” If you think this is wrong, then I’m sure there is no rational thought that would make you understand why surrendering your constitutional (and God-given!) rights is so dangerous.
Ugh. I am so honestly disgusted by all of this, and especially the lay citizens who support this kind of police policy, that I am at a loss for words…
I have seen multiple reports that the gentleman was previously issued a no-trespass order for the property, for what reason I don’t know, but if he was there, asked to leave and didn’t, he was trespassing, which is a criminal, not civil, offense, and he was subject to arrest for that reason alone, notwithstanding theft and/or obstruction of an officer (by his arguing).
Now that WOULD change things, because it would establish the element of intent, which would be necessary to prove the theft charge. On the other hand, it still doesn’t pass the smell test when the responding officer decided NOT to arrest and he was later pulled from his home and taken to jail. That was absolutely not necessary and a waste of public resources. The better course is to turn the file over to the DA or Solicitor’s Office and let them proceed. It’s one thing for the officer on the scene to overreact and haul someone off to jail unnecessarily. It’s a whole ‘nother thing for a supervisory officer to override that discretion and have him arrested over a week later.
I think you are SO off the mark here. Some things never change. It doesn’t matter what state, country, universe you live in…..if you give an authority figure BS…..you will end up getting the raw end of the deal. Period. You will not be cut a break (I think this is the “officer discretion” we are all referring to) by being a jerk. Never has worked, never will.
I am not sure if the side of the story told by Chris Moore is correct, but it sounds likely. If it is the least bit accurate, I would have taken the same actions as the officer involved did. And I wager the same would be true of 99% of all cops would have.
I personally think cops jobs are tough enough without running into people that give them a hard time….when they are just trying to do your job.
How can I be SO off the mark when you’ve missed the main point? The officer he gave crap to let him go! It was his sergeant who later decided to actually arrest the guy 11 days later. If they think he should be prosecuted, the easiest (and least costly) course of action is to refer the file to the appropriate prosecuting agency and let them proceed with it. You do NOT have to go drag the guy from his home and arrest him after the responding officer initially USED his discretion to not do so!
In addition, this:
“It doesn’t matter what state, country, universe you live in…..if you give an authority figure BS…..you will end up getting the raw end of the deal. Period.”
is not always true. In some cases, contempt of cop arrests are challenged in civil lawsuits and result in significant damage awards for the imporoperly arrested parties. Police who decide to arrest merely as payback for getting lip are putting taxpayer funds at risk. I’m not predicting that will happen here, but making a general observation.
I agree with what you are saying. I am not going to defend bad cops. I am just saying it is not realistic to treat people disrespectfully and expect to be treated respectfully in return. Human nature. Authority figures: police (when you are suspected of breaking a law), judges (when in court), teachers (when in class), your boss (when employed), a coach (when on a team), etc,etc. Treat any of them contemptuously and your life may be a little more complicated.
If we agree that we expect all these people to “use their best judgement”, how can we expect that judgement not to be affected by the fact that they are dealing with a jerk?
I wish I was better informed as to how/when to stand up for my rights. I asked a couple of months ago about a warrantless search of one’s car. I understand one can refuse. But then you come across as ‘uncooperative’ and ultimately the police can get a warrant right? Seems that only lawyers and those with a strong understanding of the law can win in these situations.
Typical guy-plugging his stuff where it don’t belong then griping about the cost. 😉
Best comment so far. Laughed out loud.
You do that too much and the plug will get cut off.
Did the school even ask for restitution before involving the police further than that day? It’s idiotic to arrest someone for a nickel, given the option to pay a nickel or go to jail, he probably would have paid it. Even if he was a jerk, if you are encountered by a police officer, you have the right to ask questions and make your case (not lie.) I’m concerned about crime, REAL crime, and this is a situation that had better means of of resolution. I guess the way the new police state is going, he should be thankful he got out of it without an anal probe with used gloves.
Don’t worry, the NSA is currently reading his text messages and deciding whether to proceed with a more probing inquiry.
Seems I heard in one report where this person had been notified to stay off the school property or some such thing ( don’t know why). He ignored this, then plugged in, and BAM.
Maybe the issue is the school pushed this for trespassing? Don’t know.
Yeah, if you read the article, it looks like he had been taking tennis lessons at the school’s tennis courts and had been previously told not to do so (he had no affiliation with the school). I think the officer found this out as well…I think the stealing electricity is a bit ridiculous, but there may have been more to the story…
It all sounds so weird. Wouldn’t the tennis instructor be the one at fault if he/she is offering tennis lessons on courts without permission?
Many businesses, including several in Decatur such as Twain’s and Walgreens, have external outlets for the express purpose of charging visitor’s electric cars.
That’s only going to become more common. The culture is changing and the police are on the wrong side of this one.
Disclaimer: I am also a Nissan Leaf owner.
“The culture is changing and the police are on the wrong side of this one.”
You may be right about the changing culture, but IF he had been told not to enter the property, there is no plausible way he thought he could use the outlet, so I don’t think the police are on the wrong side here. Second, electric car owners shouldn’t assume that an external power outlet is there for public use.
If there is a legitimate trespassing charge (which I doubt), then the police should make it.
I can plug my phone in at a public place like a park or an airport, drink from the drinking fountain, use the restroom. All of those are a use of resources. None would reasonably be considered theft.
If he had implicit permission to be there, e.g. was taking a class in the space, I would think he would have implicit permission to use the water and electricity.
From Doug Richard’s blog:
http://liveapartmentfire.com/2013/12/09/alternating-current/
You beat me to it. I just read his blog and came to post it here. Doug is a friend of mine and a stand up guy.