Laptop Play Area
Michael Baumgartner's presence in the McDonald's play area arose suspicion when a father noticed that he had no children with him.
The Madison, Wisc., play area of the restaurant was full of about 15-20 kids playing on June 27, and Baumgartner was allegedly using his laptop computer, as well as his own ...uh... "laptop play area", while looking at porn and typing one-handed in a chat room. The father who reported the suspicious man told police that he saw a pornographic image on Baumgartner's computer, and that he had one hand in his lap, touching himself.
"The officer saw the same computer images and the same suspect behavior as the father," a police spokesman said. Baumgartner admitted to police that he was "exercising bad judgment."
He was arrested on charges of lewd and lascivious behavior.
Don't most of these crimes involve "bad judgment"?!
Source: Capital Times
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Posted by greg n TEXAS on August 7, 2010:
Gee Carl,I can feel the testosterone coursing through your veins. What WOULD it take for you to act to protect your children or anyones child for that matter? Would he have to pull it out? Point it at you? Or is that where YOUR fantasy goes wild? I can assure you Carl, the possibility of a frivolous lawsuit would not have even been in the back of my mind, nor would it have deterred me from turning this guys switch off. Criminal prosecution? Not where I live. And dear Carl, how would other patrons be injured by my actions? From the aforementioned flying teeth? Me thinks his innards would have sufficiently slowed them down to prevent any serious harm to others. So Carl, I stand by my original statement, whereas you just stand by. Just sayin.
Really gonna miss this place Randy. Its been a lot of fun n giggles!
Posted by Karl in Los Altos on August 8, 2010:
OK, I've got to jump in, too.
How could anybody else get hurt? Well, you seem to be assuming that this would be a one-sided fight. Suppose it turns out that the guy knows how to defend himself, and he fights back? You really want to start a barroom-style fight in a kid's area?
I don't defend the guy, and I have no idea why he chose the play area as the venue for his porn viewing -- I note that the story does *not* say it was kidporn, so I won't jump to the conclusion that he was fantasizing about them, let alone posing a threat to them.
Oh, and if you think this indicates that I have a lower testosterone level than you do, that's fine with me. I don't use that as a measure of my self-worth.
Posted by Mike from Dallas on August 8, 2010:
Generally, someone who is trying to be surreptitious, while engaging in lewd and lascivious behavior in public, isn't inclined to fight back in a knock down, drag out affair. Let's cut the melodrama. People who've been in public fights know that it usually IS one-sided. In the case of a sexual deviate, more often the pervert will try to slink away with whatever little self-respect he might have left.
As for prosecution, it's usually more common for the northeastern states to throw the book at someone for protecting his kids. Even CA doesn't sink that low. In Texas, it's considered justifiable. Well, except maybe for Austin, but I don't think even Austin has sunk THAT low yet.
However, in all fairness, I will concede one of your points, but only in general. I drill it into my students that, no mater who wins a fight, both sides get hurt. It serves more as an admonishment to pick their fights carefully, not just go on a rampage becasue they think they're tough.