ALJAZEERA: …On May 16, a massive water balloon fight broke out at Enloe. After a 911 call about the senior-day prank, the Raleigh Police Department dispatched 24 officers to restore order. The heightened security stemmed, in part, from the rumors that the balloons would be filled with urine and bleach. (Police and school officials would later say that there was no evidence of the balloons being filled with any substance other than water.)
In the end, eight Enloe students, all 16 to 17 years old, along with a parent, were arrested following events related to the water balloon fight.
In North Carolina, being arrested as a teenager has enormous consequences. It’s one of two states in the country that considers 16- and 17-year-olds to be adults when they are charged with a criminal offense and then denies them the chance to appeal for return to the juvenile system. The law means that misdemeanor charges stick on your permanent record… (more)
