Mom calls 911 over son's gaming habit

by David Hinkle on Dec 22nd 2009 12:30AM

Look, we totally get it. Video games are evil -- they're turning your kid into some kind of arsonist or blood-obsessed psycho killer or -- in the case of one Boston area mom -- a rebellious little rabble-rouser. A frustrated mother called police about her son's overzealous gaming this past weekend, complaining the kid wouldn't shut off his console and go to bed.

The call came in on 2:30 a.m. Saturday, when the mother complained her son was walking about the house, turning on all of the lights and failing to comply with her wishes. Two officers responded to the call and were able to diffuse the situation.

The Boston Herald -- the outlet which broke the news -- said the kid was apparently playing "Grand Theft Auto."

Source

Tags: ap, associated-press, boston, boston-herald, grand-theft-auto, grand-theft-auto-iv

Reader Comments (121)

lol.

Wow... this is absolutely ridiculous. I have a friend whose dad seriously snapped his SP, because he said that he needed go save his game before eating breakfast.
Meanwhile this mother can't do Jack squat to this immature little brat. Pull out a fricken sledgehammer and smash whatever piece of plasic this kid is playing. Take all of his discs and flush them right down the toilet.
After that, set parental controls on the television so that he can only watch teletubbies/ rollie pollie ollie and make him eat liver for a few weeks.
But in all honesty, just take his console away for awhile

Or realize that 2:30 isn't that late, let the kid have his own life, and be happy he's not out getting drunk or high.

Funny how they didn't include what GTA the kid was playing? if it was GTA IV: http://bit.ly/gta-iv-addicting-game Then no more comment, that game can bring OCD to any person on this earth - a little bit exaggerated but true. Just look at the graphics, storyline not to mention that game is the most expensive video game of all time (100 million USD in the making) what more can you ask for?

Well if my kid was doing this I would phone the hospital because all the bones in his body would be broken, and there would be a puddle of blood on the ground. After that, since i am a bison, I would trapple this calf to bits. Thats what that little punk gets!

I hope the mother was handcuffed and confined to her room. That's what I would do to any citizen that was a danger to themselves and others.

By your comment I think you just like her son.

The son needs to have been spanked more often. This woman has been "raising" a little hellion that is potentially a danger to her, himself, and society on the whole. The games are not at fault here.

Turning on all the lights and failing to comply with their wishes?! The horror!

Seriously though, that parent lacks disciplining skills.

Hello, officer. Bobby is turning on all my lights again and little Johnny thinks he can get away without finishing his vegetables!

It doesn't say whether or not they confiscated her parenting license.

hopefully they did ~.~ Its just sad is what it is, Its cases like this that make "ward of the state" sound like it might be a step up ..... at the least I really really hope the cops sent her a bill for bothering them when some other IMPORTANT crime could be going on.

Go into room. Take console power brick/cord. Tell child they get it back when they stop being a dick. Problem solved.

Or hit him with the power brick, it would definitely hurt more than a belt

If I was ever a little dick like this kid my dad would just unplug the console and keep it in his truck so that he took it to work with him. She could have done something similar. Obviously she is just not an authority figure in his life if she had to call the police to get control over him.

http://www.thebestpageintheuniverse.net/images/beatkid4.jpg

@deathxrebirth

I gotta admit, I was laughing at that pic by myself for well over 5 minutes

Heh :D

You should read the accompanying article then. Good classic Maddox (before he started writing stupid books and shit).

http://www.thebestpageintheuniverse.net/c.cgi?u=beat

@deathxrebirth: hey! what happened to maddox?? long time since I last checked the website, I see he didn't do almost no entries in 2009, what??

Getting way OT now, but as I said, his entires became nonexistent because of a "secret project" (which turned out to be his book). Once that was released he still didn't really post due to another project, his Youtube channel (which I have not even really checked out lately myself). His recent stuff is nowhere near the absolute gold of his early shit, anyway, so it doesn't really matter I guess.

just because when she was young and she would've been killed if he stayed up past 11pm doesnt mean he cant.

Parents need to realize that u WILL loose control over kids, because if they dont their kids will always rely on them. ALWAYS. And that cant happen.

Oh and Grand Theft Auto? Sounds like its the cause of alot of problems in society today. Like ill ever believe that.

Why do I get the funny feeling that there's a couple things wrong with your logic? OH, I know-my Wright senses are tingling...

You fail to realize that I don't know every kid is different. There is no one failproof method. It's up to the parents to realize what method works with their kid. In this case, she fail to take the proper action to discipline him when he deserve it.

Of course a parent shouldn't take discipline over the top and beat the kid at every small chance but some times taking out the belt is call for. Honestly, this is just another parent who fails at parenting.

No need to go all apeshit on the mom, if she's a single mom and the kid is a young adult, it would be understandable if she would hesitate to discipline him herself.

I doubt he was a young adult if he "was refusing to shut off his console and go to bed". My guess is he was around 11 or 12.

This is an unusual situation, so it wouldn't be strange if the kid was of an unusual age to be pulling this shit as well.

There is a reason to go apeshit on the mom; she:
1:Didn't set boundaries for this kid
2: Didn't teach him any respect
3: Called the cops for a minor dispute with a 14 year old child.

It's about respect. My grandmother could boss me around at 14. She didn't need to be intimidating (although the wooden spoon did help) she commanded respect from her kids.

The kid's behavior did not arise from good parenting.

Alright, just found out he is 14, missed that in the source article, but calling the cops is still better than doing nothing, at least she had the guts to do something about it. And sure she could hit the kid, but that's not always gonna help, might even antagonize the kid further instead of taming him.

I'm sure that the mother didn't raise him right from the start and that's causing problems now, but I'm also sure it's hard being a parent, I mean how many of you Joystiq posters are actually parents to be commenting so harshly on this woman?

@Slaziman

Being a parent is hard shit. No doubt about that. But anyone with some common sense should be able to handle a minor issue like this without involving the authorities, who should be spending their time on real problems. It's not their job to tell your kids to turn the lights off, it's yours.

I'm a parent, and there's not a 14 year-old kid in the history of the world that would dare pull that shit on me.

Not every kid is the same. My brother only just recently turned 15. If you were to turn his games off on him or something, he would probably start running his mouth and punching holes in walls. And there are laws against hitting your children so you can't do much there.

the kid was apparently playing "Grand Theft Auto."

Oh, god. Here we go. See, this is why I hate kids and dumbass parents, they cause us trouble.

@BigFat
Can't you only drop an f-bomb once in a PG-13 movie? If thats the case then this game is waaay R. Regardless of game. Remember the porn star missions in Vice city?

Maybe the kid is disturbed enough that he would fight back. Doesn't say what age he is, if he is like 17 it's not like her mom could really hit him.

So let's get this straight: the mom buys a Mature-rated game for her son, and she's calling the police because he won't go to bed? I think she needs to get her priorities straight.

(I'm not saying that the Mature rating is the cause of the problem, but I am saying the mom is hypocritical.)

To be fair to the mom, the ESRB rating on the box makes no mention of reckless light on-turning.

To be fair to the ESRB, I didn't see any reckless light on-turning in the game myself, but I wouldn't put it past Rockstar to deliberately hide it in the game like Hot Coffee.

Parents just don't understand

Mom, this shirt is plaid with a butterfly collar!

Read the source article, the son/kid in question was 35, a software engineer named Harold.

Maybe he was angry that he has such an old game.

Markez, the hell are you talking about? Doesn't say an age in the AP article, but the Boston Herald says 14.

Look woman this is the time when you act like a fucking parent and spank the kid (once or twice is enough), oh and take away the console.

Remember the good ol' days when TV, rock n roll, rap, and drugs were the reasons kids acted up.

The source article also says he slept in a car bed that had a radio so he could talk to other car beds.

Maybe he wanted chocolate milk...

a teenager resisting a parent's authority? Who could have guessed it? I always figured kids in that age group were such darling little angels...

Seriously stop with the hissy fit and discipline your kid. He'll be better for it.

She should get him Assassin's Creed II for Christmas. Then he can learn about the Renaissance while stabbing various innocents and authority figures. It's a learning experience the whole family can get behind.

In the UK its a crime to waste police time. Perhaps the US needs similar laws.

wasting time is a matter of perspective...(its like explaining the benefits of console to my dad)

though I think from the police point of view this is classified as domestic disturbance

while this idiot was getting the police to deal with a petty dispute without her kid someone could actually have needed the police, its downright irresponsible of her

True, and from a legal standpoint wasting police time is essentially hoax calling, but regardless of what it would be classed as in a report it's still time that taxpayers have to fork out for, and could be better used doing something else (even if it's catching up on paperwork or something)

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Mom calls 911 over son's gaming habit

Reader Comments (121)

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