Stop, stop, stop, electric thief!!!

[sheepdog 44]

Originally Posted by fbov

We received a 911 call advising that someone was plugged into the power outlet behind the middle school. ...

You see someone plugged into an outlet and -this persons- first reaction is to call 911? The whole incident is full of misunderstandings.

On the topic of churches or businesses refusing to let you charge even if you offer to pay. I think the main reason would be ignorance on the subject making it to much of a hassle. Letting you charge for free is one thing, but when you get into remuneration for they know not how much electricity, or what cost, or how to charge you for it. I wouldn't say they are against EV's, they'd just rather not deal with it.

[Frank Lee]

Calling 911 over seeing a car plugged in strikes me as an abuse of the 911 system and the caller should be warned.

[TheSGC]

I have never had a problem charging in MA. I get permission before I charge, but I charged at my college, local elementary schools, peoples houses, etc. I even got to park my EV on the front curb of a Lowes and charge because I ran out of juice, but my meter still read 75% left...

Now that we have Charge Point stations everywhere it's easier to charge, but I have never heard any anyone calling the police over charging. That's just stupid.

[XYZ]

Originally Posted by fbov

Interesting thread... but this isnt' about electricity, it's about courtesy; after reading the police's side of the story, I hope they throw the book at him!
Frank

We received a 911 call advising that someone was plugged into the power outlet behind the middle school. ...The officer's initial incident report gives a good indication of how difficult and argumentative the individual was to deal with. ...Given the uncooperative attitude and accusations of damage to his vehicle, the officer chose to document the incident on an incident report. ...the school resource officer ...recognized Mr. Kamooneh. ... (who) had previously been advised he was not allowed on the school tennis courts without permission from the school . This was apparently due to his interfering with the use of the tennis courts previously during school hours.
... but the decision (to pursue theft charges) was based on Mr. Kamooneh having been advised that he was not allowed on the property without permission. Had he complied with that notice none of this would have occurred. Mr. Kamooneh's son is not a student at the middle school and he was not the one playing tennis. Mr. Kamooneh was taking lessons himself.

Spin, spin, media spin.

The Gannett news release quoted by the OP certainly was provocative and garnered sympathetic comments in this thread by telling only part of the story. What is important is that much of the story was spun by omission. There is more to the story than what we were led to believe. For a different perspective, now try reading this article:

Ga. Man Arrested for Charging Electric Car at Local Middle School - ABC News

Apparently the guy was being provocative. He already has a reputation with the local police for doing similar things that are marginally or actually illegal. He went looking for trouble and he found it. It's hard to have sympathy for him.

[brucey]

""I'm waiting for them to arrest water drinkers and cell phone chargers," said Kamooneh, a former university professor who is now an investment advisor."

Oh, he's a bean counter. So he's probably thinking he is clever by getting everyone else to pay for those pennies he's saving with this car.

Case is still ridiculous. Still can't imagine this one not getting thrown out.

[P-hack]

shoulda tazed him and called it a day "You want free electricity?!?"

[ciderbarrel]

Originally Posted by fbov

Interesting thread... but this isnt' about electricity, it's about courtesy; after reading the police's side of the story, I hope they throw the book at him!
Frank

We received a 911 call advising that someone was plugged into the power outlet behind the middle school. ...The officer's initial incident report gives a good indication of how difficult and argumentative the individual was to deal with. ...Given the uncooperative attitude and accusations of damage to his vehicle, the officer chose to document the incident on an incident report. ...the school resource officer ...recognized Mr. Kamooneh. ... (who) had previously been advised he was not allowed on the school tennis courts without permission from the school . This was apparently due to his interfering with the use of the tennis courts previously during school hours.
... but the decision (to pursue theft charges) was based on Mr. Kamooneh having been advised that he was not allowed on the property without permission. Had he complied with that notice none of this would have occurred. Mr. Kamooneh's son is not a student at the middle school and he was not the one playing tennis. Mr. Kamooneh was taking lessons himself.

I guess we now need to lock up everyone charging their phones in airports and stealing 2 cents of electricity each.

[cRiPpLe_rOoStEr]

Originally Posted by P-hack

shoulda tazed him and called it a day "You want free electricity?!?"

That's a good one

[JasonG]

Originally Posted by XYZ

Spin, spin, media spin.

The Gannett news release quoted by the OP certainly was provocative and garnered sympathetic comments in this thread by telling only part of the story. What is important is that much of the story was spun by omission. There is more to the story than what we were led to believe. For a different perspective, now try reading this article:

Ga. Man Arrested for Charging Electric Car at Local Middle School - ABC News

Apparently the guy was being provocative. He already has a reputation with the local police for doing similar things that are marginally or actually illegal. He went looking for trouble and he found it. It's hard to have sympathy for him.

After reading all of the articles it is hard to have sympathy for him.
He was acting like an activist jerk and got what he deserved.

I'm seeing more public buildings turning off their exterior and lobby receptacle breakers duee to phone and laptop charging.
I expect this to be a growing trend.

[elhigh]

In his book Solo, Noel Perrin wrote about having difficulty finding places that would let him charge. He offered to pay, and sometimes he just plugged in. That was in the 1980s I think, and his car only had about a 35 mile range. He was literally going all the way across the country. Generally the greatest trouble was when he was trying to pay. No one had any contingency plan in place for that nor any precedent to establish a working practice.

The guy's a schmo - interesting, no redline under "schmo," I must have spelled it correctly - for taking power without asking or offering to pay, but having him arrested for what is literally only a few cents' worth of electricity is even more criminal. This is going to fly out of court so fast it'll spin up some wind gennies.