He grabbed girl's arm -- now he's a sex offender
 

Fitzroy Barnaby said he had to swerve to avoid hitting the 14-year-old Des Plaines girl who walked in front of his car.

She said he yelled, "Come here, little girl," before getting out of his car and grabbing her by the arm.

He said he simply lectured her.

She said she broke free and ran, fearful of what he'd do next.

In a Thursday ruling, the Appellate Court of Illinois said the 28-year-old Evanston man must register as a sex offender.

While acknowledging it might be "unfair for [Barnaby] to suffer the stigmatization of being labeled a sex offender when his crime was not sexually motivated," the court said his actions are the type that are "often a precursor" to a child being abducted or molested.

Though Barnaby was acquitted of attempted kidnapping and child abduction charges stemming from the November 2002 incident, he was convicted of unlawful restraint of a minor -- which is a sex offense.

'Most stupid ruling'



Now, he will have to tell local police where he lives and won't be able to live near a park or school.

"This is the most stupid ruling the appellate court has rendered in years," said Barnaby's Chicago attorney, Frederick Cohn. "If you see a 15-year-old beating up your 8-year-old and you grab that kid's hand and are found guilty of unlawful restraint, do you now have to register as a sex offender?"

But Cook County state's attorney spokesman Tom Stanton said Barnaby should have to register "because of the proclivity of offenders who restrain children to also commit sex acts or other crimes against them."

In the criminal case against him, Cook County Judge Patrick Morse said that "it's more likely than not" Barnaby planned only "to chastise the girl" when he grabbed her, but "I can't read his mind."

"I don't really see the purpose of registration in this case. I really don't," Morse said. "But I feel that I am constrained by the statute."

Recognizing the stigma that comes with being labeled as a sex offender, the appellate court said "it is [Barnaby's] actions which have caused him to be stigmatized, not the courts."

http://www.suntimes.com/output/news/...-molest01.html

i dont feel sorry for the guy

road rage is one of the worst things IMO

he had no right to restrain the girl. who did he think he was?

Unreal.....

Im not an America basher.... In fact I would move their in an instant..... But really WTF is going on?

the truth is he took advantage of her because she was weaker, he would never have grabbed a teenage boy OR a grown man. he obviously cant control his temper. if i jumped out of the car to grab people and yell at them each time i was involved in a near collision, im pretty sure i'd have been shot by now. he's lucky that girl's daddy wasn't looking on, or he'd have been beat down probably.

That may or may not be true...... but it dosnt mean he wanted to have sex with her

im sorry, but lines have to be drawn. no grown man is free to "discipline" another person's teenage daughter except where permission has been tacitly or implicitly given ie schools, police. for every person who may not have had sexual intentions when commiting this crime, there are probably 99 who did have sexual intentions. you have to apply the rules to everyone.

99% of people that grab a childs arm are child molestors? Thats about the most ridulous thing I have heard on the board for a long time.

Perhaps I wont come to the US after all.

he crossed a major criminal line when he put his hands on her. if all meant to do was lecture, then why did he have to restrain her?

clearly she was trying to get away from him or why else grab her? this guy unlawfully restrained this girl, and the courts are correct to hold him to the letter of the law.

In america, you aren't allowed to discipline other people's children. :thumbsup

WTF??!?!?! So I have to watch if some 14 year old beats up a 12 year old because "no grown man is free to 'discipline' another person's teenage [...]"???

You _GOT_ to be kidding me.

that is clearly different, you are acting to protect the other person. not only are you allowed to do that, in most states it is a crime not to come to the aid of someone ( so called Good Samaritan Laws ).

To compare jumping out of your vehicle to grab and restrain a young girl to the point that she runs away afraid for her life, and stepping in to break up a fight is just looney. Don't even go there. It's apples and oranges.

and perfectly sensible law it is..... but it dosnt mean he wanted to have sex with her!

Your assertion that 99% of people that would do this are child molesters is laughable.

one thing is clear, this guy is not a police officer and he has NO RIGHT to take the law into his own hands to punish the person who he had a traffic incident with.

Korzon, you're an idiot. He obviously grabbed her 'cause she was walking off and he wanted to give her a lecture. Sounds to me like the stupid little bitch put herself in a dangerous position 'cause this guy had to swerve to avoid her. Have you ever almost run over someone? It scares the fuck out of people, and yes, you can get angry. Maybe he handled the situation incorrectly, but being labelled a sex offender for the rest of his life is an absolute joke.

You're a shit for brains.

The girl runs infront of some guy's car while he was driving, he freaks out, has to break like mad and whatnot.. and he is not allowed to tell the girl to be careful next time?

Maybe putting his hand on her is too much, but a fucking sex offender? Seriously, like damian2001 said, thats the most rediculous thing I have read on here in a while.

Fine, then charge him with misdemeanour assault or something that could be construed as close to being reasonable by somene not suffering from a mental condition. Don't tag the guy as a sex offender for the rest of his life.

He had no right to lecture or punish this girl in any form. that is why we have police. people walking out in front of traffic is life. this man or anyone is going to be spared from that. it's assholes like this who cant control their tempers who disrupt the order of the world. traffic incidents are life, we all have them. why is this guy allowed to be judge, jury and punisher inthis particular incident, and the rest of us are expected to suck it up and abide by the law?

ok.... Im starting to think you are missing the point on purpose.

If your not then seriously read the thread again and try to concentrate.

chodadog : if this girl had been an adult, he would be charged with assault. but we all know that if i punch a grownup or I punch a minor, the charges are different, right?

he got very unlucky to have pulled this road rage incident on a minor. or he is a pussy who would have only pulled this on someone who represented no physical threat to him. who knows, but you cant commit crimes against minors and expect the charges to be the same as if the person were an adult.

I think if i had a daugther and she did something like this, then i'd want someone to tell her off. Granted, i wouldn't want some guy grabbing her, but at the same time, i wouldn't want the guy being tagged as a sex offender for the rest of his life for telling her off, even if he had laid a hand on her.

Can you imagine how scared the guy would have been? He could have killed that girl with his car because she made a stupid mistake. She certainly needed to be told off.

Physically make sense, but verbally too?
Some kids really need to be straightened, and if you can't slap them, then they need some really military yelling. It works if you have the voice and attitude :winkwink:

you dont know that. you werent there. maybe he was driving too fast in a parking lot..I don't know either, but im sure she didnt mean to walk out in front of a moving car, and it probably scared her every bit as much as it did him.

He should use baseball bat then he wouldn`t be a sexual offender. And this lesson for all Americans - don`t use hands use baseball bats

No but america can discipline whole countries :1orglaugh

sad, but true. i don't make the laws, i just play a lawyer on gfy.

Fundie, binary thinking is taking over America!

No thinking, no judgement, just right/wrong, black/white.

Damn... Even the kids think they will get raped by anyone. Damn media

Are you serious? So he's a SEX OFFENDER? C'mon.

He's an asshole. He has rage problems. He should have been beaten down by her father. But a sex offender? That's just stupid!! Sex Offender is a TOTALLY different status that carries a stigma that only the sick fuckers that are should carry.

Have you seen kids these days? They walk in front of cars all the time just to test their limits. Cocky fuckers these days.

I understood it that he jumped out, she got startled and he grabbed her because he wanted to tell her off...

anyway, he shouldn't have restrained her, but to list the guy as a sex offender is just plain absurd!!

This is starting to sounds like that movie "minority report" where people are getting in trouble for what they might have done in the future...

but I've seen worse restrictions of freedome over there... in the land of the free :upsidedow

You're right

Sad part is he probably would have been better off running the bitch over and having it chalked up as an unavoidable road accident with some teen idiot running out on the road.

Someone forced to do the job her parents should have done?

my thoughts exactly....that way he wouldn't had been labeled a sex offender!

or he could have just hit his brakes, and moved on. which is clearly the number 1 choice for mature individuals.

again you're not getting the point...

we all understand that his choice wasn't the best one, and he might have anger management problems...

DOESN'T MEAN HE IS A SEX OFFENDER

unlawful restraint of a minor is considered a sexual offense.

You know, back in the 70's when I was growing up, if an adult yelled at you and layed some discipline on you and you ran home to your mommy and daddy to tell, well, all I know is that MY dad would have asked "Yes, well what did you DO to deserve it?"..... In this case I would then tell him of how stupid I was to be walking carelessly out into traffic and putting people's lives at risk, whereupon he would add a good old fashioned spanking to my punishment.

And that would be the end of it.

And I probably wouldn't be so fucking careless in the future about crossing streets and pissing off motorists.

My it's sad how this "no one touches my kid" philosophy has gotten out of hand. In our efforts to protect the children at all costs we have effectively removed any meaningful discipline or consequences for their actions.

It all boils down to people that are too stupid to make a decision without relying on the black & white of a book..

Just as a little girl who was expelled from school for having fingernail clippers in her purse after the weapons in school stuff came about..

Nobody wants to think anymore.. Just use a book..