A Mount Pleasant, Texas Teen has Learned the Hard Way to Not Destroy City Property
I can already see the comments for this article, "A felony for doing doughnuts?!" "Come on! The kid was just having some fun." "This kid's life is ruined because of doughnuts?" I'm sorry guys but you can't go onto city property and do something like this. You also have to consider the price tag for this damage, too. The felony probably doesn't relate to the ACT of doing doughnuts in his truck, the felony most likely relates to the dollar amount of the damage done.
Just about any of us in our younger days of driving have taken the chance to do some doughnuts in a field or even in a parking lot. I live next to AMC Theater and just Sunday night, I heard someone in their parking lot doing doughnuts. That wasn't the first time, either.
The problem with this particular act is the fact that this teen decided that jumping a curb onto a soccer field that's in a city owned park was a cool idea. Unfortunately, the teen didn't have the smarts to stop a friend or acquittance from filming this debauchery and didn't have the smarts to do it in a field where he would have had permission to do so.
I have a feeling if this teen had just asked a family member, "Hey. I want to do some doughnuts in my truck. Could I do it in your pasture behind your house?" That family member would have probably said yes and none of this would have happened.
This incident did happen at R.L. Jurney Park in Mount Pleasant and was caught on video doing it. Police were able to arrest the juvenile on a felony criminal mischief charge.
There are four different levels of felony criminal mischief according to mytexasdefenselawyer.com:
- State jail felony - Damage between $1,500 and $20,000 - 180 days to 2 years in jail and/or $10,000 fine.
- Third-degree felony - Damage between $20,000 and $100,00 - 2 to 10 years in jail and/or $10,000 fine.
- Second-degree felony - Damage between $100,000 and $200,000 - 2 to 20 years in jail and/or $10,000 fine.
- First-degree felony - Damage of $200,000 or more - 5 to 99 years in jail and/or $10,000 fine.
We don't which level of felony this teen will be charged with as of now but based on the information given by Mount Pleasant Police, its at least a state jail felony. Say a prayer for this kid that he learns his lesson that destroying property, even if its just grass, isn't the right thing to do. He will now have to live with this the rest of his life.