Arrested for racist remark

[DanaC]

Originally Posted by Tulip

A 16 yr. old boy was arrested for telling black people to leave Walmart over the store's intercom. Now, I don't condone racism but isn't it a bit harsh to arrest someone for such a racist remark?

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/Teen-c...72312.html?x=0

As long as any potential penalty isn't ridiculously over the top, I think it's entirely appropriate for someone to be arrested for making a remark like that in that particular context. It's not like he was stood chatting to his friend and made a racist remark: it was over a store address system. I doubt he'd get much more than a metaphorical slap on the wrist, but he'd certainly be arrested and charged over here.

Interesting that it's the latest in a series of incidents at that particular store, none of which were reported to the police.