Woman sprayed water on a 13-year-old boy for playing his music too loud
A woman in Sunnyvale, Calif. may face a charge of misdemeanor battery after she allegedly sprayed water on a 13-year-old boy for playing his music too loud when he passed her home.
Danielle Harris is sharing her son, Elijah’s, story in hopes that it won’t happen to others.
Elijah was walking home from school and playing music on a Bluetooth speaker. According to the teen, a woman along his route made a gesture at him to turn down the music. He said he complied, but she still sprayed him with water, which he captured on video using his cell phone.
“First I was in shock. I didn’t know why at first. I just brought out my phone and started filming it,” Elijah told KTVU.
Elijah also told the outlet that the same woman had filmed him with her cell phone as he walked to school the day before. After she sprayed him with water, he called both 911 and his mother. “The reason why I was so cool in that video, I was so not overheated. I know that if I did anything, I would be perceived as the threat instead of perceived as the victim,” he said.
Elijah, who says that no one else along the route has complained about his music and that this incident will not deter him from using the road, does plan on using earbuds from now on.
Police, after interviewing Elijah and the woman, sent their report to the Santa Clara County District Attorney’s Office. They recommend the woman be charged with misdemeanor battery. The DA’s office is reviewing the matter but has not said when there will be a decision of whether criminal charges are warranted.
“There’s no indication that race was a factor. What we’re being told is that it was over loud music,” Sunnyvale Police Captain Jim Choi told KTVU. “I would like for an example to be set that you can’t do this to kids. You can’t do this to people period,” the teen’s mother said.
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