Teen Jailed for Zero Tolerance Offense, Starved for 36 Hours

I previously wrote about
Alexander Chier, a Pewaukee, Wisconsin, 17-year-old who was
disciplined by his high school for smoking a cigarette. This caused
the police to search his vehicle, where they found his hunting
rifle. Since the weapon was technically on school grounds, he was
suspended and arrested.

Chier spoke with me via e-mail to relate his side of the story.
There are no key details in dispute; even so, it’s hard not to
sympathize with the teenager, who was jailed for a night and denied
food for 36 hours, according to his account.

“I had to spend a night in jail after the interrogation, and
didn’t receive food that I could eat for 36 hours,” Chier
told Reason. “You see I have life threatening food
allergies to the point where legally I have a disability
(Anaphylaxis to peanuts, nuts, milk and eggs). 1/8 of a peanut
would have me dead in 10 minutes or less. I had 2 different
physicians and my allergist call the Waukesha County Jail to convey
this and I was still denied editable food.”

Other pieces of new information: Chier was caught smoking an
e-cigarette, not a regular cigarette, at school; the weapon found
in his car was a “bolt action mosin-nagant from 1937,” which he
uses to hunt coyotes; and he voluntary granted the cops access to
all his text messages and social media activity.

According to Chier, he turned himself over to the police,
subsequently enduring a four-hour interrogation and a famishing
night in jail.

Police agree that Chier was not planning to hurt anyone.

“We have no information at all that would have led us in that
direction,” a spokesperson for the Village of Pewaukee Police
Department told Reason.

The good news is that Chier expects the charges to be
dropped.

“Basically as long as I show up to my next court date and commit
no crimes I’m a clear man,” he said.

He is still suspended, however, and could be expelled. He’s not
happy about that, obviously.

“The fact that I’m facing expulsion in so extreme in every way,”
he said. “They will punishing a hunter who made a mistake, had no
ill intent, harmed no one, and never planned to do so; and if the
Pewaukee Police Department and the State of Wisconsin both gave
determined I am no threat to anyone I should be allowed to go back
to school!”