Tag Archives: autism

Breaking News, Local

BREAKING: Prosecutors drop felony charges against 11-year old autistic child

[EVERETT, Wash] – (MTN) According to the family, charges stemming from a May 17 incident between an 11-year old child with significant autism and two Snohomish County Sheriff Deputies were dropped by prosecutors. The child, who we are not naming, was charged with two counts of assault 3. The police report never mentioned the child’s impairment and listed her as being 12 years old, not 11. In Washington state the age of culpability is 8 years old, however, the court must prove that a juvenile who is 8 to 11 years old is capable of understanding their actions and the potential consequences.

Last week we reported that an altercation with the child involving a school bus driver and an assistant resulted in a 911 call when she boarded the bus to go to school. When Snohomish County deputies arrived, the child was in the home with her mother, Lori Helmy. Deputies claim that the child charged at them, kicking one in the groin. The report says, “Due to [the child’s] size, it did not cause Deputy Watts to be immobilized.”

The report goes on to say the child struggled with both officers, called them “animals” and “pigs,” and said if she had a knife, “she would stab them with it.” The report adds, “Deputy Watts and Deputy Carson both did not have marks from the assault on them, but both had transient pain well after the incident.” 

In addition to the questions raised about age of culpability per Washington law, medical records released to Malcontent News show the child has significant impairment due to autism.

A report from Northwest Neuropsychology Learning and Behavioral Services of Bellevue from February 25, 2020, concludes that there is a “significant issue with perceptual reasoning” and “significant sensory issues that include easily hyper aroused which triggers dysregulation.” The report further states that she is “severely impaired in all aspects of community living.”

Despite the police report having her stated age wrong and her established medical history, Snohomish County prosecutors initially moved forward with the felony charges.

Local

Exclusive: Snohomish County prosecutors charge 11-year-old autistic child with felony assault in May incident with deputies

1 Comment

[EVERETT, Wash] – (MTN) Snohomish County prosecutors have charged an 11-year old autistic girl with two felony counts of assault 3 after a May 17 incident in Everett. In a police report, officers claim that although they were no visible injuries to either officer, the child’s words and actions warranted the charges against her. Despite the child not being of the age of culpability in Washington, flaws in the police report, and documentation of significant mental impairment, prosecutors continued to move forward with the criminal charges. Malcontent News is not identifying the child by name because this is a juvenile case.

An altercation with the child involving a school bus driver and an assistant resulted in a 911 call when she boarded the bus to go to school. When Snohomish County deputies arrived, the child was in the home with her mother, Lori Helmy. Deputies claim that the child charged at them, kicking one in the groin. The report says, “Due to [the child’s] size, it did not cause Deputy Watts to be immobilized.”

The report goes on to say the child struggled with both officers, called them “animals” and “pigs,” and said if she had a knife, “she would stab them with it.” The report adds, “Deputy Watts and Deputy Carson both did not have marks from the assault on them, but both had transient pain well after the incident.” 

“Watts said due to [the child’s] actions, he believed she would carry out the threat of stabbing the Deputies with it,” a deputy claims.

According to a report issued by the Snohomish County Sheriff, the justification for referring the child for criminal charges was, “Due to [the child] being 12 years old and her actions (verbal and physical) I believe she knew she was using unwanted force against both Deputies.” But there are significant problems with the case. 

The child involved is 11 years old, not 12, and had only recently had her 11th birthday at the time of the incident. In Washington state, the age of culpability is eight years old per RCW 9A.04.050. In the section called People capable of committing crimes – Capability of Children, the law states, “Children under the age of eight years are incapable of committing crime. Children of eight and under twelve years of age are presumed to be incapable of committing crime, but this presumption may be removed by proof that they have sufficient capacity to understand the act or neglect, and to know that it was wrong.“

In the charging documents sent to the parent, the child’s birthday is correctly listed as April 12, 2010, making her 11 years old at the time of the incident. She is listed as 4’10” tall and weighing 115 pounds. Deputies claim they had significant challenges in restraining the child as she kicked and yelled at them.

At no time did she possess a knife or attack deputies with any physical item. The report does say that she grabbed keys at one point and claimed she would stab deputies. Her mother was able to restrain her per the police report, and the child relinquished the keys without contacting the officers or requiring their intervention. According to Ms. Helmy, deputies escalated the situation due to their conduct, would not listen to her advice on assisting her daughter, and ignored her statements that she is 11 years old.

In addition to the questions raised about age of culpability per Washington law, medical records released to Malcontent News show the child has significant impairment due to autism.

A report from Northwest Neuropsychology Learning and Behavioral Services of Bellevue from February 25, 2020, concludes that there is a “significant issue with perceptual reasoning” and “significant sensory issues that include easily hyper aroused which triggers dysregulation.” The report further states that she is “severely impaired in all aspects of community living.”

Despite the police report having her stated age wrong and her established medical history, Snohomish County prosecutors moved forward with the felony charges. The first hearing was scheduled for July 19, but the incident has put Ms. Helmy’s child into an emotional spiral, and the juvenile is currently hospitalized.

The court would only delay the initial hearing for two weeks, pending the child’s release from the hospital. At the time of publication, the public defender’s office has stated that a motion to dismiss is with the court.

Upon hearing the news from the public defender’s office, Ms. Helmy said, “Dropping charges is not good enough. Had my daughter known what she was doing, there would be real consequences. The cop knew what he was doing and there needs to be real consequences.”

According to Mental Health America, Washington state ranks 43rd in the nation for youth mental health while ranking number 3 (including the District of Columbia) for the number of mentally ill residents. According to the Washington State Department of Social and Health Services, 58% of inmates in Washington state are in treatment for mental illness when they are incarcerated. 

The Snohomish County Prosector’s Office and Snohomish County Sheriff Department did not respond to our request for a statement. At the time of publication, the child’s public defender had not provided any additional information.

Editorial, National, Think About It

Industrial bleach in the misinformation age

In our era of misinformation, where we seem to be going backward, it is easy to laugh. It is easy to be amused by flat earthers, and their disastrous international conference where they proved the earth was round (whoops), or to gain pleasure in the irony of antivax leaders ending up in the hospital to get treatment for the disease they said was of no consequence. We can shake our heads at those who believe the lizard people run the planet (this is a real thing) and exhibit outrage at Alex Jones for insisting that the Sandy Hook shooting was a false flag to take away our guns (under a lawsuit, he now claims he was insane when he said it). The problem is, this era of misinformation has real consequences.

When the Internet became mainstream in the mid-90s, and the browser wars of Netscape versus Microsoft was detailed in the news and on people’s minds, there was a belief the world would become a better place. By giving everyone on the planet access to their own Guttenberg printing press, the ability to share knowledge and grow would bring an era of better understanding, faster research, and the democratization of knowledge. We would understand each other better, discover we aren’t so different, lift the undereducated, and there would be greater equality.

Something awful and sinister has happened on the way to global enlightenment. The part that so many missed is that anyone has access to a Guttenberg printing press, meaning any idiot with a conspiracy theory, or any entity that wants to push misinformation can do so with near impunity. Combine that with two-and-a-half generations that don’t give a crap about online personal privacy, the vast amount of third-party data available on us, and the willingness and desire to sell that data to anyone with cash – it is a recipe for disaster.

Russia state news to the living rooms of America

Today we have the Putin News Network (RT) pushing that 5G will kill you. Why? Because Russia and China are behind in deploying 5G and they want to slow down the roll out in the west to catch up. You have the Austrian government in collapse. You have an ongoing and near-forgotten civil war (of sorts) in Ukraine. You have the UK in complete chaos over Brexit, and then we have our shit show in the United States with interference in the 2016 election – but at least there wasn’t any collusion so let’s not figure out how deep the interference was. We have measle epidemics when we shouldn’t have any, and growing cases of whooping cough. Oh, and we have 12 million Americans who believe that lizard people run the planet. I refuse to link to these things and add to the legitimacy storm, look it up yourself.

How bad is it? There are multiple Guttenberg printing presses, some on social media platforms which should have a moral obligation to stop misinformation, advocating the use of industrial bleach to cure autism. Parents are forcing their children to drink it, bathe in it, and have enemas with it. Is the image of a two-year-old being forced to drink industrial bleach as a cure for autism amusing? It’s horrifying. I want to punch Jenny McCarthy in her face, but in the age of everyone gets a Guttenberg printing press, she knows more than doctors and researchers. No, she doesn’t advocate bleach as a cure, but she advocated that vaccinations cause autism and some of these parents forcing industrial bleach on their children. Desperate parents following the false belief that industrial bleach will flush the heavy metals out of their children, and cure the disease.

I certainly am not advocating, as much as it may seem, to twist the First Amendment and allow free speech for only things scientifically proven. I see this as a crisis of our time and the rapid rise of misinformation. Ironically, the Internet has made us more tribal. It is easier for me to find a group of people that believe what I believe, alternative views are damned. So I can sit in my echo chamber and go deeper and deeper down the rabbit hole until I believe Sandy Hook was a false flag. I can be in my world until I believe that Obama is the anti-Christ who wants to create a gay Muslim state in Texas, or until I believe that pouring industrial bleach down a helpless child’s throat, will “cure” them of disease. If anything, the horror I find is parents would rather do something that could kill their child then accept that they will be different.

Yes, people believed Jade Helm as a front to turn Texas into a gay Muslim state run by Obama

I firmly believe that Google, Facebook, Twitter, and a list of others have a moral obligation to fight the spread of misinformation. I believe the intelligence communities of nations must protect their citizens from outside false information and propaganda. I think all of us would do better if we left our echo chambers and listened to other voices, and I think we would be more willing to listen if the voices weren’t so shrill. How do we do it without crushing free speech? That is a question we need to answer quickly. To quote from the movie Men In Black, “A person is smart. People are dumb, panicky dangerous animals, and you know it.”

We need to stop the people who are manipulating the dumb, panicky animals because the alternative is nationalism, disease, and anti-science. I continue to wonder if 500 years from now people will look back, and consider early 21st-century society as living deep in a Dark Age.

Please think about it.

Malcontent, out.