Graduating Senior Arrested, Handcuffed at Commencement for Flipping the Bird
Principal: "We Really Wanted a Dignified Ceremony"
It's not uncommon for high school seniors to try to make themselves stand out from the crowd during graduation ceremonies, maybe with something benign like writing "Hi Mom" on their robes or doing a funny dance on the walk across stage. But one small-town Alabama student immortalized the moment and got more than he bargained for en route to receiving his diploma — a trip to jail.
In the short walk across stage, Joseph Bryan Shore, 18, elicited more than boos when he allegedly cursed out his family and flipped the bird to the crowd, according to authorities. Immediately after the ceremony, two police officers took him into custody and charged him with disorderly conduct.
Arab, Ala. assistant police chief Jeff Bailey said he had never seen anything like it before.
"This is a small town, a little quiet place," Bailey said. "He basically disrupted the whole graduation with his hollering and cursing."
18 year old Joseph Bryan Shore was arrested at his high school graduation for disorderly conduct. Shore cursed and flipped the bird in the direction of the audience while walking across stage to receive his diploma.
(thearabtribune.com)
http://abcnews.go.com/TheLaw/story?id=5031654&page=1
Shore's father, Terry Shore, is outraged and calls the incident at last week's graduation a "trap." He thinks his son, who had clashed with school administrators for behavioral issues before, was targeted unfairly.
"They want my son to go to prison, they want my son to suffer," Shore said of the school administration. "Because as far as they are concerned, they were supposed to get him a long time ago."
Crowder maintains the arrest was a reasonable response.
"For all of our seniors and their parents, we certainly regret that this unfortunate incident took place," Crowder said in an email statement. "However, based on the severity and nature of the actions by the student, we had no other recourse but to involve the authorities. It was the right thing for us to do under the circumstances. This isolated incident is not reflective of our school, our students, their families, or our community."
Shore said that his son, who goes by Bryan, is a "problem child" who acts spontaneously, but that he is no criminal.
"If giving the bird was a crime, you wouldn't be able to build enough prisons to house everyone; there would be repeat offenders on death row," Terry Shore said, incredulously.
He is concerned that the incident will hurt his son, who hopes to join the Navy in the fall. He said the episode was a "mole hill made into a mountain," and has been mischaracterized by the local media. TheArabtribune.com reported that the younger Shore "took a swing" at the principal. But Crowder and school superintendent John Mullins, who was standing right next to him, denied that report.
Regardless of the details of the incident, for the Shore family, who can now add the mug shot of their son in a graduation gown to the family album, the damage has already been done.
"This was supposed to be the happiest day of Bryan's life," Terry Shore said of the graduation "It might never be over. We don't know how the community will react."
"kinder, gentler"
