Electric car owner charged with stealing 5 cents worth of juice
8:41 PM, Dec 3, 2013
CHAMBLEE, Ga. -- One Saturday in November, Kaveh Kamooneh drove his Nissan Leaf to Chamblee Middle School, where his 11-year-old son took was playing tennis.
Kamooneh had taken the liberty of charging the electric car with an exterior outlet at the school.
Within minutes of plugging in the car, he says a Chamblee police officer appeared.
"He said that he was going to charge me with theft by taking because I was taking power, electricity from the school," Kamooneh said. Kamooneh says he had charged his car for twenty minutes, drawing about a nickel's worth of juice. Don Francis of Clean Cities Atlanta, an electric vehicle advocacy group, says the estimate of five cents is accurate.
"I'm not sure how much electricity he stole," said Chamblee police Sergeant Ernesto Ford, but he added: It doesn't matter. "He broke the law. He stole something that wasn't his."
Sgt. Ford says the officer should have arrested Kamooneh on the spot. But he didn't. Instead, the officer filed a police report. Then eleven days passed, and two deputies showed up at his house in Decatur. "They arrested me here at about eight o'clock at night," Kamooneh said.
Ford said he sought the arrest warrant after determining that school officials hadn't given Kamooneh permission to plug in his car. Ford said Chamblee Police did so without asking school officials if they wanted to prosecute the alleged theft of electricity. A DeKalb Schools spokesman did not respond to a request for comment.
Records show Kamooneh spent more than 15 hours in the DeKalb County jail for plugging his car into a school's electrical outlet. Kamooneh acknowledges he hadn't asked permission first. "When I got there, there was nobody there. It was a Saturday morning." "A theft is a theft," Sgt. Ford said. When asked if he'd make the arrest again, he answered: "Absolutely."

http://www.11alive.com/rss/article/3...worth-of-juice

 

Just ludicrous... At some point you have to look at things reasonably and there's absolutely no justification for wasting public time and money over a "crime" that's really no more of a crime than driving a mile per hour over any posted speed limit. Seems to me to be an over-zealous officer and an over zealous police administration intent upon "doing the right thing" while forgetting that they are funded from taxpayer dollars and that they are accountable for how those dollars are spent.

 

Cry me a river this is so petty.

 

Boy, give some people a little authority . . . They probably let this clown carry a loaded weapon, too.

 

LOL, one of the stupidest things iv'e ever heard...

 

That's what I call going Old Testament on somebody. IE blindly enforcing the law with no regard.

 

So if i charge my laptop at a school does that make a thief too?

 

This is Georgia's finest.. **** Cops. (They wasted man power to apprehend a 5 cent offender while they could use this time for bigger criminals or kidnappers)

Hey Paul, do you miss Atlanta? I don't when it comes to these **** cops..

 

Say hello to the robots!

 

This makes me sick.

I'm OK with the cops for the most part, I just wish the Georgia Highway Patrol would stop trolling I-75 near where I live in Buckhead. I used to be able to do 80-85mph all day.

 

You said it, good grief!

Yeah, lets arrest the guy and take him away from his family all for plugging in his car and "stealing" a whole 5 CENTS of electricity. Yeah what's next, arresting people for plugging in their phones or laptops? Idiot cops.

 

Dude, first time I went to Atlanta in 2008, I was doing 80-90mph in that far left lane in my old 91 Caddy Brougham. It was insane, people were still tailgating me at 85mph in that far left HOV lane, I dived to the right and let them by.

That was straight hoofing it in that car, it shook like a scared *** ***** above 90mph, topped out at 105. Still got 21mpg average driving from Nashville to Atl, despite doing 80mph the whole way, and averaging 80-90mph on that last 30 mile stretch until I hit traffic in downtown.

 

yep, now he can sue the pants off them and get rich!!

 

dont cops have something better to do? He pays his taxes which pays for the school and associated expenses.

 

Playing devil's advocate here, what if other drivers with electric vehicles saw this and thought "that's a great idea, just tap into the nearest school". Then you'd have cars being charged at various schools in the area.

I think a warning or just a pass would have sufficed though.