Elderly woman arrested for not returning football
Edna Jester, 89, of Blue Ash, Ohio, was arrested for taking a football away from kids in her neighborhood. Apparently, the ball kept landing in her yard and she was fed up. She refused police demands for her to return the ball, so they arrested her for petty theft. From the Cincinnati Enquirer:
"That's my only way of getting through to these children," Edna Jester said. "I'll give it back to them later, but not right now..."Woman, 89, arrested for keeping football (Thanks, Rick Pescovitz!)
(The father of the boy who owned the ball) said he never wanted Jester to be arrested.
“I just wanted the ball back,” Tanis said. “My son paid for the ball with his own money.”
Tanis said she has kept about 10 balls – basketballs and soccer balls – belonging to his children that went into her yard. Jester said she has kept only three.
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This really disappoints me. I've looked forward my whole life to the day when I could be the cranky old man saying "It's MY ball now."
What a Jester!
huh. Landed in her yard, I'd say that counts as a gift... I'd say she was in the right to keep it. :)
Of course, the mistake she made was in keeping the ball(s). My preferred method is to jab a screwdriver into it and give it back, apologising for the "sharp object" it fell on when it landed in the yard. They soon learn.
(I haven't really done this, except in the alternate universe in which I am a grumpy old man.)
Seems only fair that the kids should be arrested for trespassing, too.
While I believe arresting her is over the line and ridiculous, I do feel a slight sense of vindication for every kid who has lost items to grumpy elderly people. Come on, lady, it's a yard. Are you really using every square inch of it to such an extent that you cannot tolerate a ball bouncing in?
small town, let's see who she turns out to be not related to.
Everyone is silly in this case.
1. The Kids
Why would you continue to play ball there? Or maybe you could at least put someone on that end that can catch.
2. Parents
Don't call the cops if you don't want them to do their jobs. It may be convenient to have them sort your neighborhood disputes but that's not what they're for.
4. The cops
C'mon be reasonable. As soon as you learned that the caller didn't want to prosecute you should have jumped back in your cars and drove away.
5. The old lady
It's nice to make a point but it's also nice to know when to back down.
"Jester was arrested and charged with petty theft after she took the ball and refused to give it back"
"Took" the ball? That's some good journalism.
DON613: Please, what's the mysterious #3?
The mysterious #3 is US. Why are we commenting on this ridiculousness? Because we're silly that's why.
Ooops, Silly me. :)
What the fuck are you kids doing on my fucking loch?
I think she got through to them but I don't think she sent the message she thinks she did.
It's not like the children broke her window or were purposefully throwing it in her yard and vandalizing (not from what I read in the story anyways). People are getting so intolerant of children. I'm against spoiled, rude brats, but children just playing around is part of a healthy community, you'd think. So the ball strayed into the yard. Happened all the time back when I was a kid and it was innocent play, not a malicious attempt to bother the neighbours. We say we want kids to get out more and play, but then we don't want them to make noise or any conspicuous signs of their presence. Yeah, they're a bit erratic and noisy. They're kids: it lasts only a few years.
That said, I agree that arresting that woman is over the top. I didn't know the police even bothered to take care of neighbours' disputes. I didn't think you could get arrested for being a grouch.
...You know, it's about time we see these old bitches get what's coming to them. We had an old bat who pulled that stunt in my old neighborhood when I was a kid, and when I got into college she was still pulling that stunt. On behalf of my youngest brother and his friends, I made it clear to her that she had 30 seconds to return both his football - my old one, to be exact - and a frisbee, both of which had wound up in her back yard and she refused to turn back over, or I'd call the cops and file theft charges on her. She started to call my bluff until one of the kids point blank asked her why she felt she had the right to treat kids the way she did. She muttered something, went back inside, and just as I was about to walk back across the street and make that call, she came back out and handed back *two* footballs, a basketball, and three frisbees. Never did find out who the others belonged to, but after that I told the kids that in the future just jump the fence and get your stuff because no cop in the town would bust you for it because of this old bat's track record.
I grew up in Blue Ash. It's not a small town, just a suburb of Cincinnati. I have fond memories, despite the crabby neighbor that wouldn't let us play football on his nice (flat) lawn.
I don't understand the indignation. "Taking" (nice spin of words there) the ball is just petty theft, and you call the police in cases of theft. Probably no need to arrest her, but if she still refuses to return such items after being told to by a police officer, I really think she had it coming.
Ingmar: Fine, if you want to go by the book, where is the part where the kids proved ownership, or even evidence that their ball was in her possession?
EH: evidence that their ball was in her possession?
That would be where she refused to give it back as opposed to denying that she had it.
So, was arresting her really necessary? Maybe not, but from reading the article it certainly sounds like the police gave her multiple opportunities to avoid arrest and she basically forced the issue.
why wasn't she tased?
Someone should have told us earlier that it's the 89-year old ladies next door that are the "real" criminals.
And here we were thinking the police should spend more time investigating murders, rapes & other violent crimes.
Silly us.
You don't know what those balls were inflated with. They might even contain an explosive gas like oxygen.
I say tase the the kids for their terroristic actions.
As a kid I always loved high strung adults like that. They were perfect marks for knock knock runaway.
She was arrested because she failed the attitude test. Let this be a lesson to you kids... and old bats too, United-Statsian law enforcement is more about enforcing your respect for their athoratay than enforcing the laws and codes the community has established.
What a mean old bitty though, glad she got busted!
TAKUAN@21: FT muthafuckin' W!
I was trying to find a link to the film Birdy where Nicholas Cage, in the attempt to awaken his catatonic friend played by Matthew Modine, pours a box of numerous baseballs & softballs confiscated by the mean old lady neighbor on the floor of his padded room. Alas, I could not find such a link to share. Awesome flick though.
How would the kids prove it's their ball? I guess they must have recorded the serial number or written their names on it.
#5 is RIGHT.
I didn't see anything in the story to indicate that the father ever talked to Jester before calling the police. It really seems like he could have reached some kind of arrangement. He tries to paint himself as the good guy in this story but I don't really buy it. Maybe it's because of the stories I read here but someone has to do something worse than hold onto a $15 ball that they're going to give back when they cool down before I'll call in the boys with tazers on them.
The kids are the ones who lose though. They don't even have their ball since it's being held for evidence.
After letting the kids know that they couldn't keep letting their balls land in her fenced in yard she doesn't have too many options. Keep the balls or damage them and throw them back; I think keeping them for a few days and then give them back was the nicer of options.
I could care less about the story but I am mildly interested in the hypothetical legal question(s) that can be formed from it.
Specifically, if someone else's property lands on mine am I obligated to return it or allow them access to retrieve it. On the surface it seems as if I could simply deny access to the person (and police for that matter for lack of cause) to my property and provided I did not actually touch the ball, just left it laying there, there would be nothing they could do.
I'd wipe dog poop all over the balls and said kids will find something else to do other than playing with their balls and throwing them over the fence...like scrub their balls until they are clean and shiny and no longer smelly.
Ball hygiene is grossly overlooked by this new generation!
Will this put her on the TSA no-fly list?
Just a thought...if said kids offered to mow this 89-year-old lady's lawn, they could retrieve their own balls from her lawn. Win-win situation.
that's what wood chippers are for ... "What ball?"
A friend of my father's was shot and killed back in the 1970s when he went to retrieve a Frisbee from a neighbor's yard. The owner of the yard didn't appreciate a bunch of young men playing catch in the street, apparently, and when my dad's friend refused to leave the property before retrieving the Frisbee, he was murdered.
The guy's lawyer wanted to make my dad and the other men who'd been playing that night take off their shirts in court to show their "intimidating" muscles, to prove that the crazy old bastard felt legitimately threatened.
Be careful playing catch, kids. The mean old lady isn't the worst of your troubles.
KIMROD: You wipe dog poop all over your balls? "Ball hygiene" indeed! I'd think you'd smell worse than this lady.
The police should not have needed to be involved in this matter whatsoever. What a joke.
Cranky old woman steals kids' property, gets arrested for it. Big whoop.
However, having said that... here's an idea, kids - if your ball keeps landing in the woman's yard, enough for her to get annoyed and decide to KEEP it? Maybe find a different place to play ball. Or get better at keeping the ball in your own yard. I was going to say what harm could a ball possibly be doing by landing in her yard, but then I thought about my own yard, and I'd be pretty pissed if a football landed in my poor struggling hydrangeas.
What a crotchety old woman. And #24 is right, these people who were insane about people walking/doing anything to or on their lawn, were always the first people to have their Christmas decorations defaced. Aw, good times.
May I offer my recommendation for how to deal with this problem?
Thank you.
I believe the best response to this and many other such problems is to be proportional and immediate. When the children next door accidentally "lose" their playthings in my yard, I "accidentally" lose one of the following in theirs prior to returning any of the playthings:
1. A plastic sack of poo.
2. A wet paper sack of poo.
3. An octopus.
4. Two octupi, cunningly tied together.
5. A number of damp paperbacks.
6. A necklace of zuni fetishes carved from old potatoes.
7. A deflated ball that looks just like the one they lost in my yard.
8. A ham.
9. A strand of holiday lights.
10. A number recylcable cans.
If asked "why did you throw that trash into my yard" I simply reply, "Oh, I was playing with those and I lost them."
Hilarity ensues. And the kids soon learn to control the flight path of their toys.
Zuni fetishes! Gotta have 'em!
KIMROD: "...like scrub their balls until they are clean and shiny and no longer smelly."
Well, it would be a punishment but you'd get arrested for sexual assault.
People defending the woman seem mostly to have not read the original article. The problem didn't happen when she refused to return the ball to the kids. The problem didn't happen when she refused to return the ball to the parents (which any normal person would do). The problem happened when she refused to give the ball to the police. At this point she's clearly not well.
The comment about Jack Booted Thugs seems like simple Troll bait.
I feel like those kids learned a valuable lesson about screwing people over.
"He said Jester picked up the football, refused to give it back and told him to call the police."
She got the police involved - which I think a lot of the above have missed, so I don't feel sorry for her at all - bitch. And now she's suing, but if she's going for the distress angle when the neighbours where doing what she asked, and then when pressed said they didn't want her arrested, but the police still did - well stupid biddy is suing the wrong people isn't she?