Taking Liberties: Student Suspended, Charged With Assault for Shooting Spitballs
In 2010, Andrew Mikel was suspended from his Virginia high school for shooting a spitball. He was charged with violent criminal conduct for using a weapon at school. Mikel told his side of the story to Fox News Channel’s Douglas Kennedy, saying, “I was at lunch and I had a pen and little plastic balls that I got from a toy at home. I made the stupid decision of taking the pen apart and shooting people with them.”
Mikel is now challenging the suspension in court.
His attorney, John Whitehead, commented on the societal implications, saying, “We’re raising up a generation of people who are going to be very compliant and afraid to step out of line.” He continued saying that Mikel is going to have a record for the rest of his life for being in possession of a dangerous weapon.
Attorney Randy Zelin countered that we aren’t going too far in criminalizing spitballs, saying, “When that spitball takes out your eye, tell me whether or not we’ve gone too far.”
